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Jeremia 46

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1 Jen estas la vorto de la Eternulo, kiu aperis al la profeto Jeremia pri la nacioj:

2 Pri Egiptujo, pri la militistaro de Faraono Nehxo, regxo de Egiptujo, kiu estis cxe la rivero Euxfrato en Karkemisx, kaj kiun venkobatis Nebukadnecar, regxo de Babel, en la kvara jaro de Jehojakim, filo de Josxija, regxo de Judujo:

3 Pretigu sxildon kaj kirason, kaj iru en batalon.

4 Jungu la cxevalojn kaj surcxevaligu la rajdistojn, starigxu en kaskoj, akrigu la lancojn, surmetu sur vin armajxojn.

5 Kial Mi vidas, ke ili ektimis kaj kuras malantauxen? iliaj herooj estas frapitaj, kaj forkuras rapide, ne deturnante sin; teruro estas cxirkauxe, diras la Eternulo.

6 Ne forkuros la rapidpiedulo, ne forsavigxos la heroo; norde, cxe la rivero Euxfrato, ili falpusxigxos kaj falos.

7 Kiu estas tiu, kiu levigxas kiel Nilo kaj kies akvo ondigxas kiel torentoj?

8 Egiptujo levigxas kiel Nilo, kaj kiel torentoj, en kiuj ondigxas la akvo; kaj gxi diras:Levigxante, mi kovros la teron, mi pereigos urbon kun gxiaj logxantoj.

9 Levigxu sur la cxevalojn, kaj kuru rapide sur la cxaroj; eliru la herooj, la Etiopoj kaj la Putidoj, tenantaj sxildon, kaj la Ludidoj, tenantaj kaj strecxantaj pafarkon.

10 Kaj tiu tago estos cxe la Sinjoro, la Eternulo Cebaot, tago de vengxo, por vengxi al Liaj malamikoj; kaj la glavo mangxegos kaj satigxos kaj ebriigxos de ilia sango; cxar bucxofero estos al la Sinjoro, la Eternulo Cebaot, en la lando norda, cxe la rivero Euxfrato.

11 Iru en Gileadon kaj prenu balzamon, ho virga filino de Egiptujo; vane vi multigas la kuracilojn; ne ekzistas por vi resanigxo.

12 La nacioj auxdis vian malhonoron, kaj via plorado plenigis la teron; cxar fortulo falpusxigxis kontraux fortulo, kaj ambaux kune falis.

13 Jen estas la vorto, kiun la Eternulo diris al la profeto Jeremia pri la veno de Nebukadnecar, regxo de Babel, por frapi la landon Egiptan:

14 Sciigu en Egiptujo, proklamu en Migdol, proklamu en Nof kaj en Tahxpanhxes, diru:Starigxu kaj pretigxu, cxar la glavo ekstermas vian cxirkauxajxon.

15 Kial estas forpusxita via fortulo, ne povis stari? cxar la Eternulo lin renversis.

16 Li multigis la falpusxigxantojn; falis unu sur la alian; kaj ili diras:Levigxu, ni reiru al nia popolo kaj al la lando de nia naskigxo, for de la glavo de la tirano.

17 Oni kriis tie:Faraono, regxo de Egiptujo, estas nur bruo; li preterlasis la difinitan tempon.

18 Kiel Mi vivas, diras la Regxo, kies nomo estas Eternulo Cebaot, li venos kiel Tabor inter la montoj kaj kiel Karmel cxe la maro.

19 Pretigu al vi cxion, kio estas necesa por elmigro, ho logxantino, filino de Egiptujo; cxar Nof estos ruinigita kaj dezertigita, ke neniu en gxi logxos.

20 Tre bela bovidino estas Egiptujo; sed de nordo venas jam la bucxonto.

21 Ankaux gxiaj dungitoj interne de gxi estas kiel bone nutritaj bovidoj; sed ili ankaux turnis sin malantauxen, kune forkuris, ne povis kontrauxstari; cxar la tago de ilia malfelicxo venis sur ilin, la tempo de ilia puno.

