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Ezekiel 30

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1 HE ENs Ord kom til mig således:

2 Menneskesøn, profeter og sig: Så siger den Herre HE EN: Jamrer: Ak, hvilken Dag!

3 Thi nær er Dagen, ja nær er HE ENs Dag; det bliver en Mulmets Dag, Hedningernes Tid.

4 Et Sværd kommer over Ægypten, og Ætiopien gribes af Skælven, når de slagne segner i Ægypten, når dets igdom bortføres og dets Grundvolde nedbrydes.

5 Ætioperne, Put og Lud og alt Blandingsfolket, Kub og min Pagts Sønner" skal falde for Sværdet med dem.

6 siger HE EN: Alle, som støtter Ægypten, skal falde og dets stolte Herlighed synke sammen; fra Migdol til Syene skal de falde for Sværdet, lyder det fra den Herre HE EN.

7 Det skal lægges øde blandt øde Lande, og Byerne skal ligge hen blandt tilintetgjorte Byer;

8 og de skal kende, at jeg er HE EN, når jeg sætter Ild på Ægypten og alle dets Hjælpere knuses.

9 På hin Dag skal der udgå Sendebud fra mig på Skibe for at indjage det sorgløse Ætiopien ædsel, og de skal gribes af Skælven over Ægyptens Dag; thi se, den kommer.

10 siger den Herre HE EN: Jeg gør Ende på Ægyptens Herlighed ved kong Nebukadrezar af Babel.

11 Han og hans Folk med ham, de grummeste blandt Folkene, skal hentes for at ødelægge Landet; de skal drage deres Sværd mod Ægypten og fylde Landet med slagne.

12 Jeg tørlægger Strømmene, sælger Landet til onde Folk, og ved fremmede ødelægger jeg det med alt, hvad der er deri. Jeg, HE EN, har talet.

13 siger den Herre HE EN: Jeg tilintetgør Afgudsbillederne og udrydder Høvdingerne af Nof og Fyrsterne af Ægypten; de skal ikke findes mere; og jeg indjager Ægypten ædsel.

14 Jeg lægger Patros øde, sætter Ild på Zoan og holder Dom over No.

15 Jeg udøser min Vrede over Sin, Ægyptens Bolværk, og udrydder Nos larmende Hob.

16 Jeg sætter Ild på Ægypten, Syene skal skælve af Angst, der skal brydes Hul på No, og dets Mure skal nedrives.

17 De unge Mænd i On og Pibeset skal falde for Sværdet og Kvinderne vandre i Fangenskab.

18 I Takpankes sortner Dagen, når jeg der sønderbryder Ægyptens Herskerstav, og dets stolte Herlighed får Ende der. Selv skal det skjules af Skyer og dets Småbyer vandre i Fangenskab.

19 Jeg holder Dom over Ægypten; og de skal kende, at jeg er HE EN.

20 I det ellevte År på den syvende Dag i den første Måned kom HE ENs Ord til mig således:

21 Menneskesøn! Ægypterkongen Faraos Arm har jeg brudt; og se den skal ikke forbindes, ikke læges ved at der lægges Bind om den, så den kunde få Kræfter til atter at gribe Sværdet.

22 Derfor, så siger den Herre HE EN: Se, jeg kommer over Farao, Ægyptens Konge, og bryder hans Arme, både den hele og den brudte, og lader Sværdet falde af hans Hånd.

23 Jeg spreder Ægypterne blandt Folkene og udstrør dem i Landene.

24 Men jeg styrker Babels Konges Arme og lægger mit Sværd i hans Hånd; og jeg bryder Faraos Arme, og han skal stønne for ham på såredes Vis.

25 Jeg styrker Babels Konges Arme, men Faraos skal synke; og de skal kende, at jeg er HE EN, når jeg lægger mit Sværd i Babels Konges Hånd og han svinger det imod Ægypten.

26 Og jeg spreder Ægypterne blandt Folkene og udstrør dem i Landene; og de skal kende, at jeg er HE EN.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #583

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583. IV. The process of regeneration is on the model of a person's conception, gestation in the womb, birth and upbringing.

The natural and spiritual events in a person's life, that is, what happens to his body and what to his spirit, are so ordered as permanently to correspond. The reason is that a person is by birth spiritual as regards his soul, and he is clothed with a natural form which is constituted by his material body. When therefore this is laid aside, his soul, clothed in his spiritual body, comes into the world where all things are spiritual, and there associates with people like him. Now the spiritual body has to be formed in the material one, a process accomplished by the inflow of truths and various kinds of good from the Lord through the spiritual world. These are inwardly received by the person in such things belonging to the natural world as are called civil and moral; so it is evident how the process of formation takes place. Because, as already said, there is a permanent correspondence between the natural and spiritual events in a person's life, it follows that this process must resemble his conception, gestation in the womb, birth and upbringing. That is why natural births in the Word mean spiritual births, that is, the birth of good and truth. For whatever stands in the literal or natural sense of the Word, enfolds and stands for something spiritual. I demonstrated fully in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture that every detail of the literal sense of the Word contains a spiritual sense.

[2] The natural births mentioned in the Word refer to spiritual births, as is evident from the following passages.

We have conceived, we have given birth, we have as it were brought forth [wind], we have not done what is sound, Isaiah 26:18.

At the presence of the Lord you give birth 1 , O earth, Psalms 114:7.

Has the earth given birth in one day? Shall I break and not bring to birth, and cause to give birth but close 2 up the womb? Isaiah 66:7-10. Sin gives birth and No shall be on the point of being breached, Ezekiel 30:16.

The pangs of childbirth shall come upon Ephraim. He is an unwise child, because at the right time he does not stand in the womb of sons, Hosea 13:12-13.

There are many other similar passages. Since natural births in the Word mean spiritual births, and these are the Lord's work, He is called He who forms and brings out of the womb. This is clear from these passages among others:

Jehovah your maker and who forms you from the womb, Isaiah 44:2.

He who brings me from the womb, Psalms 22:9.

I have been placed upon you from the womb, from my mother's inmost parts it was you who brought me forth, Psalms 71:6.

Pay attention to me, you who were carried by the belly, borne by the womb, Isaiah 46:3.

This is why the Lord is called 'Father' (as at Isaiah 9:6; 63:16, John 10:30; 14:8-9), and those who are in possession of good and truth from Him are called 'sons', 'born of God' and 'brothers' among themselves (Matthew 23:8-9). It is also why the church is called 'mother' (Hosea 2:2, 5; Ezekiel 16:45).

Footnotes:

1. Reading parturis for parturit, as elsewhere when this verse is quoted.

2. 'not close' in the Latin, but corrected in the author's copy.

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