The Bible

 

Amos 4

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1 Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

2 The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.

3 And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD.

4 Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:

5 And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.

   

The Bible

 

Isaiah 45:7

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7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2684

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2684. 'She went and sat by herself some distance away' means a state of thought. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'going' and also of 'sitting by herself' and of doing so 'some distance away' as these phrases are used in connection with what comes before and after. 'Going' - here going away from the boy - means a removal from spiritual truth, which removal is further expressed and defined by its being said that she withdrew 'about a bowshot'. 'Sitting by herself' means a state of feeling alone, as the state of thought is during grief and despair. 'Some distance away' means so that she could not bear to look and yet could not bear not to look - for 'looking' means thinking, see 2245, which also is further expressed and defined by her saying, 'Let me not see the death of the boy; and she sat some distance away'. Thus embodied in these words is the state of thought of those who experience desolation of truth and consequently experience despair.

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