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Jeremiah 48

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1 Against Moab thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Woe to Nabo, for it is laid waste, and confounded: Cariathaim is taken: the strong city is confounded and hath trembled.

2 There is no more rejoicing in Moab over Hesebon: they have devised evil. Come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Therefore shalt thou in silence hold thy peace, and the sword shall follow thee.

3 A voice of crying from Oronaim: waste, and great destruction.

4 Moab is destroyed: proclaim a cry for her little ones.

5 For by the ascent of Luith shall the mourner go up with weeping: for in the descent of Oronaim the enemies have heard a howling of destruction.

6 Flee, save your lives: and be as heath in the wilderness.

7 For because thou hast trusted in thy bulwarks, and in thy treasures, thou also shalt be taken: and Chamos shall go into captivity, his priests, and his princes together.

8 And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: and the valleys shall perish, and the plains shall be destroyed, for the Lord hath spoken:

9 Give a flower to Moab, for in its flower it shall go out: and the cities thereof shall be desolate, and uninhabited.

10 Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully: and cursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood.

11 Moab hath been fruitful from his youth, and hath rested upon his lees: and hath not been poured out from vessel to vessel, nor hath gone into captivity : therefore his taste hath remained in him, and his scent is not changed.

12 Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send him men that shall order and overturn his bottles, and they shall cast him down, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles one against another.

13 And Moab shall be ashamed of Chamos, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted.

14 How do you say: We are valiant, and stout men in battle?

15 Moab is laid waste, and they have cast down her cities: and her choice young men are gone down to the slaughter: saith the king, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

16 The destruction of Moab is near to come: the calamity thereof shall come on exceeding swiftly.

17 Comfort him, all you that are round about him, and all you that know his name, say: How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod?

18 Come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst, O dwelling of the daughter of Dibon: because the spoiler of Moab is come up to thee, he hath destroyed thy bulwarks.

19 Stand in the way, and look out, O habitation of Aroer: inquire of him that fleeth: and say to him that hath escaped: What Is done?

20 Moab is confounded, because he is overthrown: howl ye, and cry, tell ye it in Amen, that Moab is wasted.

21 And judgment is come upon the plain country: upon Helon, and upon Jasa, and upon Mephaath.

22 And upon Dibon, and upon Nabo, and upon the house of Deblathaim,

23 And upon Cariathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmaon,

24 And upon Carioth, and upon Bosra: and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the Lord.

26 Make him drunk, because he lifted up himself against the Lord: and Moab shall dash his hand in his own vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

27 For Israel hath been a derision unto thee: as though thou hadst found him amongst thieves: for thy words therefore, which thou hast spoken against him, thou shalt be led away captive.

28 Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, you that dwell in Moab: and be ye Iike the dove that maketh her nest in the mouth of the hole in the highest place.

29 We have heard the pride of Moab, he is exceeding proud: his haughtiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the loftiness of his heart.

30 I know, saith the Lord, his boasting, and that the strength thereof is not according to it, neither hath it endeavoured to do according as it was able.

31 Therefore will I lament for Moab, and I will cry out to all Moab, for the men of the brick wall that mourn.

32 O vineyard of Sabama, I will weep for thee, with the mourning of Jazer: thy branches are gone over the sea, they are come even to the sea of Jazer: the robber hath rushed in upon thy harvest and thy vintage.

33 Joy and gladness is taken away from Carmel, and from the land of Moab, and I have taken away the wine out of the presses: the treader of the grapes shall not sing the accustomed cheerful tune.

34 From the cry of Hesebon even to Eleale, and to Jasa, they have uttered their voice: from Segor to Oronaim, as a heifer of three years old: the waters also of Nemrim shall be very bad.

35 And I will take away from Moab, saith the Lord, him that offereth in the high places, and that sacrificeth to his gods.

36 Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes: and my heart a sound like pipes for the men of the brick wall: because he hath done more than he could, therefore they have perished.

37 For every head shall be bald, and every beard shall be shaven: all hands shall be tied together, and upon every back there shall be haircloth.

38 Upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof general mourning: because I have broken Moab as an useless vessel, saith the Lord.

39 How is it overthrown, and they have howled! How hath Moab bowed down the neck, and is confounded ! And Moab shall be a derision, and an example to all round about him.

40 Thus saith the Lord: Behold he shall fly as an eagle, and shall stretch forth his wings to Moab.

41 Carioth is taken, and the strong holds are won: and the heart of the valiant men of Moab in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in labour.

