8
Gerusalemme ha commesso peccato, e però è stata in ischerno; Tutti quelli che l’onoravano l’hanno avuta a vile; Perciocchè hanno vedute le sue vergogne; Anch’essa ne ha sospirato, e si è rivolta indietro.
Lamenti 1:8
To many Protestant and Evangelical Italians, the Bibles translated by Giovanni Diodati are an important part of their history. Diodati’s first Italian Bible edition was printed in 1607, and his second in 1641. He died in 1649. Throughout the 1800s two editions of Diodati’s text were printed by the British Foreign Bible Society. This is the more recent 1894 edition, translated by Claudiana.
Doctrine of the Lord #64
64. Jerusalem, in the Word, means the church in respect to doctrine, because the Temple, the Altar, the offering of sacrifices, thus Divine worship itself were there, in the land of Canaan, and nowhere else. The three annual feasts were therefore also celebrated there, and every male throughout the land was commanded to go to them. For that reason Jerusalem symbolizes the church in respect to its worship, and so also the church in respect to its doctrine. For worship is prescribed in doctrine, and is conducted in accordance with it. In addition, the Lord was active in Jerusalem and taught in its Temple, and afterward glorified His humanity there.
Furthermore, in the Word in its spiritual sense a city symbolizes doctrine. The Holy City therefore symbolizes a doctrine of Divine truth from the Lord. 1
[2] That Jerusalem means the church in respect to its doctrine is apparent also from other passages in the Word. For example, from the following:
In Isaiah:
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as a radiance, and her salvation as a burning lamp. Then the nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah will utter. You shall also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.... ...Jehovah will be well pleased by you, and your land shall be married.... Behold, your salvation is coming; behold, His reward is with Him.... And they shall call them a holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah; and you shall be called a city sought, not forsaken. (Isaiah 62:1-4, 11-12)
This whole chapter deals with the Lord’s advent and a new church to be established by Him. The new church is the one meant by Jerusalem, which will be called “by a new name which the mouth of Jehovah will utter, ” which will be “a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of God, ” by which Jehovah will be “well pleased, ” and which will be called “a city sought, not forsaken.”
This cannot mean the Jerusalem inhabited by Jews when the Lord came into the world, for it was altogether of an opposite character. Rather it deserved to have been called Sodom, as it is in fact called in Revelation 11:8, Isaiah 3:9, Jeremiah 23:14, and Ezekiel 16:46, 48.
[3] Elsewhere in Isaiah:
...behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth; the former shall not be remembered.... ...be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; ...behold, I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem, and be glad over My people.... (Then) the wolf and the lamb shall feed together.... They shall not do harm...in all My holy mountain.... (Isaiah 65:17-19, 25)
The subject in this chapter as well is the Lord’s advent and the church that He will establish — a church that was not established among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but among surrounding peoples. Consequently it is this church that is meant by Jerusalem, which will be for the Lord a rejoicing, and whose people will be for Him a joy, and where the wolf and the lamb will feed together and not do harm.
Here, too, we are told, as we are in the book of Revelation, that the Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth, where they have a similar meaning. And we are also told that He will create Jerusalem.
[4] Elsewhere in Isaiah:
Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come into you. Shake yourself from the dust, arise; sit down, O Jerusalem! ...My people shall know My name...in that day, for I am He who speaks. Behold, it is I.... ...Jehovah has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. (Isaiah 52:1-2, 6, 9)
In this chapter also the subject is the Lord’s advent and a church to be established by Him. Consequently the Jerusalem into which the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come, and which the Lord has redeemed, means the church; and Jerusalem, the holy city, means the church in respect to its doctrine received from the Lord.
[5] In Zephaniah:
Sing, O daughter of Zion! ...Be glad...with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! ...The King of Israel...is in your midst; fear evil no more.... He will be glad over you with joy, He will rest in your love, He will rejoice over you with jubilation.... ...I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth.... (Zephaniah 3:14-17, 20)
Here, likewise, the subject is the Lord and the church to be established by Him, over which the King of Israel, namely the Lord, will be glad with joy and rejoice with jubilation, in whose love He will rest, and to whom He will give fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth.
[6] In Isaiah:
Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, and He who formed you..., who says to Jerusalem, “You shall be inhabited, ” and to the cities of Judah, “You shall be built.” (Isaiah 44:24, 26)
And in Daniel:
Know and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks.... (Daniel 9:25)
Jerusalem here, too, means the church, as is apparent, since the Lord restored and rebuilt the church, but not Jerusalem, the capital city of the Jews.
[7] Jerusalem means a church established by the Lord in the following places as well.
