The Bible

 

Hosea 5

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1 Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

2 And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.

3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.

4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.

5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.

6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.

7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.

8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Beth-aven, after thee, O Benjamin.

9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.

10 The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.

12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.

13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.

14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.

15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #314

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314. In the spiritual sense committing adultery means adulterating the various kinds of good in the Word and falsifying its truths. These meanings of committing adultery have until now been unknown, because the spiritual sense of the Word has until now been hidden. It is perfectly plain from the following passages that this and nothing else is meant in the Word by 'committing fornication, committing adultery, and whoring.'

Run up and down the streets of Jerusalem, and seek to find a man who acts righteously and seeks the truth; when I gave them plenty, they went after whores, Jeremiah 5:1, 7.

Among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen horrible obstinacy, in committing adultery and going about lying, Jeremiah 23:14.

They acted foolishly in Israel, they went after whores, and spoke my Word untruthfully, Jeremiah 29:23.

They went after whores, because they have abandoned Jehovah, Hosea 4:10.

I will cut off the soul which pays attention to soothsayers and fortunetellers, to go whoring after them, Leviticus 20:6.

No treaty is to be made with the inhabitants of the land, for fear the people should go whoring after their gods, Exodus 34:15.

Since Babylon stands pre-eminent in adulterating and falsifying the Word, that is why she is called the great prostitute, and the following things are said about her in Revelation:

Babylon has given all nations to drink from the wine of anger of her whoring, Revelation 14:8.

The angel said, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute, with whom the kings of the earth have gone whoring, Revelation 17:1-2.

He has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her whoring, Revelation 19:2.

It was because the Jewish nation falsified the Word that it was called by the Lord 'an adulterous generation' (Matthew 12:39; 16:4; Mark 8:38) and 'the seed of an adulterer' (Isaiah 57:3). In many other passages too adulteries and whoring are to be understood as meaning adulteration and falsification of the Word: e.g, Jeremiah 3:6, 8; 13:27; Ezekiel 16:15-16, 26, 28-29, 32-33; 23:2-3, 5, 7, 11, 14, 17; Hosea 5:3; 6:10; Nahum 3:4.

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