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Amos 8

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1 Således lod Herren mig skue: Se, der var en kurv sommerfrugt.

2 Og han sagde: "Hvad ser du, Amos?" Jeg svarede: "En kurv Sommerfrugt!" Da sagde HE EN til mig: "Enden er kommet for mit Folk Israel; jeg vil ikke længer bære over med det."

3 Paladsets Sangerinder skal jamre på denne Dag, så lyder det fra den Herre HE EN. Dynger af Lig er henkastet alle Vegne.

4 Hør, I, som knuser de fattige, gør det af med de arme i Landet

5 og siger: "Hvornår er Nymånen omme, så vi kan få solgt noget Korn, Sabbaten, så vi kan åbne vort Kornsalg, gøre Efaen lille og Sekelen stor og med Svig gøre Vægten falsk

6 for at købe den ringe for Sølv, den fattige for et Par Sko og få Afaldskornet solgt?"

7 HE EN svor ved Jakobs Stolthed: Aldrig glemmer jeg een af deres Gerninger!

8 Jorden ej skælve derover og enhver, som bor på den, sørge? Den stiger overalt som Nilen og synker som Ægyptens Flod.

9 På hin Dag lader jeg det ske, så lyder det fra den Herre HE EN, at Solen går ned ved Middag, og Jorden bliver mørk ved højlys Dag.

10 Jeg vender eders Fester til Sorg og alle eders Sange til klage, lægger Sæk om alle Lænder, gør hvert et Hoved skaldet, bringer Sorg som over en enbåren, en bitter Dag til sidst.

11 Se, Dage skal komme, lyder det fra den Herre HE EN, da jeg sender Hunger i Landet, ikke Hunger efter Brød, ikke Tørst efter Vand, men efter at høre HE ENs Ord.

12 Da vanker de fra Hav til Hav, flakker fra Nord til Øst for at søge HE ENs Ord, men finder det ej.

13 Den Dag vansmægter af Tørst de fagre Jomfruer og unge Mænd,

14 som sværger ved Samarias Synd, som siger: "Ved din Gud, o Dan!" "Ved din Skytsgud, o Be'ersjeba!" de skal falde, ej mere stå op.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #387

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387. And with death. That this signifies the consequent extinction of spiritual life, is plain from the signification of death, as denoting the extinction of spiritual life (concerning which see above, n. 78, 186). That this is here signified by death is plain from the series of things in the internal sense; for it is said that power was given unto them to kill with the sword, with famine, and with death: and by the sword is signified falsity destroying truth; by famine, the deprivation of the knowledges of truth and good; whence by death is signified the extinction of spiritual life, for where falsity reigns, and where there are no knowledges of truth and good, there is no spiritual life; for it is acquired by the knowledges of truth and good applied to the uses of life. For man is born into all evil and the falsity thence, therefore he is also born entirely ignorant of all spiritual knowledges; in order, therefore, that he may be led from the evils and the falsities thence, into which he is born, and be led into the life of heaven, and be saved, it is necessary that he should learn the knowledges of truth and good, by which he can be introduced [into spiritual life] and become spiritual. From this series of things in the internal sense it is evident, that by death is here signified the extinction of spiritual life; this also is signified by spiritual death.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4825

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4825. 'And yet again she bore a son' means idolatry. This is clear from the meaning of 'a son' in this case as idolatry; for those born before him meant falsity and evil, 4821, 4823. From this it follows that the third son means idolatry, for these two - falsity and evil - lead to idolatry and are contained within it. Of the three born to Judah by the Canaanite this son was the only one to survive, a third of the Jewish nation being descended from him. The meaning in the internal sense at this point is that this nation sprang from idolatry. Its very strong inclination to idolatrous practice is clear from the historical and the prophetical parts - from the sense of the letter - of the Word; and from its internal sense it is evident that this nation was constantly an idolatrous one. For idolatry consists not only in the worship of idols and graven images, and also the worship of other gods, but even in the worship of external things devoid of internal ones. This kind of idolatrous practice existed constantly among that nation, for they revered external things alone and cast internal ones completely aside, and did not even wish to know about them. They indeed had holy things - such as the Tent of Meeting containing the Ark and the Mercy seat on this, the tables with the loaves on them, the lampstand, and incenses; and outside the Tent there was the altar on which they presented burnt offerings and sacrifices. All these things were called holy, while the inmost part there was called the Holy of Holies, as well as the Sanctuary. Also, there were the vestments they had which were worn by Aaron and their high priests, which were referred to as holy vestments, for these included the ephod and the breastplate where the Urim and Thummin were, besides much else. But these things were not inherently holy; they were holy because they were representative of holy things, that is to say, they were representative of the Divine celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom, and representative of the Lord Himself. Still less was the holiness of those things due to the people among whom they existed, for those people had no affection at all for the internal things that were represented, only for external ones; and having an affection for external things alone is idolatry. This involves the worship of wood and stone, and also of gold and silver covering these, from a delusion that those objects are inherently holy. This is what the nation was like then and is also like at the present day.

[2] Yet a representative of the Church was nevertheless able to exist among such people because in that which is representative no attention is paid to the person who represents, only to whatever is represented, see 665, 1097 (end), 3670, 4208, 4281, 4288. Consequently their worship did not lead them to blessing and happiness in the next life, but merely to worldly prosperity, provided they adhered to those representatives and did not turn aside to the idols of the gentiles, and in so doing did not become openly idolatrous. For if they did it was no longer possible for that nation to represent anything at all of the Church. This then is what the idolatry, meant by Judah's third son by his Canaanite wife, is describing. This idolatry among that nation had its origin in internal idolatry, for more than all others this nation was governed by self-love and love of the world, 4459 (end), 4570. Among those governed by self-love and love of the world internal idolatry exists, for they worship themselves and they worship the world. They pay attention to holy things for the sake of personal adoration and gain; that is, they have a selfish end in view, and do not have the Lord's Church and kingdom, and so the Lord Himself, in view.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.