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Hesekiel 38

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1 Minulle tuli tämä Herran sana:

2 "Ihmislapsi, käännä kasvosi kohti Googia Maagogin maassa, Roosin, Mesekin ja Tuubalin ruhtinasta, ja ennusta häntä vastaan

3 ja sano: Näin sanoo Herra, Herra: Katso, minä käyn sinun kimppuusi, Goog, sinä Roosin, Mesekin ja Tuubalin ruhtinas.

4 Minä kuljetan sinua, panen koukut sinun leukoihisi ja nostatan sotaan sinut ja kaiken sinun sotaväkesi: hevoset ja ratsumiehet, kaikki pulskasti puettuja, suuren joukon suurine ja pienine kilpineen, miekankantajia kaikki.

5 Persia, Etiopia ja Puut ovat heidän kanssansa, kilvet ja kypärit on heillä kaikilla.

6 Goomer ja kaikki sen sotalaumat, Toogarman heimo pohjan periltä ja kaikki sen sotalaumat-lukuisat kansat ovat sinun kanssasi.

7 Ole valmis, varustaudu, sinä ja kaikki joukkosi, jotka ovat kokoontuneet sinun luoksesi, ja ole sinä varalla heitä varten.

8 Pitkien aikojen perästä sinä saat määräyksen, vuotten lopulla sinun on karattava maahan, joka on tointunut miekan jäljiltä, koottu monien kansain seasta, -mentävä Israelin vuorille, jotka kauan aikaa olivat olleet rauniomaana; se on tuotu pois kansojen seasta, ja he asuvat turvallisina kaikki tyynni.

9 Sinä hyökkäät kuin rajuilma, tulet kuin pilvi, pettääksesi maan, sinä ja kaikki sotalaumasi ja lukuisat kansat, jotka ovat sinun kanssasi.

10 Näin sanoo Herra, Herra: Mutta sinä päivänä tulee mieleesi jotakin, ja sinä mietit pahan juonen

11 ja sanot: Minä hyökkään suojattomaan maahan, karkaan rauhallisten ihmisten kimppuun, jotka asuvat turvallisina-asuvat muuria vailla kaikki tyynni, ja joilla ei ole salpoja, ei ovia.

12 Sinä aiot saalista saada, ryöstettävää ryöstää, ojentaa kätesi raunioita kohti, jotka on saatu asutuiksi, ja kansaa kohti, joka on koottu pakanakansain seasta, joka on hankkinut karjaa ja omaisuutta ja asuu maan navassa.

13 Saba ja Dedan ja Tarsiin kauppiaat ja kaikki heidän nuoret jalopeuransa kyselevät sinulta: 'Oletko sinä menossa saalista saamaan, ryöstettävää ryöstämään? Oletko koonnut joukkosi kantamaan hopeata ja kultaa, ottamaan karjaa ja omaisuutta, suurta saalista saamaan?'

14 Sentähden ennusta, ihmislapsi, ja sano Googille: Näin sanoo Herra, Herra: Sinä päivänä sinä kyllä huomaat, että minun kansani Israel asuu turvallisena,

15 ja lähdet asuinpaikastasi pohjan periltä, sinä ja sinun kanssasi lukuisat kansat, jotka kaikki ratsastavat hevosilla: suuri joukko, lukuisa sotaväki.

16 Sinä hyökkäät minun kansani Israelin kimppuun kuin pilvi, peittääksesi maan. Päivien lopulla on tämä tapahtuva. Ja minä annan sinun karata maahani, että pakanakansat tulisivat tuntemaan minut, kun minä osoitan pyhyyteni sinussa, Goog, heidän silmäinsä edessä.

17 Näin sanoo Herra, Herra: Etkö se ole sinä, josta minä muinaisina päivinä puhuin palvelijaini, Israelin profeettain, kautta, jotka niinä päivinä ennustivat, vuodesta vuoteen, että minä annan sinun karata heidän kimppuunsa?

18 Mutta sinä päivänä, jona Goog karkaa Israelin maahan, sanoo Herra, Herra, nousee minun vihani hehku.

19 Kiivaudessani, tuimuuteni tulessa minä sanon: Totisesti tulee sinä päivänä suuri maanjäristys Israelin maahan.

20 Ja minun edessäni vapisevat meren kalat ja taivaan linnut ja metsän eläimet ja kaikki maassa liikkuvat matelijat ja kaikki ihmiset, jotka maan pinnalla ovat; ja vuoret luhistuvat, ja vuorenpengermät sortuvat, ja kaikki muurit sortuvat maahan.

21 Ja minä kutsun häntä vastaan kaikille vuorilleni miekan, sanoo Herra, Herra: toisen miekka on oleva toista vastaan.

22 Minä käyn oikeutta hänen kanssansa rutolla ja verellä. Ja minä annan sataa kaatosadetta, raekiviä, tulta ja tulikiveä hänen päällensä, hänen sotalaumojensa päälle ja lukuisain kansojen päälle, jotka hänen kanssansa ovat.

23 Niin minä osoitan suuruuteni ja pyhyyteni sekä teen itseni tunnetuksi lukuisain pakanakansain silmien edessä. Ja he tulevat tietämään, että minä olen Herra."

