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Ezekiel 27

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1 HE ENs Ord kom til mig således:

2 Du, Menneskesøn, istem en Klagesang over Tyrus og sig til Tyrus,

3 som ligger ved Adgangen til Havet og driver Handel med Folkeslagene på de mange fjerne Strande: Så siger den Herre HE EN: Tyrus, du siger: "Fuldendt i Skønhed er jeg!"

4 De bygged dig midt i Havet, fuldendte din Skønhed.

5 De tømred af Senircypresser hver Planke i dig, fra Libanon hented de Cedre at lave din Mast,

6 af Basans højeste Ege skar de dig Årer, de lagde dit Dæk af Fyr fra Kittæernes Strande;

7 dit Sejl var ægyptisk Byssus i broget Væv, dit Tag var Purpur i blåt og rødt fra Elisjas Strande.

8 Zidons og Arvads Folk var orkarle for dig, om Bord var de kyndigste i Zarepta, de var dine Styrmænd,

9 de ældste og kyndigste i Gebal, de bøded din Læk. Alle Havets Skibe med Søfolk var hos dig for at omsætte dine Varer.

10 Folk fra Persien, Lydien og Put var i din Hær som Krigsfolk, de ophængte Skjolde og Hjelme i dig; de gav dig Glans.

11 Arvaditerne og deres Hær stod rundt på dine Mure, Gammaditerne på dine Tårne; de ophængte deres Skjolde rundt på dine Mure, de fuldendte din Skønhed.

12 Tarsis var din Handelsven, fordi du havde alskens Gods i Mængde; Sølv, Jern, Tin og Bly gav de dig for dine Varer.

13 Javan, Tubal og Mesjek drev Handel med dig; Trælle og Kobberkar gav de dig i Bytte.

14 Togarmas Hus gav dig Køreheste, ideheste og Muldyr for dine Varer.

15 odosboerne drev Handel med dig, mange fjerne Strande var dine Handelsvenner; Elfenben og Ibenholt bragte de dig som Vederlag.

16 Edom var din Handelsven, fordi du havde Varer i Mængde; Karfunkler, Purpur, brogede Tøjer, fint Linned, Koraller og ubiner gav de dig for dine Varer.

17 Juda og Israels Land drev Handel med dig; Hvede fra Minnit, Bagværk, Honning, Olie og Mastiksbalsam gav de dig i Bytte.

18 Damaskus var din Handelsven fordi du havde alskens Gods i Mængde; de kom med Vin fra Helbon og Uld fra Zahar.

19 Vedan og Javan gav Sager fra Uzal for dine Varer; smeddet Jern, Hassia og Kalmus fik du i Bytte.

20 Dedan drev Handel med dig med Sadeldækkener til idning.

21 Araberne og alle Kedars Fyrster var dine Hardelsvenner; med Lam, Vædre og Bukke handlede de med dig.

22 Sabas og amas Handelsfolk drev Handel med dig; den allerfineste Balsam, alle Slags Ædelsten og Guld gav de dig for dine Varer.

23 Karan, Kanne og Eden, Assyrerne og hele Medien drev Handel med dig;

24 de handlede med dig med smukke Klæder, Purpurkapper, brogede Tøjer, farvede Tæpper, tvundet og fastsnoet eb på dine Markeder;

25 Tarsisskibene tjente dig ved din Omsætning. Du fyldtes, blev såre tung midt ude i Havet.

26 I rum Sø fik de dig ud, dine roende Mænd; da knuste en Østenstorm dig midt ude på Havet;

27 dit Gods, dine Varer, din Vinding, dine Søfolk og Styrmænd, de, der bøded din Læk, dine Handelsfolk, alt dit krigsfolk, som var om Bord, alt Mandskab i din Midte styrter i Havets dyb, den Dag du falder.

28 Markerne skælver ved dine Styrmænds Skrig.

29 Alle, der sidder ved Årer, går da fra Borde, Søfolk og alle Styrmænd går da i Land;

30 de løfter østen over dig, klager bittert; på Hovedet kaster de Jord og vælter sig i Støvet,

31 klipper sig skaldet for dig, klæder sig i Sæk, begræder dig, bitre i Hu, med Sjælekvide,

32 istemtner jamrende Klage over dig, klager: Ak, hvor Tyrus er øde midt i Havet!

33 Når din Vinding kom ind fra Havet, mætted du mange Folkeslag; med dit meget Gods og dine Varer gjorde du Jordens konger rige.

