The Bible

 

Hesekiel 5

Study

   

1 Ja sinä, ihmisen lapsi, ota sinulles niin terävä miekka kuin partaveitsi, ja keritse sillä pääs ja partas; ja ota vaaka ja jaa ne sillä.

2 Kolmannen osan pitää sinun tulella polttaman keskellä kaupunkia, kuin piirittämisen päivät ovat täytetyt; toinen kolmas osa ota ja hakkaa miekalla kaupungin ympärillä; viimeinen kolmas osa heitä tuleen, että minä vetäisin miekan ulos heidän jälkeensä.

3 Mutta ota vähä niistä luvalla ja sido hamees kulmaan.

4 Ja ota taas vähä niistä, ja heitä se tuleen, ja polta se tulessa; siitä pitää tulen tuleman koko Israelin huoneesen.

5 Näin sanoo Herra, Herra: tämä on Jerusalem, jonka minä pakanain keskelle asettanut olen, ja maakunnat hänen ympärillensä.

6 Mutta hän on kääntänyt minun oikeuteni jumalattomuudeksi, enemmin kuin pakanat, ja minun säätyni enemmin kuin ne maakunnat, jotka hänen ympäristöllänsä ovat; sillä he heittävät minun oikeuteni pois, ja ei tahdo elää minun säätyini jälkeen.

7 Sentähden sanoo Herra, Herra näin: että te enemmän pahuutta teette kuin pakanat, jotka ovat teidän ympärillänne, ja ette vaella minun säädyissäni, ettekä tee minun oikeuteni jälkeen, ette myös tee pakanainkaan oikeuden jälkeen, jotka ovat teidän ympärillänne:

8 Sentähden sanoo Herra, Herra näin: katso, minä tulen sinun tykös, minä myös tulen, ja tahdon tuomita sinun pakanain silmäin edessä.

9 Ja tahdon niin tehdä sinun kanssas, kuin en minä ikänä ennen tehnyt ole, enkä myös tästedes tehdä tahdo, kaikkein sinun kauhistustes tähden.

10 Sentähden pitää isäin syömän lapsensa sinun keskelläs, ja lasten syömän isänsä. Ja tahdon sinun niin tuomita, että kaikki sinun jäänees pitää kaikkiin tuuliin hajoitetuksi tuleman.

11 Sentähden niin totta kuin minä elän, sanoo Herra, Herra: ettäs olet saastuttanut minun Pyhäni kaikilla sinun turmeluksillas ja kaikilla sinun kauhistuksillas, niin tahdon minä myös hukuttaa sinun pois, ja minun silmäni ei pidä sinua säästämän, ei myös armahtaman.

12 Kolmas osa sinusta pitää rutolla kuoleman ja nälkään nääntymän sinun keskelläs; ja toinen Kolmas osa pitää lankeeman miekalla sinun ympäristölläs; ja sen viimeisen kolmannen osan tahdon minä hajoittaa kaikkiin tuuliin, ja vetää ulos miekan heidän jälkeensä.

13 Näin pitää minun vihani täytetyksi tuleman, ja minun hirmuisuuteni saatan minä heidän päällensä, että minä saisin lohdutuksen; ja heidän pitää ymmärtämän, että minä Herra minun kiivaudessani puhunut olen, kuin minä hirmuisuuteni heissä täyttänyt olen.

14 Minä tahdon saattaa sinun autioksi ja pilkaksi pakanoille, jotka sinun ympärilläs ovat, kaikkein niiden silmäin eteen, jotka käyvät sieltä ohitse.

15 Ja se häväistys ja pilkka pitää oleman opiksi ja ihmeeksi pakanoille, jotka ovat sinun ympärilläs, kuin minä annan oikeuteni käydä sinun päälles vihan, julmuuden ja rangaistusten kanssa. Minä Herra olen sen sanonut.

16 Ja kuin minä ne pahat nälän nuolet heidän sekaansa lähettävä olen, jotka vahingolliset oleman pitää, jotka minä lähetän hukkaamaan teitä; ja annan teille nälän enemmäksi ja enemmäksi tulla, ja ottaman pois leivän aineen.

17 Ja nälän ja pahat pedot tahdon minä antaa tulla teidän sekaanne, ne pitää teitä tekemän lapsettomaksi. Ja siellä pitää ruton ja veren liikkuman sinun seassas ja miekan tahdon minä antaa tulla sinun päälles. Minä Herra olen sen sanonut.

   


SWORD version by Tero Favorin (tero at favorin dot com)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #7051

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

7051. People who know nothing at all about the internal sense of the Word cannot help thinking that the Israelite and Jewish nation was chosen in preference to every other nation and was therefore of superior quality to all the rest, as those who belonged to that nation also thought. And what is so astonishing, this is not only what that nation itself thinks but also what Christians think, no matter how well they know that this nation is eaten up by filthy kinds of love, by foul avarice, hatred, and pride, and in addition to this belittles and also loathes things of an internal nature that belong to charity and faith and are the Lord's. The reason why Christians also think that this nation was chosen in preference to others is that they think a person is chosen and saved as a result of mercy, irrespective of the life he leads, so that those who are criminal can be received into heaven just as well as the godly and upright. They give no consideration to the idea that choice or election is all-embracing, that is to say, that it includes all who lead a good life. Nor do they consider that the Lord's mercy is shown to every person who refrains from evil and wishes to lead a good life, and so who allows himself to be led by the Lord and to be regenerated, a process which is being effected throughout the course of his life.