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #578

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578. And out of their mouths went forth fire, and smoke, and brimstone.- That this signifies thought and reasonings therefrom springing from the love of evil, and from the love of falsity, and from the lust (concupiscentia) of destroying truths and goods by means of the falsities of evil, is evident from the signification of the mouth as denoting thought and reasoning therefrom of which we shall speak in the explanation of the 19th verse; and from the signification of fire, as denoting the love of self, and the love of evil thence (see above, n. 504, 539); and from the signification of smoke, as denoting the dense falsity springing from the love of evil (see above, n. 494, 539); and from the signification of brimstone, as denoting the lust of destroying the truths and goods of the church by means of the falsities of evil.

[2] That this is the signification of brimstone, is evident from the Word where it is mentioned, as in Moses:

"Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire" (Genesis 19:24).

And in Luke:

"On the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed" (17:29, 30).

The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, mean those who are in the falsities of evil from the love of self; and since the falsities of evil from that love destroyed them, therefore it rained brimstone and fire, brimstone, from the lust (concupiscentia) of destroying the church by means of the falsities of evil, and fire because that lust burst forth from the love of self. That this would be the case when the Son of man should be revealed, signifies, that then also the falsities of evil from the love of self would destroy the church. Rain of such a kind also appears in the spiritual world, when the evil, who are in falsities from that love, are cast down into hell.

[3] So again, in Moses:

What shall your sons "and the stranger say when they shall see the plagues of this land and its sicknesses? The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor germinates, nor doth any grass grow thereon, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim" (Deuteronomy 29:22, 23).

These are the curses with which the sons of Israel were threatened if they did not keep the precepts and statutes, and if they worshipped other gods; and because then the church would become vastated and destroyed by the falsities of evil, and the evils of falsity, hence it is said that then the whole land [should be] brimstone, salt, burning, the land denoting the church. By its not being sown, nor germinating, nor any grass growing thereon, is signified, that there should be no more any reception or production of truth from good.

[4] Again, in Isaiah:

"For Tophet is prepared from yesterday; yea, for the king it is prepared; he shall descend into a deep and wide [place]; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it" (30:33).

Tophet here signifies the hell where the direful and cruel love of destroying all the truths and goods of the church reigns, especially the savage desire of destroying the goods of innocence. That dreadful hell originates in the falsities of evil, and is signified by, he shall descend into a deep and wide [place]. The king, for whom it is prepared, signifies the infernal falsity itself. The pile thereof is fire and much wood signifies evils of every kind which pertain to that love. And because that hell burns from the lust of destroying, it is said that "the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it." For there, as soon as they hear the truths of the church from any one, and perceive its goods, they are inflamed with the frenzy of destroying and annihilating them.

[5] Again, in the same prophet:

"The day of the vengeance of Jehovah, the year of retribution for the controversy of Zion. And the torrents thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch; It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall ascend for ever" (34:8, 10).

The day of the vengeance of Jehovah, and the year of retribution for the controversy of Zion, signifies the coming of the Lord, and the last judgment then wrought by Him. By the torrents turned into pitch, and the dust into brimstone, is signified the hell into which those, who are in the falsities of evil, and in the evils of falsity, are cast. The evil of infernal love, and its punishment, are signified by the pitch burning night and day, and not quenched; and the dire falsity from that evil is signified by the smoke ascending for ever.

[6] Again, in Ezekiel:

"I will contend with" Gog "with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, an overflowing rain, and hailstones, fire and brimstone" (38:22).

Gog means those who place all worship in a holy and pious external, and not in that which is internal, when yet external is according to the quality of internal worship; and it is said that "Jehovah shall rain upon them an overflowing rain, and hailstones, fire, and brimstone," which signifies falsities and evils destroying all the truths and goods of the church; fire and brimstone denote the evils of falsity, and the falsities of evil, both being diabolical.

[7] Again in David:

"Upon the wicked" Jehovah "shall rain snares, fire and brimstone; and the wind of storms shall be the portion of their cup" (Psalm 11:6).

These words signify, that the impious are destroyed by their own evils of falsity, and by their own falsities of evil, which destroy in them all the truths of the church. Snares, fire, and brimstone, denote the evils of falsity, and the falsities of evil; and the wind of storms which shall be the portion of their cup, signifies the destruction of all truth. That it does not mean that [Jehovah], shall rain fire and brimstone upon the wicked is clear, for it is also said that snares shall rain upon them; fire and brimstone therefore must mean such things as are wholly destructive of the truths and goods of the church.

[8] Similarly in Job:

"Brimstone shall be scattered upon the habitation of the wicked" (18:15);

for brimstone means such falsity of evil as destroys every thing of the church in man; this is falsity from the evil of the love of self such as prevailed with those who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. It is said of the brimstone, not only that it destroyed the cities and the inhabitants, but also the plain and that which springeth up in the field. That which sprouteth in the field signifies the truth of the church springing up (Genesis 19:25). The signification of fire and brimstone in the following passages in the Apocalypse is similar:

"If any man worship the beast and his image, he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone" (14:9, 10).

Again:

"The beast, and the false prophet were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone" (19:20).

"The devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are" (20:10).

"Murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" (21:8).

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