The Bible

 

Ezechiel 7

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1 Potom stalo se slovo Hospodinovo ke mně, řkoucí:

2 Slyš, synu člověčí: Takto praví Panovník Hospodin o zemi Izraelské: Ach, skončení, přišlo skončení její na čtyři strany země.

3 Jižtě skončení nastalo tobě; nebo vypustím hněv svůj na tě, a budu tě souditi podlé cest tvých, a uvrhu na tě všecky ohavnosti tvé.

4 Neodpustí zajisté oko mé tobě, aniž se slituji, ale cesty tvé na tebe uvrhu, a ohavnosti tvé u prostřed tebe budou. I zvíte, že já jsem Hospodin.

5 Takto praví Panovník Hospodin: Bída jedna, aj hle, přichází bída.

6 Skončení přichází, přichází skončení, procítil na tě, aj, přicházíť.

7 Přicházíť to jitro na tebe, obyvateli země, přicházíť ten čas, přibližuje se ten den hřmotu, a ne hlas rozléhající se po horách.

8 Již tudíž vyliji prchlivost svou na tě, a docela vypustím hněv svůj na tebe, a budu tě souditi podlé cest tvých, a uvrhu na tě všecky ohavnosti tvé.

9 Neodpustíť zajisté oko mé, aniž se slituji, ale podlé cest tvých zaplatím tobě, a budou ohavnosti tvé u prostřed tebe. A tak zvíte, že já jsem Hospodin, ten, kterýž biji.

10 Aj, teď jest ten den, aj, přicházeje,přišlo to jitro, zkvetl prut, vypučila se z něho pýcha,

11 Ukrutnost vzrostla v prut bezbožnosti. Nezůstaneť z nich nic, ani z množství jejich, ani z hluku jejich, aniž bude naříkáno nad nimi.

12 Přicházíť ten čas, blízko jest ten den. Kdo koupí, nebude se veseliti, a kdo prodá, nic toho nebude litovati; nebo prchlivost přijde na všecko množství její.

13 Ten zajisté, kdož prodal, k věci prodané nepůjde nazpět, by pak ještě byl mezi živými život jejich, poněvadž vidění na všecko množství její nenavrátí se, a žádný v nepravosti života svého nezmocní se.

14 Troubiti budou v troubu, a připraví všecko, ale nebude žádného, kdo by šel k boji; nebo prchlivost má oboří se na všecko množství její.

15 Meč bude vně, mor pak a hlad doma; kdo bude na poli, mečem zabit bude, toho pak, kdož bude v městě, hlad a mor zahubí.

16 Kteříž pak z nich utekou, ti na horách, jako holubice v údolí, všickni lkáti budou, jeden každý pro nepravost svou.

17 Všeliké ruce klesnou, a všeliká kolena rozplynou se jako voda.

18 I přepáší se žíněmi, a hrůza je přikryje, a na všeliké tváři bude stud, a na všech hlavách jejich lysina.

19 Stříbro své po ulicích rozházejí, a zlato jejich bude jako nečistota; Stříbro jejich a zlato jejich nebude jich moci vysvoboditi v den prchlivosti Hospodinovy. Nenasytí se, a střev svých nenaplní, proto že nepravost jejich jest jim k urážce,

20 A že v slávě okrasy své, v té, kterouž k důstojnosti postavil Bůh, obrazu ohavností svých a mrzkostí svých nadělali. Protož obrátil jsem jim ji v nečistotu.

21 Nebo vydám ji v ruku cizozemců k rozchvátání, a bezbožným na zemi za loupež, kteříž poškvrní jí.

22 Odvrátím též tvář svou od nich, i poškvrní svatyně mé, a vejdou do ní, boříce a poškvrňujíce jí.

23 Udělej řetěz, nebo země plná jest soudů ukrutných, a město plné jest nátisku.

24 Protož přivedu nejhorší z pohanů, aby dědičně vládli domy jejich; i učiním přítrž pýše silných, a poškvrněny budou, kteříž jich posvěcují.

25 Zkažení přišlo, protož hledati budou pokoje, ale žádného nebude.

26 Bída za bídou přijde, a novina bude za novinou, i budou hledati vidění od proroka, ale zákon zahyne od kněze, a rada od starců.

