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Ezekiel 5

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1 Og du Menneskesøn tag dig et skarbt sværd, brug det som agekniv og lad det gå over dit Hoved og dit Skæg; tag dig så en Vægtskål og del Håret.

2 En Tredjedel skal du brænde i et Bål midt i Byen, når Belejringens Dage er omme; en Tredjedel skal du tage og slå den med Sværdet rundt om Byen; og en Tredjedel skal du sprede for Vinden; så drager jeg Sværdet bag dem.

3 Derefter skal du tage lidt deraf og svøbe det ind i din kappeflig;

4 og deraf skal du atter tage noget og kaste det midt ind i Ilden og brænde det. Og du skal sige til hele Israels Hus:

5 siger den Herre HE EN: Dette er Jerusalem; jeg satte det midt iblandt Folkene, omgivet af lande.

6 Men det var gudløst og genstridigt mod mine Lovbud mere end Folkene og mod mine Vedtægter mere end Landene rundt om; thi de lod hånt om mine Lovbud og vandrede ikke efter mine Vedtægter.

7 Derfor, så siger den Herre HE EN: Fordi I var mere genstridige end Folkene rundt om og ikke vandrede efter mine Vedtægter eller holdt mine Lovbud, men gjorde efter de omboende Folks Lovbud,

8 derfor, så siger den Herre HE EN: Se, jeg kommer over dig og holder Dom i din Midte for Folkenes Øjne.

9 For alle dine Vederstyggeligheders Skyld vil jeg gøre med dig, hvad jeg aldrig har gjort og aldrig vil gøre Mage til.

10 Derfor skal Fædre æde deres Børn i din Midte og Børn deres Fædre; jeg holder Dom over dig, og alle, som er til est i dig, spreder jeg for alle Vinde.

11 Derfor, så sandt jeg lever, lyder det fra den Herre HE EN: Sandelig, fordi du gjorde min Helligdom uren med alle dine væmmelige Guder og Vederstyggeligheder, vil jeg også støde dig fra mig uden Medynk eller Skånsel.

12 En Tredjedel af dig skal af Pest og omkomme af Hunger i din Midte, en Tredjedel skal falde for Sværdet rundt om dig, og en Tredjedel spreder jeg for alle Vinde og drager Sværdet bag dem.

13 Min Vrede skal udtømme sig, og jeg vil køle min Harme på dem og tage Hævn, så de skal kende at jeg, HE EN, har talet i min Nidkærhed, når jeg udtømmer min Vrede over dem.

14 Jeg gør dig til en Grushob og til Spot blandt Folkene rundt om, for Øjnene af enhver, som drager forbi.

15 Du skal blive til Spot og Hån, til Advarsel og ædsel for Folkene rundt om, når jeg holder Dom over dig i Vrede og Harme og harm fuld evselse. Jeg, HE EN, har talet!

16 Når jeg sender Hungerens onde Pile mod eder, og de, som jeg sender for af ødelægge eder, volder Ødelæggelse, og jeg lader Hungeren tage til, da sønderbryder jeg Brødets Støttestav for eder

17 og sender Hunger over eder og ovdyr, som skal affolke dig; Pest og Blodsudgydelse skal hjemsøge dig, og jeg bringer Sværd over dig. Jeg, HE EN, har talet.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8973

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8973. Verses 2-6 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If he comes in his body, he shall go out in his body; 1 if he is master of a woman, 2 his woman shall go out with him. If his master has given him a woman and she has borne him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out in his body 3 . And if the slave says plainly, I love my master, my woman, and my children, I will not go out free; his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

'When you buy a Hebrew slave' means those within the Church who are imbued with the truths of religious teachings and not with the good that accords with those truths. 'He shall serve for six years' means a state of labour and some conflict, and of consequent strengthening of truth. 'And in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing' means a state of strengthened truth without its works. 'If he comes in his body' means truth without delight. 'He shall go out in his body' means a state of truth without delight, also after conflict. 'If he is master of a woman' means truth together with delight linked to it. 'His woman shall go out with him' means a state of truth together with delight joined to it, also after conflict. 'If his master has given him a woman' means good attached by the spiritual to truth during conflict. 'And she has borne him sons or daughters' means truths and forms of good which are derived from that good. 'The woman and her children shall be her master's' means that the good attached by the spiritual to truth, and the forms of good and the truths derived from that good, must not be assigned to truth as its own. 'And he shall go out in his body' means a state after conflict, which is solely one of strengthened and implanted truth. 'And if the slave says plainly' means thought then springing from the implanted truth. 'I love my master, my woman, and my children' means the delight in remembering forms of spiritual good. 'I will not go out free' means the delight of obedience. 'His master shall bring him to God' means the state he then enters in keeping with Divine order. 'And shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost' means a state in which strengthened and implanted truth communicates with spiritual good. 'And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl' means a representative sign of obedience. 'And he shall serve him forever' means into eternity.

Footnotes:

1. i.e. If he comes in single, he shall go out single.

2. i.e. if he is married

3. i.e. alone

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8685

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8685. 'That Moses sat to judge the people' means the arrangement, effected by God's truth, with those belonging to the spiritual Church in the state before their actions sprang from good. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as God's truth going forth directly from the Lord, dealt with in 7010, 7382; from the meaning of 'judging' as effecting an arrangement (the reason why 'judging' has this meaning here is that God's truth does not judge anyone, but flows in and arranges things for its own reception, and after it has been received judgement then takes place in accordance with the laws of order; this is what is meant by the Lord's judgement in Matthew 25:31-end; John 5:22, 26-27, 30; 9:39, as is clear from the Lord's words where He says that He judges no one, John 3:17-21; 7:24; 12:47-48); and from the representation of Israel, to whom 'the people' refers here, as those belonging to the spiritual Church, dealt with above in 8645. From all this it is evident that 'Moses sat to judge the people' means the arrangement, effected by God's truth going forth directly from the Lord, with those belonging to the spiritual Church.

[2] This is so in the state before their actions spring from good, as is clear from what follows. There are two states that the person who is being regenerated and coming to have the Church within him passes through. In the first state his actions spring from truth, in the second from good, regarding which states see 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658. In both states the person is led by the Lord, in the first however through direct influx, but in the second through influx both direct and indirect. Regarding the influx of goodness and truth from the Lord in direct and indirect ways, see 6472-6478, 6982, 6985, 6996, 7054-7058, 7270. Direct influx is represented by the situation in which Moses alone judged the people, and influx both direct and indirect by the situation in which the rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens who had been chosen were themselves to judge small matters, and to refer large matters to Moses, spoken of further on. But these things are arcana which hardly anyone can understand unless he is enlightened by the Lord, and being enlightened has perception. Those kinds of influx and also the effects they produce can, it is true, be described. Nevertheless a person can have no proper understanding of them without perception from heaven; and perception from heaven comes only to those who have a love of truth springing from good, yet not even to them unless it is a love of truth springing from genuine good.

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