The Bible

 

Ezekiel 7

Study

   

1 Og HE ENs Ord kom til mig således

2 Du, Menneskesøn, sig: Så siger den Herre HE EN til Israels Land: Enden kommer, Enden kommer over Landet vidt og bredt!

3 Nu kommer Enden over dig, og jeg sender min Vrede imod dig og dømmer dig efter dine Veje og gengælder dig alle dine Vederstyggeigheder.

4 Jeg viser dig ingen Medynk eller Skånsel, men gengælder dig dine Veje, og dine Vederstyggeligheder skal blive i din Midte; og du skal kende, at jeg er HE EN.

5 siger den Herre HE EN: Ulykke følger på Ulykke; se, det kommer!

6 Enden kommer, Enden kommer; den er vågnet og tager Sigte på dig; se, det kommer!

7 Turen kommer til dig, som bor i Landet; Tiden er inde, Dagen er nær, en Dag med ædsel og ikke med Frydeskrig på Bjergene.

8 Nu udøser jeg snart min Harme over dig og udtømmer min Vrede på dig, dømmer dig efter dine Veje og gengælder dig alle dine Vederstyggeligheder.

9 Jeg viser dig ingen Medynk eller Skånsel, men gengælder dig dine Veje, og dine Vederstyggeligheder skal blive i din Midte; og I skal kende, at jeg, HE EN, er den, som slår.

10 Se, Dagen! Se, det kommer; Turen kommer til dig"! iset blomstrer, Overmodet grønnes.

11 Vold rejser sig til et is over Gudløshed; der bliver intet tilbage af dem, intet af deres larmende Hob, intet af deres Gods, og der er ingen Herlighed iblandt dem.

12 Tiden er inde, Dagen er nær; Køberen skal ikke glæde sig og Sælgeren ikke sørge, thi Vrede kommer over al den larmende Hob derinde.

13 Thi Sælgeren skal ikke vende tilbage til det solgte, om han end bliver i Live; thi Synet om al den larmende Hob derinde tages ikke tilbage, og ingen skal styrke sit Liv ved sin Misgerning.

14 Man støder i Hornet og gør alt rede, men ingen drager i krig; thi min Vrede kommer over al den larmende Hob derinde.

15 Sværd ude og Pest og Hunger inde! De, der er i Marken, omkommer for Sværd, og dem, der er i Byen, fortærer Hunger og Pest.

16 Og selv om nogle af dem undslipper og når op i Bjergene som Kløfternes Duer, skal de alle dø, hver for sin Misgerning.

17 Alle Hænder er slappe, alle Knæ flyder som Vand.

18 De klæder sig i Sæk, og ædsel omhyller dem; alle Ansigter er skamfulde, alle Hoveder skaldede.

19 Deres Sølv kaster de ud på Gaden, deres Guld regnes for Snavs; deres Sølv og Guld kan ikke redde dem på HE ENs Vredes Dag; de kan ikke stille deres Hunger eller fylde deres Bug dermed, thi det var dem Årsag til Skyld.

20 I dets strålende Pragt satte de deres Stolthed, og deres vederstyggelige Billeder, deres væmmelige Guder, lavede de deraf: derfor gør jeg det til Snavs for dem.

21 Jeg giver det som Bytte i de fremmedes Hånd og som ov til de mest gudløse på Jorden, og de skal vanhellige det.

22 Jeg vender mit Åsyn fra dem og man skal vanhellige mit Kleodie, ansmænd skal trænge ind og vanhellige det.

23 Gør Lænkerne rede! Thi Landet er fuldt af Blodskyld og Byen af Vold.

24 Jeg henter de værste af Folkene, og de skal tage Husene i Eje; jeg gør Ende på de mægtiges Stolthed, og deres Helligdomme skal vanhelliges.

25 Der opstår Angst; man søger edning, men finder den ikke.

26 Uheld følger på Uheld, ygte på ygte; man skal tigge Profeten om et Syn, Præsten kommer til kort med Vejledning og de Ældste med åd.