In Zechariah:
Thus said Jehovah: “I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. (Therefore) Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, the Holy Mountain.” (Zechariah 8:3, cf. 8:20-23)
In Joel:
Then you shall know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy.... And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk.... And...shall abide...Jerusalem from generation to generation. (Joel 3:17-20)
In Isaiah:
In that day the offshoot of Jehovah shall be beautiful and glorious.... And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy — everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 4:2-3)
In Micah:
...at the end of days the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on top of the mountains.... For out of Zion the doctrine shall go forth, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.... ...to you...the former kingdom shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1-2, 8)
In Jeremiah:
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all the nations shall be gathered..., because of the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the confirmation of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:17)
In Isaiah:
Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feast; let your eyes behold Jerusalem, a tranquil home, a tabernacle that will not go away. Its stakes will never be removed, nor will any of its cords be torn away. (Isaiah 33:20)
And so on also elsewhere, as in Isaiah 24:23, 37:32, 66:10-14; Zechariah 12:3, 6, 8-10, 14:8, 11-12, 21; Malachi 3:2, 4; Psalms 122:1-7, 137:4-6.
[8] Jerusalem in these places means a church which the Lord will establish, and also one that He has established, and not the Jerusalem in the land of Canaan inhabited by Jews; and this can be seen as well from places in the Word where we are told that it has been utterly ruined, or that it will be destroyed. As, for example, in Jeremiah 5:1, 6:6-7, 7:17-18ff, 8:6-8ff, 9:11-12, 14ff, 13:9-10, 14, 14:16; Lamentations 1:8-9, 17; Ezekiel 4:1-17, 5:9-17, 12:18-19, 15:6-8, 16:1-63, 23:1-49; Matthew 23:37, 39; Luke 19:41-44, 21:20-22, 23:28-30. And many other places.
Footnotes:
1. [Swedenborg’s Footnote] To be shown that a city in the Word symbolizes the doctrine of a church and its religion, see the Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), nos. 402, 2449, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493. That the gate of a city symbolizes the doctrine by which one enters the church, nos. 2943, 4477, 4478. That the elders therefore sat at the gate of the city in judgment, ibid. That to go out of the gate is to depart from the doctrine, nos. 4492, 4493. That representational cities and palaces in heaven appear when angels are engaged in discussing doctrinal matters, no. 3216 there.
Published by the General Church of the New Jerusalem, 1100 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U.S.A. A translation of Doctrina Novae Hierosolymae de Domino, by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772. Translated from the Original Latin by N. Bruce Rogers. ISBN 9780945003687, Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954074.
Jeremiah 23
1
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says Yahweh.
2
Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed my people: You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings, says Yahweh.
3
I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
4
I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, says Yahweh.
5
Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
6
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name by which he shall be called: Yahweh our righteousness.
7
Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that they shall no more say, As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8
but, As Yahweh lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them. They shall dwell in their own land.
9
Concerning the prophets. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of Yahweh, and because of his holy words.
10
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right;
11
for both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in my house have I found their wickedness, says Yahweh.
12
Therefore their way shall be to them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation, says Yahweh.
13
I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
14
In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none does return from his wickedness: they are all of them become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.
15
Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.
16
Thus says Yahweh of Armies, Don't listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Yahweh.
17
They say continually to those who despise me, Yahweh has said, You shall have peace; and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come on you.
18
For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should perceive and hear his word? who has marked my word, and heard it?
19
Behold, the storm of Yahweh, [even his] wrath, is gone forth, yes, a whirling storm: it shall burst on the head of the wicked.
20
The anger of Yahweh shall not return, until he has executed, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand it perfectly.
21
I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I didn't speak to them, yet they prophesied.
22
But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23
Am I a God at hand, says Yahweh, and not a God afar off?
24
Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? says Yahweh. Don't I fill heaven and earth? says Yahweh.
25
I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26
How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
27
who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.
28
The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? says Yahweh.
29
Isn't my word like fire? says Yahweh; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
30
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, who steal my words everyone from his neighbor.
31
Behold, I am against the prophets, says Yahweh, who use their tongues, and say, He says.
32
Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says Yahweh, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I didn't send them, nor commanded them; neither do they profit this people at all, says Yahweh.
33
When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, What is the burden of Yahweh? Then you shall tell them, What burden! I will cast you off, says Yahweh.
34
As for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who shall say, The burden of Yahweh, I will even punish that man and his house.
35
You shall say everyone to his neighbor, and everyone to his brother, What has Yahweh answered? and, What has Yahweh spoken?
36
You shall mention the burden of Yahweh no more: for every man's own word shall be his burden; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of Yahweh of Armies our God.
37
You shall say to the prophet, What has Yahweh answered you? and, What has Yahweh spoken?
38
But if you say, The burden of Yahweh; therefore thus says Yahweh: Because you say this word, The burden of Yahweh, and I have sent to you, saying, You shall not say, The burden of Yahweh;
39
therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my presence:
40
and I will bring an everlasting reproach on you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
