The Bible

 

Ezekiel 16

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1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,

3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.

4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.

6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

9 Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.

10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.

11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.

12 And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.

13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.

14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.

16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

18 And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.

19 My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.

20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,

21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?

22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.

23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;)

24 That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.

25 Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.

26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.

27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.

28 Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.

29 Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.

30 How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;

31 In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;

32 But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!

33 They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.

34 And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.

35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:

36 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;

37 Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

38 And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

39 And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.

40 They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.

41 And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.

42 So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

43 Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.

44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.

45 Thou art thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.

48 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

51 Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.

52 Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:

54 That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.

55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

56 For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride,

57 Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about.

58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD.

59 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.

61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.

62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:

63 That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.

   

The Bible

 

Isaiah 14:1

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1 For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #826

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826. Verse 14. And he seduceth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs that were given him to do before the beast, signifies to persuade those who are of the church that these are truths, by testifications from the Word joined to reasonings from the natural man. This is evident from the signification of "seducing," as being to persuade that falsities are truths, for the persuasion of falsity is seduction. Also from the signification of "them that dwell on the earth," as being those who are of the church (See above, n. 821). Also from the signification of "signs," as being testifications and consequent persuasions (See just above, n. 824, here testifications from the sense of the letter of the Word. Also from the signification of "the beast" before which these signs were done, as being reasonings from the natural man (See above, n. 774). Here "the signs that were done by this beast before the other" signify testifications from the sense of the letter of the Word, joined to reasonings from the natural man, because "the beast" that did the signs signifies confirmations from the sense of the letter of the Word; and "the beast" before which the signs were done signifies reasonings from the natural man; so here it signifies the conjunction of confirmations from the Word with these reasonings; and when these are conjoined they become testifications and persuasions. For reasonings that are from the natural man are of no avail in spiritual things before the world; but when the same reasonings are confirmed from the Word they prevail; for the reason that the Word is Divine, and in the sense of the letter consists of appearances of truth and of correspondences, in which the genuine truths that lie hidden within can be seen only by one who is enlightened; while one not enlightened can draw over these appearances of truth to confirm that falsities are truths, for with one who is not enlightened fallacies prevail, and the reasonings are from fallacies. But one who is enlightened sees from spiritual and from natural light at the same time; and the natural light with him is illumined by the spiritual; but one who is not enlightened sees from natural light only, separated from spiritual light, and such a light is in spiritual things not light but thick darkness. And yet this thick darkness, when falsities have been confirmed, appears to be as it were the light of truth, but it is like the light in the hells, which in the sight of those who are there appears as light; but as soon as light from heaven enters the light there is turned into mere thick darkness, and their thought grows dull. Those who are in the hells that contain such as have more deeply persuaded themselves of falsities by their ability to think more interiorly than others, are in the light of phantasy, and this light is bright in a way, but it is turned into a still blacker thick darkness by the influx of rays of light from heaven. Such is the light of the confirmation of falsity from the sense of the letter of the Word by reasonings from the fallacies of the natural man. From this it is clear that the light of the confirmation of falsity even to the destruction of the Divine truth which is in heaven, is infernal light.

[2] As the preceding articles treat of good works, I will here go on with the plan and show what is meant by love to the Lord. All who are in love to the Lord from the Lord are in the third or inmost heaven; and they are such as have truths written in the life, and not, like the angels of the lower heavens, in the memory; and this is why those who are in the third heaven never talk about truths, but only listen to others speaking about them, and reply either that it is so, or that it is somewhat so, or that it is not so. For they see in themselves whether what they hear is true or not; and this they see not from any sight in the thought, as others do, but from the affection of truth in the understanding. For with them all truths are written on their affections, and these derive their essence from celestial love, which is love to the Lord. Thus with them truths make one with their affections. And as these angels are in love to the Lord from the Lord, their interior life consists of mere affections of good and truth from that love. For this reason they do not speak about truths, but do truths, that is, good works. For the affections of good and truth that are from that love must needs come forth in act, and when they come forth they are called uses, and are what are meant by good works. Moreover, they perceive in themselves the quality of the uses or works from the affection from which they are; and also the differences between them from the conjunction of many affections; thus they do all things with interior wisdom. And because they do not think about truths and thence speak about them, but only do them, and because this comes from their love to the Lord, and thence from the affections alone, of which their life consists, it is evident that love to the Lord consists in doing truths from the affection of them, and that their deeds are good works; consequently that to love the Lord is to do; and this is what is meant by the Lord's words in John:

He that hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me. But he that loveth Me not keepeth not My words (John 14:21, 24).

And they are meant by these words in Jeremiah:

I will give My law in the midst of them, and will write it upon their heart. Neither shall they teach a man his companion or a man his brother, Know ye Jehovah, for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them (Jeremiah 31:33, 34).

"The law" means all things of the Word, thus all the truths and goods of heaven; "in the midst of them" signifies in their life; and the "heart" upon which the law shall be written signifies the love. From this it is clear how ample is the doctrine of love to the Lord, for it is the doctrine of all affections which belong to love; and every affection has truths written upon it according to the quality of its perfection, and brings them forth in act with infinite variety; and these affections do not come into the understanding in the form of ideas, but come to the inner sensitive perception in the form of delights of the will, wherefore they cannot be described by words. Those who imbibe the laws of life from the Word and live according to them, and who worship the Lord, become angels of the third heaven.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.