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lamentations 5

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1 Muista, Herra, kuinka meille tapahtui: katso ja näe meidän ylönkatsettamme.

2 Meidän perintömme on muukalaisten osaksi tullut, ja huoneemme ulkonaisten omaksi.

3 Me olemme orvot ilman isää, ja äitimme ovat niinkuin lesket.

4 Vettä, joka meidän omamme oli, me joimme rahalla, omat halot me ostimme hinnalla.

5 kaulallamme me vaivaa kärsimme; ja ehkä me jo väsyneet olimme, ei kuitenkaan meille lepoa annettu.

6 Meidän piti Egyptin ja Assyrian alle meitämme antaman, että me sittekin leipää ravinnoksemme saaneet olisimme.

7 Meidän isämme ovat syntiä tehneet, ja ei enään ole käsissä; ja meidän pitää heidän pahoja tekojansa nautitseman.

8 Orjat meitä vallitsevat; ja ei ole kenkään, joka meitä heidän käsistänsä pelastaa.

9 Meidän pitää hakeman leipämme hengen paolla, miekan edessä korvessa.

10 Meidän ihomme on poltettu, niinkuin pätsissä, hirmuisen nälän tähden.

11 He ovat vaimot Zionissa raiskanneet ja neitseet Juudan kaupungeissa.

12 Ruhtinaat he ovat hirttäneet, ja vanhimpia ei he kunnioittaneet.

13 Nuorukaiset piti jauhaman, ja piskuisten täytyi puita kantaissansa kompastua.

14 Vanhat puuttuivat porteista, ja nuorukaiset ei enään kanteletta soita.

15 Meidän sydämemme ilo loppui, meidän tanssimme on kääntynyt murheeksi.

16 Meidän päästämme on kruunu pudonnut; voi nyt meitä, että me niin olemme syntiä tehneet!

17 Sentähden on myös sydämemme murheissansa; niiden tähden ovat meidän silmämme pimenneet;

18 Zionin vuoren tähden, että se niin hävitetty on, että ketut hänessä juoksentelevat.

19 Mutta sinä Herra, joka ijankaikkisesti olet, ja istuimes ijästä ikään!

20 Miksis meidät ijankaikkisesti unohdat, ja niin kauvan meitä peräti hylkäät?

21 Palauta, Herra, meitä jälleen sinun tykös, että me taas palaisimme; uudista meidän päivämme niinkuin ne alusta olivat.

22 Oletkos meitä peräti heittänyt pois, ja sangen suuresti vihastunut meidän päällemme?

   


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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #488

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488. As has been stated, 'days' means states in general, and 'years' states in particular. This too becomes clear from the Word, as in Ezekiel,

You have brought your days near, and you have come even to your years. Ezekiel 22:4.

This refers to people who behave abominably and sin to the fullest extent, and so 'days' has reference in this case to such people's state in general, 'years' to that state in particular.

In David,

You will add days to the king's days; and his years as generation after generation! Psalms 61:6.

This refers to the Lord and His kingdom, where again 'days' and 'years' stand for the state of His kingdom.

In the same author,

I have considered the days of old, the years of long ago. Psalms 77:5.

Here 'days of old' is states of the Most Ancient Church, and 'years of long ago' states of the Ancient Church. In Isaiah,

The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isaiah 63:4.

This stands for the final times, where 'the day of vengeance' stands for a state of condemnation, and 'the year of the redeemed' for a state of blessedness.

Similarly, in the same prophet,

To proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God; to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:2.

Here again 'days' and also 'years' are mentioned and mean states.

In Jeremiah,

Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.

Here 'days' plainly stands for state.

[2] In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, for it is near, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a tiny of cloud and gloom, as has never happened of old, nor will be again after it through the years of generation after generation. Joel 2:1-2, 11.

Here 'day' stands for a state of darkness, thick darkness, cloud and gloom - a state of individuals in particular and of all in general.

In Zechariah,

I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. On that day you will shout, each to his companion, under his vine and under his fig tree. Zechariah 3:9-10.

And elsewhere in Zechariah,

There will be one tiny, it is known to Jehovah, which is neither day nor night, and at evening time there will be light. Zechariah 14:7.

State is clearly meant here, for it is said that 'it will be a day, which is neither day nor night; at evening time there will be light'.

The same meaning is also clear from the following in the Decalogue,

Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with you in the land. Deuteronomy 5:16; 25:15.

Here 'a prolonging of days' does not mean living on into old age but a state that is happy.

[3] In the sense of the letter 'day' cannot be seen to mean anything other than a period of time, but in the internal sense it means a state. Angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, do not know what a period of time is, for the activity of the sun and moon with them does not produce divisions of time. As a consequence they do not know what a day or a year is, but only what states and changes of state are. This is why among angels, who abide in the internal sense of the Word, anything connected with matter, space, and time, goes unnoticed, as with the following usages in the sense of the letter in Ezekiel,

The day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a day of cloud; it will be a time of the nations. Ezekiel 30:3.

And in Joel,

Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is near, and as destruction. Joel 1:15.

Here 'a day of cloud' stands for cloud or falsity, 'a day of the nations' for the nations or wickedness, and 'the day of Jehovah' for vastation. When the concept of time is removed there remains the concept of the state of the things existing during that period of time. The same applies to the days and the years that are mentioned so many times in this chapter.

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