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Amos 4

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1 Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say to their lords, Bring, and let us drink:

2 the Lord Jehovah hath sworn by his holiness, that behold, days shall come upon you, when he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks;

3 and ye shall go out by the breaches, every one straight before her, and ye shall be cast out to Harmon, saith Jehovah.

4 Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices in the morning, your tithes every three days,

5 and burn a thank-offering with leaven, and proclaim, publish, voluntary offerings: for this pleaseth you, children of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah.

6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet ye have not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

7 And I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece [of land] was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

8 And two, three, cities wandered unto one city, to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew; the palmer-worm hath devoured the multitude of your gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig-trees and your olive-trees: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, taking away captive your horses; and I made the stench of your camps to come up, even into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

11 I have overthrown among you, like God's overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

13 For behold, he who formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, who maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, -- Jehovah, the God of hosts, is his name.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #6380

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6380. 'And his teeth white from milk' means that the Divine Natural is nothing else than the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'white' as that which is used with reference to truth, dealt with in 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319; from the meaning of 'teeth' in the genuine sense as the natural, for the hard parts of a person's body, such as his teeth, bones, and cartilages, correspond to the truths and forms of good that belong to the lowest parts of the natural; and from the meaning of 'milk' as the celestial-spiritual, or what amounts to the same, the good of truth, dealt with in 2184. The Lord's Divine Natural is said to be the good of truth when it is considered in relation to people who believe in and love the Lord; for members of the external Church are unable to go any higher in their thinking than the Lord's Divine Natural, whereas the thinking of members of the internal Church goes above the natural to the Internal. For the idea of the Lord formed by anyone who believes in Him is conditioned by how far he can rise in his thinking. Those who are aware of what the internal is can have an idea of the internal; but those who are not aware of what the internal is have an idea of the external. This is why the Lord's Divine Natural is said to be the good of truth, when in fact His entire Human is the Divine Good of Divine Love.

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