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Daniel 8

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1 En la tria jaro de regxado de la regxo Belsxacar aperis al mi, al Daniel, vizio, post tiu, kiu aperis al mi en la komenco.

2 Kiam mi vidis la vizion, mi estis en la kastelurbo SXusxan, kiu trovigxas en la lando Elam; sed en la vizio mi vidis, ke mi estas cxe la rivero Ulaj.

3 Mi levis miajn okulojn, kaj mi ekvidis:jen unu virsxafo staras cxe la rivero; gxi havas du kornojn, kaj ambaux kornoj estas altaj, sed unu estas pli alta ol la dua, kaj la pli alta elkreskis poste.

4 Mi vidis, ke tiu virsxafo kornopusxas okcidenten, norden, kaj suden, kaj nenia besto povas kontrauxstari al gxi, kaj neniu povas savi kontraux gxia forto; kaj gxi faras cxion, kion gxi volas, kaj gxi estas granda.

5 Dum mi atente gxin rigardis, jen de okcidente iras virkapro sur la tutan teron, kaj gxi ne tusxas la teron. Tiu virkapro havis bone videblan kornon inter siaj okuloj.

6 Kaj gxi iris al tiu kornohava virsxafo, kiun mi vidis starantan cxe la rivero, kaj jxetis sin sur gxin kun furioza forto;

7 kaj mi vidis, ke, alproksimigxinte al la virsxafo, gxi furiozigxis kontraux gxi, frapis la virsxafon, kaj rompis ambaux gxiajn kornojn; kaj la virsxafo ne havis la forton, por kontrauxstari al gxi, kaj cxi tiu jxetis gxin sur la teron kaj disbatis gxin per la piedoj; kaj neniu povis savi la virsxafon kontraux gxia forto.

8 Tiam la virkapro forte grandigxis. Kiam gxi farigxis tre forta, rompigxis la granda korno, kaj anstataux gxi eliris kvar aliaj en la direkto al la kvar ventoj de la cxielo.

9 El unu el ili eliris alia korno malgranda, kiu forte kreskis suden kaj orienten kaj al la plej bela lando.

10 Kaj gxi kreskis gxis la armeo de la cxielo, kaj gxi jxetis sur la teron parton de tiu armeo kaj de la steloj, kaj dispremis ilin per la piedoj.

11 Kaj ecx kontraux la armeestron gxi levigxis, forprenis de li la cxiutagajn oferojn, kaj ruinigis lian sanktan logxejon.

12 Forto estis donita al gxi kontraux la cxiutagaj oferoj pro peko; kaj gxi jxetis la veron sur la teron kaj laboris kun sukceso.

13 Kaj mi auxdis unu sanktulon, kiu parolis, kaj tiu sanktulo diris al iu, kiu demandis:GXis kiam havos forton la profetajxo pri la cxiutagaj oferoj kaj pri la terura peko, ke la sanktejo kaj la armeo estos piedpremataj?

14 Kaj li diris al mi:GXis pasos du mil tricent vesperoj kaj matenoj; tiam la sanktejo denove estos sanktigita.

15 Dum mi, Daniel, estis rigardanta tiun vizion kaj sercxanta gxian signifon, jen starigxis antaux mi bildo de viro.

16 Kaj el meze de Ulaj mi auxdis homan vocxon, kiu vokis kaj diris:Gabriel, klarigu al li la vizion.

17 Kaj li aliris al tiu loko, kie mi staris; kaj kiam li venis, mi eksentis teruron kaj falis vizagxaltere; kaj li diris al mi:Sciu, ho homido, ke la vizio koncernas la finon de la tempo.

18 Kiam li parolis al mi, mi kusxis senkonscie sur la tero; sed li ektusxis min kaj starigis min sur mia loko.

19 Kaj li diris:Jen mi sciigas al vi, kio estos cxe la fino de la kolero; cxar tio koncernas la finan tempon.

20 La virsxafo, kiun vi vidis kun la du kornoj, estas la regxoj de Medujo kaj Persujo;

21 kaj la vila virkapro estas la regxo de Grekujo; la granda korno inter gxiaj okuloj estas la unua regxo;

22 gxi rompigxis, kaj anstataux gxi eliris kvar aliaj; kvar regnoj formigxos el la nacio, sed ne tiel fortaj, kiel gxi estis antauxe.

23 En la fina tempo de tiuj regnoj, kiam la perfiduloj havos sukceson, aperos regxo malmodesta, lerta ruzulo.

24 Li farigxos potenca, sed ne per sia forto; li faros grandan dezertigadon, li havos sukceson en siaj faroj, li pereigos fortulojn kaj la popolon de la sanktuloj.

25 Kaj pro lia sagxeco liaj ruzajxoj sukcesos en lia mano, kaj li fierigxos, kaj meze de paco li multajn pereigos, kaj li levigxos kontraux la Princon de la princoj; sed li estos frakasita, kvankam ne per mano.

26 La vizio pri la vespero kaj la mateno, kiu estas dirita al vi, estas vera; sed tenu la vizion sekrete, cxar gxi rilatas tempon malproksiman.

