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Ezekiel 21

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1 Kaj aperis al mi vorto de la Eternulo, dirante:

2 Ho filo de homo, turnu vian vizagxon al Jerusalem, prediku pri la sanktajxoj, kaj profetu pri la lando de Izrael.

3 Kaj diru al la lando de Izrael:Tiele diras la Eternulo:Jen Mi iras kontraux vin, Mi eltiros Mian glavon el gxia ingo, kaj Mi ekstermos inter vi virtulojn kaj malpiulojn.

4 CXar Mi ekstermos inter vi virtulojn kaj malpiulojn, tial Mia glavo eliros el sia ingo kontraux cxiun karnon de la sudo gxia la nordo.

5 Kaj cxiu karno ekscios, ke Mi, la Eternulo, eltiris Mian glavon el gxia ingo, kaj gxi ne plu revenos tien.

6 Kaj vi, ho filo de homo, gxemu, kun doloro de la lumboj, kaj maldolcxe gxemu antaux iliaj okuloj.

7 Kaj kiam ili demandos vin, pro kio vi gxemas, respondu:Pro la sciigo, kiu venis, kaj de kiu cxiu koro disfandigxos, cxiuj manoj senfortigxos, cxiu spirito senkuragxigxos, kaj cxiuj genuoj farigxos kiel akvo; jen tio venas kaj plenumigxos, diras la Sinjoro, la Eternulo.

8 Kaj aperis al mi vorto de la Eternulo, dirante:

9 Ho filo de homo, profetu, kaj diru:Tiele diras la Eternulo:Proklamu:Glavo, Glavo estas akrigita kaj purigita;

10 gxi estas akrigita, por bucxi; gxi estas purigita, por brili. CXu oni povas gxoji, kiam la sceptron de Mia filo malsxatas cxia ligno?

11 Li donis gxin, por purigi, por ke oni povu preni gxin en la manon; la glavo estas akrigita kaj purigita, por doni gxin en la manon de mortiganto.

12 Kriu kaj ploru, ho filo de homo, cxar gxi iras kontraux Mian popolon, kontraux cxiujn eminentulojn de Izrael, kiuj estas kolektitaj kune kun Mia popolo sub la glavon. Pro tio batu viajn lumbojn.

13 CXar estis farita provo, sed kion gxi helpis? ecx malsxatata la sceptro ne povas ekzisti, diras la Sinjoro, la Eternulo.

14 Kaj vi, ho filo de homo, profetu, kaj interfrapu la manojn; cxar la glavo duobligxos, ecx triobligxos; gxi estas glavo por mortigado, glavo de granda mortigado gxi estas, kiu penetros al ili en la cxambrojn.

15 Mi sendos glavon teruran, por ke la koroj ektremu, kaj por ke multaj falu cxe cxiuj iliaj pordegoj. Ha, kiel gxi brilas, kiel akrigita gxi estas por la bucxado!

16 Kolektigxu dekstren, metu vin maldekstren, kien ajn via vizagxo sin tiras.

17 Mi plauxdos per Miaj manoj, kaj Mi kontentigos Mian indignon; Mi, la Eternulo, tion diris.

18 Kaj aperis al mi vorto de la Eternulo, dirante:

19 Vi, ho filo de homo, marku al vi du vojojn, per kiuj venos la glavo de la regxo de Babel; ambaux devas eliri el unu lando; elektu lokon sur la cxefa vojo, elektu urbon.

20 Marku vojon, per kiu devas veni glavo en Raban de la Amonidoj, kaj en Judujon, en la fortikigitan Jerusalemon.

21 CXar la regxo de Babel haltis cxe la disvojigxo, cxe la komenco de du vojoj; por ricevi antauxdirojn, li jxetas sagojn, demandas la domajn diojn, esploras hepaton.

22 Sur la dekstra flanko la sortodemandado montras Jerusalemon, por starigi muregrompilojn, malfermi la busxon por mortigado, sonigi militajn trumpetojn, direkti muregrompilojn kontraux la pordegojn, sxuti remparon, konstrui bastionon.

23 Sed tio aperas al ili kiel antauxdiro malvera, ili faras jxurojn, kaj li rememorigas la krimojn, por ke ili estu kaptitaj.

24 Tial tiele diras la Sinjoro, la Eternulo:Pro tio, ke vi rememoras viajn krimojn, elmontras viajn kulpojn en cxiuj viaj agoj-pro tio, ke vi rememoras, vi estos kaptitaj per mano.

25 Kaj vi, ho senhonora kaj malpia estro de Izrael, kies tago alvenis nun, kiam devas cxesigxi liaj krimoj-

26 tiele diras la Sinjoro, la Eternulo:Deprenu la cidaron kaj demetu la kronon; ne plue estos tiel; kiu estis humila, tiu altigxos, kaj kiu estis fiera, tiu malaltigxos.

27 Mi forigos, forigos, forigos gxin; kaj gxi ne ekzistos, gxis venos tiu, kiu havas rajton je gxi, kaj al li Mi gxin donos.

28 Kaj vi, ho filo de homo, profetu, kaj diru:Tiele diras la Sinjoro, la Eternulo, pri la Amonidoj kaj pri ilia hontindeco, kaj diru:Glavo, Glavo estas nudigita por bucxado, akrigita por ekstermado, ke gxi brilu;

29 pro tio, ke oni prezentas al vi malverajn viziojn, ke oni antauxdiras al vi mensogajxon, por meti vin sur la kolojn de mortigotaj malpiuloj, kies tago alvenis nun, kiam devas cxesigxi iliaj krimoj.

