The Bible

 

Joel 2:3

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3 Foran det æder Ild, og bag det flammer Lue; foran det er Landet som Eden og bag det en øde Ørk; fra det slipper ingen bort.


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

The Bible

 

Habakkuk 3

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1 (En Bøn af Profeten Hahakkuk. Al-sjigjonot.)

2 HE E, jeg har hørt dit y, jeg har skuet din Gerning, HE E. Fuldbyrd det i Årenes Løb, åbenbar dig i Årenes Løb, kom Barmhjertighed i Hu under Vreden!

3 Gud drager frem fra Teman, den Hellige fra Parans Bjerge. - Sela. Hans Højhed skjuler Himlen, hans Herlighed fylder Jorden.

4 Under ham er Glans som Ild, fra hans Side udgår Stråler; der er hans Vælde i Skjul.

5 Foran ham vandrer Pest, og efter ham følger Sot.

6 Hans Fjed får Jorden til at skælve, hans Blik får Folk til at bæve. De ældgamle Bjerge brister, de evige Høje synker, ad evige Stier går han.

7 Kusjans Telte bæver, Telttæpperne i Midjans Land.

8 Er HE EN da vred på Strømmene, gælder din Vrede Strømmene, gælder din Harme Havet, siden du farer frem på dine Heste og dine Vogne drøner.

9 Din Bue kom blottet til Syne, din Buestreng mætter du med Pile. - Sela. Du kløver Jorden i Strømme,

10 Bjergene ser dig og skælver. Skyerne nedsender egnskyl, og Afgrunden løfter sin øst.

11 Solen glemmer at stå op, Månen bliver i sit Bo; de flygter for Skinnet af dine Pile, for Glansen af dit lynende Spyd.

12 I Harme skrider du hen over Jorden, du nedtramper Folk i Vrede.

13 Du drager ud til Frelse for dit Folk, ud for at frelse din Salvede. Du knuser den gudløses Hustag, blotter Grunden til Klippen. - Sela.

14 Med dit Spyd gennemborer du hans Hoved, bans Høvdinger splittes.

15 Du tramper hans Heste i Havet, i de mange Vandes Dynd.

16 Jeg hørte det; da bæved min Krop, ved Braget skjalv mine Læber; Edder for i mine Ben, og under mig vakled mine Skridt. Jeg bier på Trængselens Dag over Folket, som volder os Krig.

17 Thi Figentræet blomstrer ikke, Vinstokken giver intet, Olietræets Afgrøde svigter, Markerne giver ej Føde. Fårene svandt af Folden, i Staldene findes ej Okser.

18 Men jeg vil frydes i HE EN, juble i min Frelses Gud.

19 Den Herre HE EN er min Styrke, han gør mine Fødder som Hindens og lader mig gå på mine Høje. Til Sangmesteren. Med Strengespil.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #30

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30. Verses 14-17 And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to make a distinction between the day and the night; and they will be for signs, and for set times, and for days and years. And they will be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser light to have dominion over the night; and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.

No one can have an adequate understanding of what 'the great lights' are unless he knows what the underlying essence of faith is and how it develops in people who are being created anew. The very essence and life of faith is the Lord alone. In fact it is impossible for anyone who does not believe in the Lord to have life, as He Himself has said in John,

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God will rest upon him. John 3:36.

[2] With people who are being created anew faith develops as follows: First of all they have no life, for life does not exist in anything evil and false but in what is good and true. Then they start to receive life from the Lord by means of faith - first by faith existing in the memory, which is factual faith, then by faith existing in the understanding, which is conceptual faith, and after this by faith existing in the heart, which is loving or saving faith. Factual faith and conceptual faith are represented in verses 3-13 by the inanimate, but faith made alive by means of love is represented in verses 20-25 by the animate. Consequently this is the first point at which love and faith deriving from it, which are called 'lights', are dealt with. Love is 'the greater light which has dominion over the day', and faith deriving from love is 'the lesser light which has dominion over the night'. And because they ought to make one the verb in the phrase 'let there be lights 'is singular and not plural.

[3] Love and faith have their place in the internal man as warmth and light do in the external, bodily man, and for this reason love and faith are represented by warmth and light. Therefore it is said that 'the lights' were set in the expanse of the heavens, that is, in the internal man - the greater light in his will and the lesser in his understanding. Yet they make their appearances in the will and understanding only as sunlight does in the objects it strikes. To the Lord alone belongs the mercy which moves the will with love and the understanding with truth or faith.

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