The Bible

 

Eichah 4

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1 אֵיכָה יוּעַם זָהָב יִשְׁנֶא הַכֶּתֶם הַטֹּוב תִּשְׁתַּפֵּכְנָה אַבְנֵי־קֹדֶשׁ בְּרֹאשׁ כָּל־חוּצֹות׃ ס

2 בְּנֵי צִיֹּון הַיְקָרִים הַמְסֻלָּאִים בַּפָּז אֵיכָה נֶחְשְׁבוּ לְנִבְלֵי־חֶרֶשׂ מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵי יֹוצֵר׃ ס

3 גַּם־[כ= תַּנִּין] [ק= תַּנִּים] חָלְצוּ שַׁד הֵינִיקוּ גּוּרֵיהֶן בַּת־עַמִּי לְאַכְזָר [כ= כִּי] [כ= עֵנִים] [ק= כַּיְעֵנִים] בַּמִּדְבָּר׃ ס

4 דָּבַק לְשֹׁון יֹונֵק אֶל־חִכֹּו בַּצָּמָא עֹולָלִים שָׁאֲלוּ לֶחֶם פֹּרֵשׂ אֵין לָהֶם׃ ס

5 הָאֹכְלִים לְמַעֲדַנִּים נָשַׁמּוּ בַּחוּצֹות הָאֱמֻנִים עֲלֵי תֹולָע חִבְּקוּ אַשְׁפַּתֹּות׃ ס

6 וַיִּגְדַּל עֲוֹן בַּת־עַמִּי מֵחַטַּאת סְדֹם הַהֲפוּכָה כְמֹו־רָגַע וְלֹא־חָלוּ בָהּ יָדָיִם׃ ס

7 זַכּוּ נְזִירֶיהָ מִשֶּׁלֶג צַחוּ מֵחָלָב אָדְמוּ עֶצֶם מִפְּנִינִים סַפִּיר גִּזְרָתָם׃ ס

8 חָשַׁךְ מִשְּׁחֹור תָּאֳרָם לֹא נִכְּרוּ בַּחוּצֹות צָפַד עֹורָם עַל־עַצְםָם יָבֵשׁ הָיָה כָעֵץ׃ ס

9 טֹובִים הָיוּ חַלְלֵי־חֶרֶב מֵחַלְלֵי רָעָב שֶׁהֵם יָזוּבוּ מְדֻקָּרִים מִתְּנוּבֹת שָׂדָי׃ ס

10 יְדֵי נָשִׁים רַחֲמָנִיֹּות בִּשְּׁלוּ יַלְדֵיהֶן הָיוּ לְבָרֹות לָמֹו בְּשֶׁבֶר בַּת־עַמִּי׃ ס

11 כִּלָּה יְהוָה אֶת־חֲמָתֹו שָׁפַךְ חֲרֹון אַפֹּו וַיַּצֶּת־אֵשׁ בְּצִיֹּון וַתֹּאכַל יְסֹודֹתֶיהָ׃ ס

12 לֹא הֶאֱמִינוּ מַלְכֵי־אֶרֶץ [כ= וְכֹל] [ק= כֹּל] יֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל כִּי יָבֹא צַר וְאֹויֵב בְּשַׁעֲרֵי יְרוּשָׁלִָם׃ ס

13 מֵחַטֹּאת נְבִיאֶיהָ עֲוֹנֹות כֹּהֲנֶיהָ הַשֹּׁפְכִים בְּקִרְבָּהּ דַּם צַדִּיקִים׃ ס

14 נָעוּ עִוְרִים בַּחוּצֹות נְגֹאֲלוּ בַּדָּם בְּלֹא יוּכְלוּ יִגְּעוּ בִּלְבֻשֵׁיהֶם׃ ס

15 סוּרוּ טָמֵא קָרְאוּ לָמֹו סוּרוּ סוּרוּ אַל־תִּגָּעוּ כִּי נָצוּ גַּם־נָעוּ אָמְרוּ בַּגֹּויִם לֹא יֹוסִיפוּ לָגוּר׃ ס

16 פְּנֵי יְהוָה חִלְּקָם לֹא יֹוסִיף לְהַבִּיטָם פְּנֵי כֹהֲנִים לֹא נָשָׂאוּ [כ= זְקֵנִים] [ק= וּזְקֵנִים] לֹא חָנָנוּ׃ ס