22 GXia vocxo sonos kiel vocxo de serpento; cxar ili iros kun militistaro, kaj kun hakiloj ili venos al gxi, kiel lignohakistoj.

23 Ili elhakos gxian arbaron, diras la Eternulo, kvankam gxi estas nekalkulebla; cxar ili estas pli multenombraj ol akridoj, kaj oni ne povas ilin kalkuli.

24 Hontigita estas la filino de Egiptujo, transdonita en la manojn de norda popolo.

25 La Eternulo Cebaot, Dio de Izrael, diras:Jen Mi punvizitos Amonon en No, kaj Faraonon, kaj Egiptujon kaj gxiajn diojn kaj gxiajn regxojn, Faraonon mem, kaj tiujn, kiuj fidas lin.

26 Kaj Mi transdonos ilin en la manojn de tiuj, kiuj celas ilian morton, kaj en la manojn de Nebukadnecar, regxo de Babel, kaj en la manojn de liaj servantoj; sed poste gxi estos logxata, kiel en la tempo antauxa, diras la Eternulo.

27 Sed vi ne timu, ho Mia servanto Jakob, kaj ne tremu, ho Izrael; cxar jen Mi savos vin el malproksime kaj vian idaron el la lando de ilia kaptiteco, kaj Jakob revenos kaj vivos trankvile kaj pace, kaj neniu lin timigos.

28 Vi ne timu, ho Mia servanto Jakob, diras la Eternulo, cxar Mi estas kun vi; cxar Mi ekstermos cxiujn popolojn, inter kiujn Mi dispelis vin, sed vin Mi ne ekstermos; Mi nur punos vin modere, por ke Mi ne lasu vin tute sen puno.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9341

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9341. 'And from the wilderness even to the River' means from delight belonging to the sensory level even to good and truth belonging to the rational level. This is clear from the meaning of 'setting the boundary' as the full range, dealt with immediately above in 9340; from the meaning of 'the wilderness' as a place where no one lives and nothing is grown, so that when it applies to the spiritual matters of faith and the celestial aspects of love 'the wilderness' is a place where no good nor any truth resides, as is the situation with the level of the senses (that this is what the sensory level of the human mind is like, see end of 9331), for no celestial good nor any spiritual truth exists on the sensory level, only delight and pleasure having a bodily and worldly origin exist there, which being so 'the wilderness' means this outermost level of mind in a member of the Church; and from the meaning of the Euphrates, to which 'the River' refers here, as good and truth belonging to the rational level. The reason why the Euphrates has this meaning is that Assyria lay there, and Assyria or Asshur means the rational level of the mind, 119, 1186.

[2] This rational level is meant by 'the Euphrates' where the words 'from the wilderness to the Euphrates' occur, and also 'from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates', as in Joshua,

From the wilderness and Lebanon even to the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea, the going down of the sun, will be your boundary. Joshua 1:4.

And in Moses,

To your seed I will give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river, the River Euphrates. Genesis 15:18.

Similarly in David,

You caused a vine to journey out of Egypt. You sent out its shoots even to the sea, and its little branches to the River. Psalms 80:8, 11.

'A vine out of Egypt' stands for the spiritual Church represented by the children of Israel; 'to the sea' and 'to the River' stand for interior truths and forms of good. The like occurs in Micah,

They will come to you from Asshur and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea, 1 from mountain to mountain. Micah 7:12.

[3] But something different is meant by 'the Euphrates' when, from the middle of the land of Canaan as the standpoint, it is seen to be the furthest limit of the land on one side or that which encloses it on one side. In this case that river means the last and lowest level of the Lord's kingdom, that is, the last and lowest level of heaven and the Church in respect of rational goodness and truth. The fact that the boundaries of the land of Canaan, which were seas and rivers, meant the lowest things in the Lord's kingdom, see 1585, 1866, 4116, 4240, 6516. 'The Euphrates' therefore meant the kinds of truths and forms of good on the sensory level that were in agreement with truths and forms of good on the rational level. But since the sensory level of the human mind lies next to earth and the world and receives its impressions from them, 9331 (end), it does not acknowledge anything as good except that which delights the body, nor anything as truth except that which lends support to that delight. In this sense therefore 'the River Euphrates' means pleasure which is attributable to self-love and love of the world, and falsity that supports it with reasonings based on the illusions of the senses.