27 Kongen sørger, Fyrsten hyller sig i ædsel, og Landboernes Hænder lammes af Forfærdelse. Jeg gør med dem efter deres Færd og dømmer dem, som de fortjener; og de skal kende, at jeg er HE EN.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

From Swedenborg's Works

 

De Verbo (The Word) #10

Study this Passage

  
/ 26  
  

10. X. The ultimate sense of the Word, 1 which is the literal sense alone, corresponds to the beard and hair of the head of an angelic person.

It may seem surprising the first time it is said or we hear it said that the hair of the head and the beard correspond to the Word at its ultimate level. But this correspondence is due to the fact that everything in the Word corresponds to everything in heaven, and heaven corresponds to everything in a person. For heaven taken as a whole is like a single person in the Lord's sight; on this correspondence see Heaven and Hell [87-102, 307].

[2] I was allowed to perceive that everything in the Word corresponds to everything in heaven from the fact that each chapter in the books of the prophets corresponds to one particular community in heaven. For on reading through the prophetic parts of the word from Isaiah to Malachi, I was allowed to see that the communities of heaven were aroused one after the other, and they perceived the spiritual sense which corresponded to them. So from this and other proofs it was plain to me that the whole of heaven has, part by part, a correspondence to the Word. Now since there is such a correspondence of the Word to heaven, and heaven as a whole and in its parts corresponds to a person, this is why the ultimate level of the Word corresponds to the ultimate in a person. The ultimate level in the Word is the literal sense, and the ultimate level in a person is the hair of his head and his beard.

[3] This is why when people who have loved the Word even at its ultimate level after death become spirits, they are to be seen with a fair head of hair; and so are the angels. When these same people become angels, they also let their beards grow. On the other hand, all who have despised the literal sense of the Word, on becoming spirits after death, turn bald. This is also a sign that they are devoid of truths. So to avoid embarrassing others, they cover their heads with a head-dress.

[4] Since the hair and the beard mean the ultimate level of heaven, and so also the ultimate level of Divine Truth or the Word, the Ancient of Days is described as having the hair of his head like clean wool (Daniel 7:9). Likewise the Son of Man or the Lord as regards the Word (Revelation 1:14). For the same reason the strength of Samson lay in his hair, and he was weakened by having it cut off. The condition of a Nazarite also lay in his hair; for the Nazarite represented the Lord at His ultimate level, and so also heaven at its ultimate level. This was the reason why the forty-two children were torn in pieces by bears for calling Elisha bald (2 Kings 2:23-24).

[5] Elisha, like Elijah and the other prophets, represented the Lord as regards the Word; and the Word without its ultimate, that is, its literal sense, is no longer the Word. For the literal sense of the Word is like a bottle filled with fine wine; so if the bottle is broken, all the wine is lost. The literal sense of the Word is like the bones and skin of the human body; take them away and the whole person falls to pieces. That is why what holds the Word together and in fact gives it its power is its ultimate sense, the literal sense; for this sustains and holds together all the Divine truth it contains.

[6] Since baldness means the absence of truth, when the Jewish church, since it lacks the ultimate level, abandoned Jehovah and despised the Word, it was called bald, as in Jeremiah:

Every head is bald and every beard is shorn. Jeremiah 48:37.

In Isaiah:

Baldness on their heads, and a shorn beard. Isaiah 15:2.

In Ezekiel:

To shave his head and beard with a razor. Ezekiel 5:1.

Shame on all their faces, and baldness on all heads. Ezekiel 7:18.

Every head has been made bald. Ezekiel 29:18.

And in other places, such as Amos 8:10, Micah 1:16.

[7] But the sense of the Word known as the literal sense corresponds at its ultimate level to the hair of the head, but in other respects to various parts of the human body, as its head, chest, loins and feet. But where those correspondences occur in that sense, the Word is so to speak clothed, and so corresponds to the clothing of those parts. For in general clothes mean truths, and really correspond to them. But there are still many things in the literal sense of the Word which are bare and so to speak unclothed; and they correspond to a person's face and his hands, which are the parts left uncovered. Those parts of the Word serve for the teaching of the church, because they are in themselves spiritual-natural truths. From this it can be established that there is no obstacle to prevent a person being able to find and see bare truths there too.

Footnotes:

1. Added in the margin: 'As the result of the correspondence between natural and spiritual things the ultimate sense of the Word is to be understood by the twelve precious stones composing the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem'.

  
/ 26  
  

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