42 And Moab shall cease to be a people : because he hath gloried against the Lord.

43 Fear, and the pit, and the snare come upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the Lord.

44 He that shall flee from the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall get up out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon Moab the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.

45 They that fled from the snare stood in the shadow of Hesebon: but there came a fire out of Kesebon, and a flame out of the midst of Seen, and it shall devour part of Moab. and the crown of the head of the children of tumult.

46 Woe to thee, Moab, thou hast perished, O people of Chamos: for thy sons, and thy daughters are taken captives.

47 And I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the last days, saith the Lord. Hitherto the judgments of Moab.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4137

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4137. 'For I might have sent you away with gladness and with songs' means the state in which - thinking from the proprium - it had believed itself to be as regards truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'I might have sent you away' as that it would have separated itself in freedom. But the fact that it had not separated itself when in that state is clear from what has been stated already in 4113. From this it is evident that these words were uttered by Laban in the state in which - thinking from the proprium - he had believed himself to be. For when a person's belief is based on his own thought it is not the truth, whereas when it is not based on his own thought but is received from the Lord it is based on the truth. The state referred to at this point is a state as regards truths, and this is meant by 'sending away with gladness and with songs', for gladness and songs have reference to truths.

[2] In the Word the expressions 'gladness' and 'joy' are used in various places, sometimes the two appearing together. But 'gladness' is used when truth or the affection for truth is the subject, and 'joy' when good or the affection for good is, as in Isaiah,

Behold, joy and gladness consist in slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. Isaiah 22:13.

Here 'joy' has reference to good and 'gladness' to truth. In the same prophet,

There will be an outcry in the streets over [the lack of] wine, all gladness will be made desolate, and the joy of the earth 1 will be banished. Isaiah 24:11.

In the same prophet,

The ransomed of Jehovah will return, and come to Zion with song, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they will obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:10; 51:11.

In the same prophet,

Jehovah will comfort Zion. Joy and gladness will be found in her, confession and the voice of song. Isaiah 51:3.

In Jeremiah,

I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land will become a waste. Jeremiah 7:34; 25:10.

In the same prophet,

The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those that say, Give thanks 2 to Jehovah Zebaoth. Jeremiah 33:11.

In the same prophet,

Joy and exultation have been plucked from Carmel, and from the land of Moab. Jeremiah 48:33

In Joel,

Is not the food cut off before our eyes, gladness and exultation from the house of our God? Joel 1:16.

In Zechariah, The fast will be to the house of Judah one of joy and gladness and good feasts. Zechariah 8:19.

[3] Anyone who does not know that the heavenly marriage, that is, the marriage of good and truth, is present in every detail of the Word might suppose that these two - joy and gladness - are exactly the same as each other and that both are used merely for the sake of greater emphasis, so that one of them is superfluous. But this is not the case, for not even the smallest part of an expression is used which lacks the spiritual sense. In the places that have been quoted, and in others too, 'joy' has reference to good and 'gladness' to truth, see also 3118. The fact that 'songs' also has reference to truths is clear from many places in the Word where songs are mentioned, for example Isaiah 5:1; 24:9; 26:1; 30:29; 42:10; Ezekiel 26:13; Amos 5:23; and elsewhere.

[4] It should be recognized that everything in the Lord's kingdom has reference either to good or to truth, that is, to the things that are aspects of love or to those that are aspects of faith wedded to charity. Those which have reference to good or aspects of love are called celestial, while those which have reference to truth or aspects of faith wedded to charity are called spiritual. Since in every single detail of the Word the Lord's kingdom is the subject and in the highest sense the Lord Himself; and since the Lord's kingdom consists in a marriage of goodness and truth, or the heavenly marriage, and the Lord Himself is the one in whom the Divine marriage exists and from whom the heavenly marriage derives, that marriage is present in every single part of the Word. It stands out in particular in the Prophets where repetitions of one and the same thing occur with merely a change of words. In no case however are those repetitions pointless, for one expression means that which is celestial, that is, which has to do with love or good, and the other that which is spiritual, that is, which has to do with faith wedded to charity, or with truth. These considerations show how the heavenly marriage, that is, the Lord's kingdom, is present in every detail of the Word, and how in the highest sense the Divine marriage itself or the Lord is present there.

Footnotes:

1. The Latin means all joy, but the Hebrew means the joy of the earth, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.

2. literally, Confess

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