17 [כ= עֹודֵינָה] [ק= עֹודֵינוּ] תִּכְלֶינָה עֵינֵינוּ אֶל־עֶזְרָתֵנוּ הָבֶל בְּצִפִּיָּתֵנוּ צִפִּינוּ אֶל־גֹּוי לֹא יֹושִׁעַ׃ ס

18 צָדוּ צְעָדֵינוּ מִלֶּכֶת בִּרְחֹבֹתֵינוּ קָרַב קִצֵּינוּ מָלְאוּ יָמֵינוּ כִּי־בָא קִצֵּינוּ׃ ס

19 קַלִּים הָיוּ רֹדְפֵינוּ מִנִּשְׁרֵי שָׁמָיִם עַל־הֶהָרִים דְּלָקֻנוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר אָרְבוּ לָנוּ׃ ס

20 רוּחַ אַפֵּינוּ מְשִׁיחַ יְהוָה נִלְכַּד בִּשְׁחִיתֹותָם אֲשֶׁר אָמַרְנוּ בְּצִלֹּו נִחְיֶה בַגֹּויִם׃ ס

21 שִׂישִׂי וְשִׂמְחִי בַּת־אֱדֹום [כ= יֹושַׁבְתִּי] [ק= יֹושֶׁבֶת] בְּאֶרֶץ עוּץ גַּם־עָלַיִךְ תַּעֲבָר־כֹּוס תִּשְׁכְּרִי וְתִתְעָרִי׃ ס

22 תַּם־עֲוֹנֵךְ בַּת־צִיֹּון לֹא יֹוסִיף לְהַגְלֹותֵךְ פָּקַד עֲוֹנֵךְ בַּת־אֱדֹום גִּלָּה עַל־חַטֹּאתָיִךְ׃ ף

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8286

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8286. 'And with the wind of Your nostrils the waters were heaped up' means falsities gathered together through heaven's presence. This is clear from the meaning of 'the wind of Your nostrils' as heaven, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'being heaped up' as being gathered into one; and from the meaning of 'the waters' as falsities, dealt with in 7307, 8137, 8138. Damnation and being cast into hell involves having all the falsities arising from evil gathered together, and then being hemmed in by them, see 8146, 8210, 8232; and this happens as a result simply of the Lord's presence, 8265. The reason why 'the wind of Jehovah's, or the Lord's, nostrils' means heaven is that the expression is used to denote the breath of life, that is, God's life; and since God's life constitutes heaven's life, heaven is meant by 'the wind of Jehovah's nostrils'. This also explains why the same word in the original language means both wind and spirit.

[2] The fact that Jehovah's wind or His breath means heaven's life, and the life of a person in heaven, that is, of one who has been regenerated, is clear in David,

By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all their host by the spirit (wind) of His mouth. Psalms 33:6.

In the same author,

You gather up their spirit, they breathe their last and fall back into their dust. You send forth Your spirit (wind), they are created. Psalms 104:29-30.

In Ezekiel,

Jehovah said to me, Will these bones live? Then He said, Prophesy over the spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and say to the wind, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Come from the four winds, O spirit, and breathe into these killed, that they may live. And the spirit came into them, and they lived again. Ezekiel 37:3, 9-10.

In John,

I saw four angels standing over the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, in order that the wind should not blow onto the earth, nor onto the sea, nor onto any tree. Revelation 7:1.

Here 'the wind' stands for heaven's life, which is God's life, as also in Job,

The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of Shaddai 1 has given me life. Job 33:4.

[3] Since 'wind' meant life the Lord also says, in His teaching about a person's regeneration,

The spirit (or wind) blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or goes away to; so it is with everyone who has been born from the spirit. John 3:8.

And since life from God was meant by 'Jehovah's wind' or 'His breath' it therefore says of Jehovah, when Adam's new life is the subject, that

He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7.

The word 'nostrils' is used because a person breathes by means of them and by means of breathing has life, as in Isaiah,

Turn yourselves away from the person in whose nostrils there is breath. 2 Isaiah 2:22.

In Jeremiah,

The Breath 3 Lamentations 4:20Job 27:3.

