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Ezekiel 11

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1 And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the east gate of the house of the Lord, which looketh towards the rising of the sun: and behold in the entry of the gate five and twenty men: and I saw in the midst of them Jezonias the son of Azur, and Pheltias the son of Banaias, princes of the people.

2 And he said to me: Son of man, these are the men that study iniquity, and frame a wicked counsel in this city,

3 Saying: Were not houses lately built? This city is the caldron, and we the flesh.

4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, thou son of man.

5 And the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said to me: Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Thus have you spoken, O house of Israel, for I know the thoughts of your heart.

6 You have killed a great many in this city, and you have filled the streets thereof with the slain.

7 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Your slain, whom you have laid in the midst thereof, they are the flesh, and this is the caldron: and I will bring you forth out of the midst thereof.

8 You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, saith the Lord God.

9 And I will cast you out of the midst thereof, and I will deliver you into the hand of the enemies, and I will execute judgments upon you.

10 You shall fall by the sword: I will judge you in the borders of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

11 This shall not be as a caldron to you, and you shall not be as flesh in the midst thereof: I will judge you in the borders of Israel.

12 And you shall know that I am the Lord: because you have not walked in my commandments, and have not done my judgments, but you have done according to the judgments of the nations that; are round about you.

13 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pheltias the son of Banaias died: and I fell down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice: and said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God: wilt thou make an end of all the remnant of Israel?

14 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

15 Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, thy kinsmen, and all the house of Israel, all they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said: Get ye far from the Lord, the land is given in possession to us.

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because I have removed them far off among the Gentiles, and because I have scattered them among the countries: I will be to them a little sanctuary in the countries whither they are come.

17 Therefore speak to them: Thus saith the Lord God: I will gather you from among the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries wherein you are scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

18 And they shall go in thither, and shall take away all the scandals, and all the abominations thereof from thence.

19 And I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh:

20 That they may walk in my commandments, and keep my judgments, and do them: and that they may be my people, and I may be their God.

21 But as for them whose heart walketh after their scandals and abominations, I will lay their way upon their head, saith the Lord God.

22 And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and the wheels with them: and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

23 And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood over the mount that is on the east side of the city.

24 And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into Chaldea, to them of the captivity, in vision, by the spirit of God: and the vision which I had seen was taken up from me.

25 And I spoke to them of the captivity all the words of the Lord, which he had shewn me.

   

The Bible

 

Ezekiel 37:27

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27 And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8443

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8443. 'And behold, the glory of Jehovah was seen in the cloud' means the Lord's presence within truth adjusted to their discernment. This is clear from the meaning of 'the glory of Jehovah' as the presence and arrival of the Lord, dealt with above in 8427; and from the meaning of 'the cloud' as the literal sense of the Word, dealt with in the Preface to Genesis 18, and in 4391, 5922, 6343 (end), 6752, 8106, thus truth adjusted to people's discernment, for the Word in the letter is that kind of truth. But 'the glory that is in the cloud' is Divine Truth, which is not adjusted in that way to people's discernment, because it is above illusions and appearances of the senses; so it is also the internal sense of the Word, Preface to Genesis 18, and 5922, 8427. The reason why 'the glory' is the internal sense of the Word is that this sense deals with the Church and the Lord's kingdom, and the highest sense with the Lord Himself, which sense also contains Divine Truth in its absolute form.

[2] There are many levels of God's truth, not just one. The first level of God's truth, and also the second, is that truth going forth directly from the Lord; it is above angels' understanding. But the third level of God's truth is that truth as it exists in the inmost or third heaven; its nature is such that man can grasp nothing whatever of it. The fourth level of God's truth is as it exists in the middle or second heaven; this is not intelligible to man either. But the fifth level of God's truth is that truth as it exists in the lowest or first heaven; this may to some small extent be perceived by man, but only if he is enlightened, though even then it is such that human language is incapable of expressing a large part of it. When it passes into ideas it generates the ability to perceive it and also to believe that it is indeed the truth. But the sixth level of God's truth is as it exists with man; it is adjusted to his discernment, thus it is the sense of the letter of the Word. This sense or kind of truth is represented by 'the cloud' and inner truths by 'the glory in the cloud'.

[3] This explains why Jehovah, that is, the Lord, appeared so many times to Moses and the children of Israel in a cloud, as at Exodus 24:15-16; 40:34-35; 1 Kings 8:10-11; Matthew 24:30; and elsewhere. When the Lord is making His appearance He does so through Divine Truth; indeed what is appearing is Divine Truth. The meaning of 'a cloud' as truth adjusted to human discernment has its origin in representatives in the next life. There the speech of angels in the higher heavens manifests itself to those below as light and also as the brilliance of light; but the speech of angels belonging to a lower heaven manifests itself as a bright cloud, the shape of which varies, and the thick or thin texture of which is determined by the character of truths. From all this it becomes clear that 'the glory of Jehovah was seen in the cloud' means the Lord's presence within truth adjusted to their discernment.

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