[4] These things are meant by 'the River Euphrates' in John,

A voice said to the sixth angel, Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. They were released, and they killed a third part of mankind. Revelation 9:14-15.

'The angels bound at the Euphrates' stands for falsities which arise through reasonings based on the illusions of the senses, and which lend support to pleasures attributable to self-love and love of the world. In the same book,

The sixth angel poured out his bowl over the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way of the kings who were from the rising of the sun. 2 Revelation 16:12.

Here 'the Euphrates' stands for falsities from a similar origin. 'Dried up water' stands for those falsities after they had been removed by the Lord; and 'the way of the kings from the rising of the sun' stands for the fact that at that time the truths of faith were seen by and revealed to those governed by love to the Lord.

'Waters' are truths and in the contrary sense falsities, see 705, 739, 756, 790, 839, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 7307, 8137, 8138, 8568, 9323.

'The way' is truth that has been seen and revealed, 627, 2333, 3477.

'The kings' are those with whom truths exist, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148.

'The rising' or 'the east' is the Lord, also love from Him and to Him, 101, 1250, 3708.

'The sun' has the same meaning, 1529, 1530, 2440, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4696, 5377, 7078, 7083, 7171, 7173, 8644, 8812.

[5] In Jeremiah,

You have forsaken Jehovah your God at a time when He led you in the way. For this reason what have you to do with the way of Egypt, that you drink the waters of Shihor, or what [have you to do] with the way of Asshur, that you drink the waters of the River? Jeremiah 2:17-18.

'Leading in the way' stands for teaching truth. 'What have you to do with the way of Egypt, that you drink the waters of Shihor?' stands for, What have you to do with falsities arising through a perverse use of factual knowledge? 'What have you to do with the way of Asshur, that you drink the waters of the River?' stands for, What have you to do with falsities that arise on account of reasonings - reasonings which are based on the illusions of the senses and lend support to pleasures attributable to self-love and love of the world?

[6] In the same prophet,

Jehovah [said] to the prophet, Take the girdle which you have bought, which is over your loins, and arise, go away to the Euphrates, and hide it there in the cleft of a rock. He went away and hid it by the Euphrates. Afterwards it happened at the end of many days, that Jehovah said, Arise, go away to the Euphrates, take from there the girdle. Therefore he went away to the Euphrates and dug, and took the girdle from the place where he had hidden it. But behold, the girdle was spoiled; it was profitable for nothing. Jeremiah 13:3-7.

'The girdle of the loins' is the outward bond that holds within itself all things of love and consequently of faith. 'Being hidden in the cleft of a rock beside the Euphrates' means in a place where faith dwells in obscurity and is rendered no faith at all by falsities that are the product of reasonings. 'The girdle that had been spoiled, so that it was profitable for nothing' stands for the fact that then all the things of love and faith had been broken apart and scattered.

[7] When Jeremiah was to tie a stone to the book written by him and to throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, Jeremiah 51:63, the meaning was that the prophetical part of the Word would be destroyed by like falsities. In the same prophet,

The swift will not flee away, nor the strong man escape. Northwards on the bank of the River Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. But Jehovah Zebaoth takes revenge on His adversaries, for the Lord Jehovah Zebaoth holds a sacrifice in the land of the north beside the River Euphrates. Jeremiah 46:6, 10.

Here also 'the River Euphrates' stands for truths that have been falsified and forms of good that have been adulterated by reasonings based on illusions, and therefore stands for factual knowledge which lends support to self-love and love of the world.

Footnotes:

1. literally, and [to] sea from sea

2. i.e. from the east

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