[4] Since therefore 'the wind of Jehovah's nostrils' means life which comes from the Lord, and so in the universal sense means heaven, and since through the Lord's presence - or through the presence of heaven, where the Lord is - evils and falsities are cast into hell, 8265, so also is the accomplishment of this meant by 'the wind of Jehovah's nostrils', as in David,

The channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were revealed, because of Jehovah's rebuke, at the blast of breath from His nostrils. 4 Psalms 18:8, 15; 2 Samuel 22:16. 5

In Isaiah,

The breath of Jehovah like a stream 6 of brimstone sets it alight. Isaiah 30:33.

In the same prophet,

Indeed they are not planted, indeed they are not sown, indeed their trunk does not take root in the earth, and also He breathes onto them and they wither, so that the whirlwind may bear them away like stubble. Isaiah 40:24Psalms 147:1718

In addition this explains why 'the nose', when used in reference to Jehovah or the Lord, also means wrath, and so the punishment, vastation, and damnation suffered by those ruled by evils and falsities, as in Numbers 25:4; Deuteronomy 7:4; Judges 2:14; Isaiah 9:12; Jeremiah 4:8Hosea 14:4; Psalms 6:1; 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; and very many other times elsewhere. It explains too why 'breathing with the nostrils' or 'breathing out' means being angry, Deuteronomy 4:21; Isaiah 12:1; Psalms 2:12; 6:1; 60:1; 79:5; 85:5.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8137

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8137. 'And I will be glorified' means that they were about to see a Divine feat, accomplished by the Lord's Divine Human, in the dispersion of falsity. This is clear from the meaning of 'being glorified', when it refers to Jehovah or the Lord, as a Divine feat, here a Divine feat accomplished by His Divine Human. For through His coming into the world, assuming the Human, and making it Divine the Lord cast into the hells all evils and falsities, restored the heavens to order, and also delivered from damnation those belonging to the spiritual Church, see 6854, 6914, 7091, 7828, 7932, 8018. These things are meant generally by 'being glorified'; but at this point the meaning is that those who molested the upright were to be cast into hell, where they would be engulfed by falsities as if by the waters of the sea. And this would take place as a Divine feat, accomplished simply by the Lord's presence.

[2] So that the nature of all this may become known, the matter will be explained further. The number of the hells is as great as that of the genera and species of evils. Every hell is separated from the next as if by mists, clouds, or waters. In the next life evils and falsities appear before the eyes of spirits as mists and clouds, and also as waters. The falsities arising from evils of those who belonged to the spiritual Church and led an evil life appear as waters, while the falsities arising from evils of those who belonged to the celestial Church appear as mists. The inhabitants of the hells appear engulfed by such waters or mists, though everywhere the amount and nature of them, the thickness and thinness, the murkiness and dimness varies as determined by each genus and species of falsity arising from evil. The hell inhabited by those who were governed by faith separated from charity and led a life of evil is engulfed as if by waters of the sea. The falsities arising from evil, it is true, do not appear as waters to its inhabitants, only to those looking on from outside. Above that sea they are engulfed in are the adulterers' hells. The reason why they are above it is that in the internal sense adulteries are adulterations of good and consequent perversions of truth, thus evils from which stem falsities opposed to the truths and forms of the good of faith, 2466, 2729, 3399. This kind of falsities exists with those in the hell below, who led a life contrary to the Church's truth and considered its good to be of no importance whatever. And because they considered it to be of no importance they also adulterated and perverted everything the Word states about good, that is, about charity towards the neighbour and love to God.

[3] As regards 'being glorified in Pharaoh and in his army', this implies here their submersion into that hell and their engulfment by waters like those of the sea, simply at the presence of the Lord, as has been stated above. The evil flee from the Lord's presence, that is, from the presence of the goodness and truth that spring from Him; for at their mere approach the evil feel terrified and tormented, and also as a result of the presence of that goodness and truth they are engulfed by their own evils and falsities, because these now burst out from them. They envelop the evil and are interposed to prevent the Divine from flowing into them, as a consequence of which they would suffer torment. This Divine feat is the meaning here of 'being glorified in Pharaoh and in his army'. The reason why the feat is accomplished by the Lord's Divine Human is, as stated above, that through His Coming into the world, assuming the Human and making it Divine the Lord cast all falsities and evils into hell, restored to order truths and forms of good in the heavens, and delivered from damnation those belonging to the spiritual Church.

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