27 Kaj mi, Daniel, senfortigxis, kaj estis malsana dum kelke da tagoj. Poste mi levigxis kaj komencis okupadi min per la aferoj de la regxo. Mi estis konsternita de la vizio, sed neniu tion rimarkis.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #10135

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10135. 'And you shall offer the other lamb between the evenings' means a similar removal of evils in a state of light and love in the external man. This is clear from the meaning of 'offering a lamb', or sacrificing it, as being removed from evils by means of the good of innocence from the Lord, as immediately above in 10134; and from the meaning of 'between the evenings' as in a state of light and love in the external man. In the Word 'evening' means a state involving interior things when the truths of faith are set in obscurity, and forms of the good of love are in some coldness; for angels experience different states of love and light, just as in the world different times of day - morning, midday, evening, night or twilight prior to morning, and morning again - give way to one another. When the angels experience a state of love, to them it is morning, and the Lord appears before them as the rising Sun. When they experience a state of light, to them it is midday. When however they experience a state of light set in obscurity, to them it is evening; and when after this they experience a state of love set in obscurity or some coldness, for them it is night, or rather the twilight before morning.

[2] Such states experienced by the angels follow unceasingly one after another, and serve unceasingly to make them more perfect. But those changes are not due to the Sun there, to its rising and setting, but to the state of the interiors within the angels themselves; for as with people in the world they have a desire at one time to turn towards their internal interests, at another towards their external ones. When they turn towards internal interests they experience a state of love and consequently of light in clearness, and when they turn towards external interests they experience a state of love and consequently of light set in obscurity; for what is external is such, compared with what is internal. This is the origin of the changes of state experienced by angels. The reason why they have such states and such changes is that the Sun of heaven, which in that world is the Lord, is the Divine Love itself. Therefore the heat radiating from it is the good of love, and the light from it is the truth of faith. For everything radiating from that Sun has life, unlike the things radiating from the sun in the world, which are dead.

[3] From this it becomes clear what heavenly heat is and what heavenly light is, also why it is that 'heat', 'flame', and 'fire' in the Word mean the good of love, 'light' and its 'brightness' the truth of faith, and 'the sun' the Lord Himself in respect of Divine Love.

The Lord in heaven is the Sun, see 3636, 3643, 4321(end), 5097, 7078, 7083, 7171, 7173, 8812.

The heat from it is the good of love, 3338, 3339, 3636, 3693, 4018, 5215, 6032, 6314.

The light from that Sun is Divine Truth, the source of faith, intelligence, and wisdom, see the places referred to in 9548, 9684.

From all this it now becomes clear what 'morning' and what 'evening' mean.

[4] But it should be recognized that in the present verse 'the morning' implies midday as well, and evening early morning twilight as well; for when the words 'morning and evening' are used in the Word an entire day is meant, so that 'morning' includes midday, and 'evening' night or twilight. This explains why 'the morning' in the present verse means a state of love and also of light in clearness, that is, in the internal man, and 'the evening' a state of light, as well as of love in obscurity, that is, in the external man.

[5] The fact that 'between the evenings' is not used to mean the period of time between the evening of one day and the evening of the next day, but the time between evening and morning, thus all of the night or twilight, is evident from the consideration that the continual burnt offering of a lamb was presented not only in the evening but also in the morning. From this it becomes clear that something similar is meant elsewhere by 'between the evenings', for example, where it says that the Passover should be kept between the evenings, Exodus 12:6; Numbers 9:5, 11, which is explained in yet another place by the following words,

You shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening when the sun goes down, at the fixed time of the departure from Egypt. After that you shall cook and eat it in the place which Jehovah your God will have chosen; and in the morning you shall turn 1 and go into your tents. Deuteronomy 16:6-7.

[6] The fact that 'evening' in general means a state of light shining in obscurity is clear in Jeremiah,

Arise, and let us go up into the south. Woe to us, for the day goes away, for the shadows of evening are set at an angle! Arise, and let us go up at night, and let us destroy the palaces. Jeremiah 6:4-5.

Here 'evening' and 'night' mean the last times of the Church, when all matters of faith and love have been destroyed. In Zechariah,

There will be one day, which is known to Jehovah, when around evening time there will be light. On that day living waters will go out from Jerusalem. And Jehovah will be King over all the earth. Zechariah 14:7-9.

This refers to the Lord's Coming. The end of the Church is meant by 'evening time'; 'light' is the Lord's Divine Truth. A similar example occurs in Daniel,

The holy one said to me, Up to the evening, [when it is becoming] the morning, two thousand three hundred times. Daniel 8:13-14.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4797

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4797. The changes that take place in the state of their affections are also clearly visible in angels' faces. When they are in their own community the face they present is their own particular one; but when they enter another community the affections for goodness and truth belonging to this other community bring a change to their faces. Yet their own true face is so to speak the basic surface, which is identifiable within all the changes that take place. I have witnessed the consecutive variations taking place in keeping with the affections of the communities with which they were communicating. For every angel is in some province of the Grand Man and so communicates generally and widely with all throughout the same province, even though he is in one part of that province to which he specifically corresponds. I have seen them bringing variations to their faces by changing from one border-line of affection to another; yet I observed that they preserved the same faces in general, so that the ruling affection shone out in every variation of them. Thus their faces displayed the full range of that entire affection.

[2] And what was quite astonishing, the changes which affections undergo from young childhood to adult life were also shown by variations in the face. I was allowed to see how much of young childhood was preserved in adult life, and that it was this that gave adult life its essentially human quality. For innocence - the external form of it - is present in a young child, and innocence constitutes that essentially human quality; indeed innocence is so to speak the basic attribute into which love and charity from the Lord can enter. When a person is being regenerated and becoming wise the innocence of infancy which has been external becomes internal. Consequently true wisdom resides in no other abode than innocence, 2305, 2306, 3183, 3994; also, no one can enter heaven except one who has some degree of innocence, according to the Lord's words,

Unless you become as young children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3; Mark 10:15.

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