27 Král ustavičně kvíliti bude, a kníže obleče se v smutek, a ruce lidu v zemi předěšeny budou. Podlé cesty jejich učiním jim, a podlé soudů jejich souditi je budu. I zvědí, že já jsem Hospodin.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #20

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20. And makes us kings and priests. (1:6) This symbolically means, who grants those who are born from Him, that is, who are reborn or regenerated, to be governed by wisdom from Divine truths, and by love from Divine goods.

People know that in the Word the Lord is called a king and also a priest. He is called a king owing to His Divine wisdom, and a priest owing to His Divine love. People who are governed by wisdom from the Lord are consequently called children of the king, and also kings, while people who are governed by love from Him are called ministers and priests. For the wisdom and the love in them do not originate from them, and so are not theirs but the Lord's. It is these people who are therefore meant in the Word by kings and priests. Not that they are kings and priests, but that they have the Lord in them, and He causes them to be termed such.

Such people are called also children born of Him, children of the kingdom, children of the Father, and heirs - children born of Him in John 1:12-13ff.), children of the kingdom in Matthew 8:12; 13:38, children of their Father in heaven in Matthew 5:45, and heirs in Psalms 127:3, 1 Samuel 2:8, Matthew 25:34. And being heirs, children of the kingdom, and children born of the Lord as their Father, they are therefore called kings and priests. Moreover, in Revelation 3:21 it is also said that they will sit with the Lord on His throne.

[2] The whole of heaven has been divided into two kingdoms - the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom. The spiritual kingdom is what is called the Lord's kingship, and because all who are in it are governed by wisdom founded on truths, therefore it is they who are meant by the kings that the Lord will make those people who are governed by wisdom from Him. The celestial kingdom, on the other hand, is what is called the Lord's priesthood, and because all who are in it are governed by love arising from goodness, therefore it is they who are meant by the priests that the Lord will make those people who are governed by love from Him. The Lord's church on earth is likewise divided into two kingdoms. Regarding these two kingdoms, see nos. 24, 226 in the book Heaven and Hell, published in London, 1758.

[3] Someone who does not know the spiritual meaning of kings and priests may be deluded in regard to many things said in the prophets and in the book of Revelation about them. For example, in regard to these statements in the prophets:

The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you... You shall suck the milk of gentiles, even the breasts of kings you shall suck, that you may know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer... (Isaiah 60:10, 16)

Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their princesses your wet nurses. (Isaiah 49:23)

Also elsewhere, as in Genesis 49:20; Psalms 2:10; Isaiah 14:9; 24:21; 52:15; Jeremiah 2:26; 4:9; 49:3; Lamentations 2:6, 9; Ezekiel 7:26-27; Hosea 3:4; Zephaniah 1:8. Kings there do not mean kings, but people who are governed by Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly, Divine truths themselves, from which comes wisdom.

"The king of the south" and "the king of the north" who waged war with each other in Daniel 11 do not mean kings either, but the king of the south means people who are governed by truths, and the king of the north people who are caught up in falsities.

[4] Likewise in the book of Revelation, which many times mentions kings, as in the following passages:

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared. (Revelation 16:12)

(With) the great harlot who sits on many waters... the kings of the earth committed whoredom... (Revelation 17:1-2)

...of the wine of the wrath of (Babylon's) whoredom all the nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her... (Revelation 18:3)

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war with Him who sat on the (white) horse... (Revelation 19:19)

And the nations that are saved shall walk in His light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into (the New Jerusalem). (Revelation 21:24)

Elsewhere also, as in Revelation 16:14; 17:9-14; 18:9-10. The kings there means people who are governed by truths, and in an opposite sense, people caught up in falsities, and abstractly, truths or falsities themselves. The whoredom of Babylon with the kings of the earth means the falsification of the truth of the church. Obviously Babylon, or the woman who sat on the scarlet beast, did not commit whoredom with kings, but rather falsified truths of the Word.

[5] It is apparent from this that the Lord's going to make people who are wise from Him kings does not mean that they will be kings, but that they will be wise. The reality of this is also something that enlightened reason sees.

Likewise in the following:

You have made us kings and priests to our God, that we may reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

That by king the Lord meant truth is apparent from His words to Pilate:

Pilate... said to Him, "Are You a king then?"

Jesus answered, "As you have said, because I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" (John 18:27, 38)

To bear witness to the truth is to be Himself the embodiment of truth. And because He called Himself a king by virtue of it, Pilate said, "What is truth?" - which is to say, "Is truth a king?

As for priests, we will see in later explanations that they symbolize people who are governed by the goodness of love, and abstractly, goods of love themselves.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.