[2] This goes to explain too why the majority of people in the Christian world also believe that that nation will again be chosen, and that when this happens they will be led back into the land of Canaan. And this belief is also in keeping with the sense of the letter, for example in the following places:

Isaiah 10:20-23; 11:11-12; Isaiah 29:14-end; 43:5, 6; 49:6-26; 56:8; 60:4; 61:3-10; 62;

Jeremiah 3:14-19; 15:4, 14; 16:13, 15; 23:7-8; 24:9-10; 31:31, 33; 25:29; 29:14, 18; 30:3, 8-11; 31:8-10, 17; 33:16, 20, 26;

Ezekiel 5:10, 12, 15; 16:60; 20:41; 22:15-16; 34:12-13; 37:21-22; 38:12; 39:23, 27-28;

Daniel 7:27; 12:7;

Hosea 3:4-5; Joel 2:32; 3; Amos 9:8-9 and following verses; Micah 5:7-8.

It is on the basis of these as well as other places that even Christians think that nation will again be chosen and led into the land of Canaan. They think this even though they know that nation is waiting for the Messiah who will then lead the nation in, and are at the same time aware that its waiting for Him is in vain, and that the Messiah's or Christ's kingdom is not of this world, which means that the land of Canaan into which the Messiah will lead them is heaven.

[3] Such people give no thought to the idea that the Word has a spiritual sense within it and that in that sense Israel is not meant by Israel, Jacob by Jacob, or Judah by Judah, but that the things which they represent are meant by them. Nor do they give any thought to what the historical sections record regarding that nation - what it was like in the wilderness and what it was like after that in the land of Canaan, namely that it was at heart idolatrous - or to what the Prophets say about it and about its spiritual whoredom and its abominations. What that nation is like is described in the following words contained in the Song in Moses,

I will conceal My face from them; I will see what their future will be, for they are a perverse generation, sons in whom there is no faithfulness. I would have said, I will expel them to the remotest corners, I will make the memory of them cease from mankind, except that enemies might say, Our hand is high, and not Jehovah has done all this. For they are a nation from whom counsel has perished, nor is there intelligence in them. From the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, they have clusters of bitterness. The poison of snakes (draco) is their wine, and the cruel poison of asps. Is this not hidden away with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; in time their foot will slip, for near is the day of their destruction, and the things to come upon them hasten on. Deuteronomy 32:20, 26-28, 32-35.

Jehovah gave Moses the words of this song, see Deuteronomy 31:19, 21. The Lord too spoke about what that nation was like, in John,

You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth. John 8:44.

And many other places besides these show what that nation was like.

[4] The reason why, although they know these things, Christians believe that that nation will at length be converted to the Lord and at that time led into the land where they lived before is, as has been stated, that they have no knowledge of the internal sense of the Word. Another reason is their supposition that it makes no difference what kind of life a person leads, and that even evil which has become deeply rooted through repeated actions in no way prevents a person - through faith, even if it has existed for only one part of an hour - from being made spiritual, being regenerated, and so being accepted by the Lord. They also suppose that admission into heaven is solely a matter of mercy, and that this is shown towards one particular nation, thus not towards all in the whole world who receive the Lord's mercy. Those who think in that way do not know that it is altogether contrary to the Divine that some should be chosen and born to salvation and heaven, and others should not be chosen but born to damnation and hell. To think about the Divine in that kind of way would be shocking, for making such choices would show a complete lack of mercy, when in fact the Divine is Mercy itself. From all this it may now be recognized that the Israelite and Jewish nation was not and never will be the chosen nation; also that not a trace of the Church existed or could exist with that nation, only a representative of the Church; and that it was preserved right up to the present day because of the Old Testament Word, regarding which see 3479.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

The Bible

 

Exodus 4

Study

   

1 Moses answered, "But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, 'Yahweh has not appeared to you.'"

2 Yahweh said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod."

3 He said, "Throw it on the ground." He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it.

4 Yahweh said to Moses, "Put forth your hand, and take it by the tail." He Put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand.

5 "That they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."

6 Yahweh said furthermore to him, "Now put your hand inside your cloak." He put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.

7 He said, "Put your hand inside your cloak again." He Put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again as his other flesh.

8 "It will happen, if they will neither believe you nor listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

9 It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land."

10 Moses said to Yahweh, "O Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue."

11 Yahweh said to him, "Who made man's mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn't it I, Yahweh?

12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak."

13 He said, "Oh, Lord, please send someone else."

14 The anger of Yahweh was kindled against Moses, and he said, "What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Also, behold, he comes forth to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

15 You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.

16 He will be your spokesman to the people; and it will happen, that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as God.

17 You shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs."

18 Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, "Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "go in peace."

19 Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead."

20 Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God's rod in his hand.

21 Yahweh said to Moses, "When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.

22 You shall tell Pharaoh, 'Thus says Yahweh, Israel is my son, my firstborn,

23 and I have said to you, "Let my son go, that he may serve me;" and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.'"

24 It happened on the way at a lodging place, that Yahweh met Moses and wanted to kill him.

25 Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me."

26 So he let him alone. Then she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood," because of the circumcision.

27 Yahweh said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." He went, and met him on God's mountain, and kissed him.

28 Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had instructed him.

29 Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.

30 Aaron spoke all the words which Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.

31 The people believed, and when they heard that Yahweh had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.