34 Nu led du Skibbrud på Havet, på Vandets Dyb, dine Varer og alt dit Mandskab gik under med dig.

35 Over dig gyser alle, som bor på de fjerne Strande, deres Konger er slagne af Angst, deres Ansigt blegner.

36 Deres Kræmmere hånfløjter ad dig, til ædsel blev du, er borte for evigt.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Heaven and Hell #365

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365. We may gather from this that rich people arrive in heaven just as much as poor people do, one as easily as the other. The reason people believe that it is easy for the poor and hard for the rich is that the Word is misunderstood when it talks about the rich and the poor. In the spiritual meaning of the Word, "the rich" means people who are amply supplied with understandings of what is true and good, that is, people in the church where the Word is. "The poor" means people who lack these understandings but who long for them, or people outside the church, where the Word is not found.

[2] The rich person dressed in purple and fine linen who was cast into hell means the Jewish nation. Because they had the Word and were therefore amply supplied with understandings of what is good and true, they are called "rich." The garments of purple actually mean understandings of what is good, and the fine linen means understandings of what is true. 1 The poor person who was lying in the gateway and who longed to feast on the crumbs that were falling from the rich person's table, who was carried up into heaven by angels, means the non-Jews who did not have understandings of what is good and true but who still longed for them (Luke 16:19, 31).

The rich who were invited to the great feast but who excused themselves also mean the Jewish nation, and the poor who were brought in to replace them mean the non-Jews who were outside the church (Luke 12:16-24, 14:16-24).

[3] We need also to explain who are meant by the rich of whom the Lord said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24). "The rich person" here means the rich in both senses, natural and spiritual. Rich people in the natural sense are people who have abundant wealth and set their hearts on it, while in a spiritual sense they are people who are amply supplied with insights and knowledge (for these are spiritual wealth) and who want to use them to get themselves into heavenly and ecclesiastical circles by their own intellect. Since this is contrary to the divine design, it says that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. On this level of meaning, a camel means our cognitive and informational level in general, and the eye of a needle means spiritual truth. 2

Nowadays people do not know that this is the meaning of the camel and the eye of a needle because there has not yet been any access to the knowledge that teaches what is meant spiritually by the things that the Word says literally. There is spiritual meaning in the details of the Word, and natural meaning as well; because the Word was written in pure correspondences of natural realities with spiritual ones in order to effect a union of heaven and the world, or of angels with us, once the direct union had ceased. We can see from this exactly who are meant by the rich in the Word.

[4] We may gather from a number of passages that on the spiritual level "the rich" in the Word refers to people who enjoy insights into what is good and true and that wealth means those insights themselves, which are spiritual riches: see Isaiah 10:12-14; 30:6-7; 45:3, Jeremiah 17:3; 47:7 [Jeremiah 48:7?], Jeremiah 50:36-37; 51:13, Daniel 5:2-4, Ezekiel 26:7, 12; 27:1-36; Zechariah 9:3-4; Psalms 45:12; Hosea 12:9; Revelation 3:17-18, Luke 14:33, and elsewhere. On the poor in the spiritual sense as people who do not have insights into what is good and true but who long for them, see Matthew 11:5; Luke 6:20-21; 14:21; Isaiah 14:30; 29:19; 41:17-18; Zephaniah 3:12, 18 [13]. An explanation of the spiritual meaning of all these passages may be found in 10227 of Secrets of Heaven.

Footnotes:

1. [Swedenborg's footnote] Garments mean things that are true, and therefore insights: 1033 [1073?], 2576, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9952, 10536. Purple means heavenly good: 9467. Linen means truth of a heavenly origin: 5319, 9469, 9744.

2. [Swedenborg's footnote] A camel in the Word means our cognitive and informational level in general: 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145. What embroidery, embroidering, and therefore needles Arcana Coelestia 9688. To start from outward facts in order to gain access to truths of faith is contrary to the divine design: 10236. People who do this become insane in matters of heaven and the church: 128-130, 232-233, 6047; and in the other life, when they think about spiritual things, they become virtually drunk: 1072. More about their nature: 196. Examples to illustrate the fact that spiritual things cannot be grasped if they are approached on this basis: 233, 2094, 2196, 2203, 2209. It is all right to go from spiritual truth into the knowledge appropriate to our natural level, but not the other way around, because there is an inflow of the spiritual into the natural but not an inflow of the natural into the spiritual: 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427-5428, 5478, 6322, 9110-9111 [10199?]. We need first to acknowledge the truths of the Word and the church, and then it is all right to take our secular learning into account; but not the other way around: 6047.

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