30 Remetu gxin en gxian ingon. Sur la loko, kie vi estas kreita, en la lando de via naskigxo, Mi jugxos vin.

31 Kaj Mi elversxos sur vin Mian indignon, Mi blovos sur vin la fajron de Mia kolero, kaj Mi transdonos vin en la manojn de homoj furiozaj, lertaj ekstermistoj.

32 Vi farigxos mangxajxo por la fajro; via sango elversxigxos en la lando; oni ne rememoros vin; cxar Mi, la Eternulo, tion diris.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #126

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126. And I will give thee a crown of life. That this signifies wisdom, and thence eternal happiness, is evident from the signification of a crown, when said of those who are in the spiritual affection of the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good, as being wisdom, concerning which more will be said in what follows; and from the signification of life, as being eternal happiness, which is also called life eternal. The reason why those who are in the spiritual affection of truth and good, and who are here treated of, have eternal happiness is, that heaven is implanted in man by means of the knowledges of truth and good from the Word. He who believes that heaven is implanted by any other means, is much deceived; for man is born natural only, with the faculty of becoming spiritual; but he becomes spiritual by means of truths from the Word, and by a life according to them. How can any one ever become spiritual, unless he be instructed about the Lord, about heaven, a life after death, faith, and love, and other things which are the means of salvation? If man is ignorant of these things, he must remain natural; and a merely natural man cannot have anything in common with the angels of heaven, who are spiritual.

Man has two minds, one exterior, and the other interior; the exterior mind is called the natural mind, but the interior is called the spiritual mind; the former is opened by means of the knowledges (cognitiones) of things in the world, but the latter by the knowledges (cognitiones) of things which are in heaven; these the Word teaches, and the church from the Word; by means of these man becomes spiritual, when he knows them and lives according to them.

[2] This is meant by the words of the Lord in John:

"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (3:5):

by water, are signified the truths of faith, and by spirit, a life according to them (as may be seen above, n. 71; and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 202-209). Very many people believe at this day, that mankind will go to heaven solely by sacred worship performed in temples, and by adorations and prayers; but such of them as are unconcerned about the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good from the Word, and who neglect to furnish not only the memory, but also the life, with these, remain natural as before, nor do they become spiritual, because their sacred worship, adorations and prayers, do not proceed from a spiritual origin; for their spiritual mind is not opened by the knowledges of spiritual things and by a life according to them, but is empty; and worship proceeding from what is void is only a natural gesture, within which there is nothing spiritual. If such persons are insincere and unjust as to moral and civil life, then their sacred worship, adorations and prayers are inwardly of such a nature as to repel heaven, instead of which they believe that they receive heaven by this means; for such worship is like a vessel containing putrid or filthy matters, which filter through; it is also like a splendid garment that clothes a body covered with ulcers: I have seen many thousands of such cast into hell. But it is otherwise with the holy worship, the adorations and prayers of those who are in the knowledges of truth and good, and whose life is in accordance with them; with such, those things are pleasing to the Lord, for they are the effects of their spirit in the body, or the effects of their faith and love, and thus are not only natural gestures, but spiritual acts.

From these considerations it is evident that the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, and a life in agreement with them, alone make man spiritual: and that he who is thus made spiritual can be gifted with angelic wisdom from the Lord, together with eternal happiness; nor do the angels derive happiness from any other source than wisdom.

[3] The reason why a crown signifies wisdom is, that all those things that clothe man, and distinguish him, derive their signification from that part of him which they clothe or adorn (see Arcana Coelestia 9827), and a crown signifies wisdom, because it is worn on the head, by which in the Word wisdom is signified, for there wisdom resides. Accordingly it is written in Ezekiel:

"I have adorned thee with ornament, and I have placed bracelets upon thy hands; and a chain upon thy neck. Moreover, I have put a jewel upon thy nose, and earrings upon thine ears, and a crown of ornament upon thy head" (16:11, 12).

Jerusalem is here treated of, by which is signified the church, as established by the Lord, and its quality; by the particular adornments here mentioned are meant, in the spiritual sense, such things as belong to the church; these derive their respective significations from the part to which they are applied; by a crown is here meant wisdom. (But what is meant specifically by ornament, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 10536, 10540; what by bracelets, n. 3103, 3105; what by a chain, n. 5320; what by a jewel, n. 4551; and what by earrings, n. 4551, 10402.) Similarly the wisdom that is from the knowledges of truth and good from the Word and from a life according to them, is signified by a crown in many other passages in the Word, as in Isaiah 28:5; Jeremiah 13:18; Lamentations 5:15, 16; Ezekiel 21:25, 26; 23:42; Zech. 6:11-13; Psalms 89:38, 39; 132:17, 18; Job. 19:9; Apoc. 3:11; 4:4. The custom of crowning kings comes down from ancient times, when men were acquainted with representatives and significatives, for they knew that kings represented the Lord as to Divine truth, and that a crown was used to signify wisdom. (That kings represented the Lord as to Divine truth, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5068, 6148.) That those who are in truths are called kings and kings' sons (see above, n. 31). And because those who are in the knowledges of truth are called kings in the Word, and kings have crowns, therefore in this place, where they are treated of, it is said that they should receive a crown of life.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.