The Bible

 

Hesekiel 10

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1 Siis ma vaatasin, ja ennäe, taevalaotuses, mis oli keerubite pea kohal, olid nagu safiirikivid; midagi, mis paistis aujärjena, nähti nende kohal.

2 Ja ta rääkis mehega, kellel olid linased riided seljas, ja ütles: 'Mine rataste vahele, mis on iga keerubi all, ja täida pihud tuliste sütega keerubite vahelt ning pillu need linna peale!' Ja mees läks sisse minu nähes.

3 Keerubid seisid kojas paremal pool, kui mees läks, ja pilv täitis sisemise õue.

4 Siis tõusis Issanda auhiilgus keerubi kohalt koja lävele, koda täitus pilvest ja õu täitus Issanda auhiilguse särast.

5 Ja keerubite tiibade kahinat kuuldus kuni välimise õueni nagu Kõigeväelise Jumala häält, kui ta kõneleb.

6 Ja kui ta käskis meest, kellel olid linased riided seljas, öeldes: 'Võta tuld rataste vahelt, keerubite vahelt!', siis läks see ja asetus ratta kõrvale.

7 Ja üks keerub pistis oma käe keerubite vahelt tule juurde, mis oli keerubite vahel, ja võttis seda ning andis linasesse riietatu pihkudesse; ja see võttis ning läks välja.

8 Keerubitel paistis tiibade all olevat otsekui inimese käsi.

9 Ja ma vaatasin, ja ennäe, keerubite kõrval oli neli ratast, iga keerubi kõrval oli ratas, ja rattad olid välimuselt nagu krüsoliidikivid.

10 Ja neil neljal oli ühesugune välimus, otsekui oleks ratas olnud ratta sees.

11 Kui nad liikusid, siis nad said minna iga nelja külje suunas, käigul pöördumata; sest sinna, kuhu oli pööratud esikülg, läksid nad selle järel; käigul nad ei pöördunud.

12 Ja kogu nende keha, seljad, käed, tiivad ja rattad olid ümberringi täis silmi; sel nelikul olid rattad

13 ja rattaid nimetati, nagu ma kuulsin, 'ratastikuks'.

14 Ja igaühel oli neli nägu: üks oli keerubi nägu, teine inimese nägu, kolmas lõvi nägu ja neljas kotka nägu.

15 Ja keerubid tõusid üles, need olid samad olevused, keda ma olin näinud Kebari jõe ääres.

16 Ja kui keerubid liikusid, siis liikusid rattad nende kõrval; ja kui keerubid tõstsid tiibu, et maa pealt üles tõusta, siis ei pöördunud ka rattad ära nende kõrvalt.

17 Kui ühed seisid, siis seisid ka teised, ja kui ühed tõusid üles, siis tõusid teised koos nendega, sest nende sees oli olevuse vaim.

18 Siis Issanda auhiilgus läks ära koja lävelt ja seisis keerubite kohal.

19 Ja minnes tõstsid keerubid oma tiibu ning tõusid maast üles mu silme all, ja nende rattad samuti nagu nad isegi; nad jäid seisma Issanda koja idapoolse värava suus ja Iisraeli Jumala auhiilgus oli ülal nende kohal.

20 Need olid needsamad olevused, keda ma olin näinud Iisraeli Jumala all Kebari jõe ääres; ja ma mõistsin, et need olid keerubid.

21 Igaühel oli neli nägu ja igaühel oli neli tiiba, ja neil olid otsekui inimese käed tiibade all.

22 Ja nende nägude kuju: need olid näod, mida ma olin näinud Kebari jõe ääres, nende välimus ja need ise; igaüks läks edasi omaette.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #322

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322. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill. This symbolizes the destruction of all good in the church.

Since death means the extinction of a person's spiritual life, and hell his damnation, it follows that to kill here means to destroy the life of a person's soul. The life of the soul is spiritual life.

A fourth of the earth means, symbolically, all good in the church. The earth is the church (no. 285).

That a fourth means all good can be known only by someone who knows what numbers in the Word symbolize. The numbers two and four are said in application to goods, and they symbolize those goods. And the numbers three and six are said in application to truths, and they symbolize those truths. Thus a fourth part, or simply a fourth, symbolizes all good, while a third part, or simply a third, symbolizes all truth. Therefore to kill a fourth of the earth here means, symbolically, to destroy all good in the church.

Clearly he who sat on the pale horse was not given the power to kill a fourth part of the habitable earth.

[2] In addition, the number four in the Word symbolizes the union of goodness and truth.

That the number four has these symbolic meanings can, indeed, be confirmed from the Word, as by the four living creatures or cherubim in Ezekiel 1,3, 10; by the four chariots between two mountains in Zechariah 6:1; by the four horns in Zechariah 1:18ff.; by the four horns of the altar in Exodus 27:1-8, and Revelation 9:13; and by the four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, in Revelation 7:1 (cf. Matthew 24:31). It can be confirmed, too, by the "visiting the iniquity to the third and fourth generation" in Numbers 14:18, and by the third and fourth generation mentioned elsewhere. By these passages in the Word and more, I say, one can confirm that the number four is said in application to goods, and that they symbolize those goods, and also the conjunction of goodness and truth. But because it would take a lengthy explanation of these passages to make this apparent, it is enough to briefly state that this is the meaning that the number four and a fourth part have in heaven.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Ezekiel 3

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1 He said to me, Son of man, eat that which you find. eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.

2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll.

3 He said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this scroll that I give you. Then I ate it; and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

4 He said to me, Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.

5 For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;

6 not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.

7 But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.

8 Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.

9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: don't be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.

10 Moreover he said to me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.

11 Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, [saying], Blessed be the glory of Yahweh from his place.

13 [I heard] the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing.

14 So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and the hand of Yahweh was strong on me.

15 Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.

16 It happened at the end of seven days, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

17 Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me.

18 When I tell the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.

19 Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn't turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

20 Again, when a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.

21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.

22 The hand of Yahweh was there on me; and he said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you.

23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and behold, the glory of Yahweh stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.

24 Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet; and he spoke with me, and said to me, Go, shut yourself inside your house.

25 But you, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands on you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:

26 and I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be mute, and shall not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.

27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: He who hears, let him hear; and he who forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.