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Jeremiah 48

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1 Against Moab thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim is confounded and taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed.

2 There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee.

3 A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim, spoiling and great destruction.

4 Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.

5 For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction.

6 Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.

7 For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.

8 And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD hath spoken.

9 Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein.

10 Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

11 Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.

12 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles.

13 And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.

14 How say ye, We are mighty and strong men for the war?

15 Moab is spoiled, and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

16 The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast.

17 All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!

18 Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds.

19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done?

20 Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl and cry; and tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled,

21 And judgment is come upon the plain country; upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,

22 And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim,

23 And upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon,

24 And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD.

26 Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

27 For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy.

28 O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth.

29 We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.

30 I know his wrath, saith the LORD; but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it.

31 Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kir-heres.

32 O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage.

33 And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.

34 From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as an heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate.

35 Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD, him that offereth in the high places, and him that burneth incense to his gods.

36 Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kir-heres: because the riches that he hath gotten are perished.

37 For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.

38 There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the LORD.

39 They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how hath Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him.

40 For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab.

41 Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

42 And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD.

43 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD.

44 He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.

45 They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.

46 Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives.

47 Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

De Verbo (The Word) #15

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15. XV. The lost ancient Word.

It was reported to me by angels of the third heaven that the ancients had a Word written entirely by means of correspondences like our Word, but that it has been lost. I was told that this Word is still preserved among them, and is used by the ancients in that heaven who had that Word when they were in the world. The ancients among whom that Word is still in use in the heavens were in part from the land of Canaan and the neighbouring region, and also from some kingdoms of Asia, for instance, from Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Chaldaea and Assyria, from Egypt, Sidon and Tyre. The inhabitants of all these kingdoms had a representative form of worship, and so knew about correspondences. This knowledge was the basis of the wisdom of that time, since it enabled them to communicate with the heavens, to have inner perception, and in many cases to speak with spirits. But because this Word was full of correspondences of a kind which only remotely meant heavenly things, so that as time passed it began to be falsified by many people, the Lord's Divine Providence ensured its gradual disappearance, and another Word was given, which was written by means of less distant correspondences. This was delivered to the Children of Israel by the Prophets. This Word, however, kept the names of places in the land of Canaan and the surrounding parts of Asia with similar meanings. It was for this reason that the descendants of Abraham from Jacob were brought into the land of Canaan, and the Word which names these places was written there.

[2] A further proof of the existence among the ancients of such a Word is found in the writings of Moses, who mentions it by name; and a passage was taken from it found in Numbers 21:14, 27. The historical parts of that Word were called 'The Wars of Jehovah' and the prophetic part 'The Utterances'. Moses took the following quotation from the historical parts of that Word:

Therefore it is said in the book of the Wars of Jehovah, Vaheb in Suphah and the streams of Arnon, and the water-channel of streams which dropped down to where Ar lived and stopped at the boundary of Moab. Numbers 21:14-15.

By the Wars of Jehovah are to be understood and described the Lord's battles with the hells and His victories over them, when He should come into the world. The same battles are also to be understood and described in the historical parts of our Word, as in Joshua's wars with the peoples of the land of Canaan, in the wars of the Book of Judges, and in those of David and the other kings.

[3] The following passage was taken by Moses from the prophetical parts of that Word:

Therefore the Prophetic Utterances say, Enter into Heshbon, the city of Sihon will be built and strengthened. For fire has gone out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon, which devoured Ar of Moab, the possessors of the heights of Arnon. Woe betide you, Moab; you are ruined, people of Chemosh. He made his sons fugitives and his daughters captives of the Sihon king of the Amorites. We killed them with arrows, Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon; and we laid them waste as far as Nophah, even as far as Medeba. Numbers 21:27-30.

These prophetic passages are called Utterances, and not Proverbs or the Composers of Proverbs, as the translators have it. This may be established from the meaning of the Hebrew word meshalim. A further proof that they are not just proverbs, but also prophetic utterances may be drawn from Numbers 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15, where it is said that Balaam gave forth his utterance, which was a prophecy, also concerning the Lord. His utterance is there called mashal in the singular. (The things in them described by Moses too are prophecies, not proverbs.) 1

[4] This Word was Divine or divinely inspired in the same way, as is evident in Jeremiah, where almost the same words are repeated, namely:

A fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from among Sihon, which devoured the corner of Moab, and the top of the sons of tumult. Woe betide you, Moab; the people of Chemosh has been ruined, for your sons are snatched away into captivity, and your daughters into captivity. 45-46.

In addition to these a prophetic book of that ancient Word called the Book of Jashar or the Book of the Upright Man is quoted by David (2 Samuel 1:18) and by Joshua (10:13). This plainly shows that the story of the sun and the moon there was a prophecy from that book. Moreover I was told that the first seven chapters of Genesis are so clearly to be seen in that same Word, that there is not so much as a little word missing.

[5] The religious beliefs of many peoples were drawn and transcribed from that Word, passing for instance from the land of Canaan and various parts of Asia to Greece, and thence to Italy; and by way of Ethiopia and Egypt to some African kingdoms. But in Greece they made up myths by means of correspondences, and turned the attributes of God into as many deities; they called the greatest of them Jove after Jehovah. 2

Footnotes:

1. These words are added in the margin. -Translator

2. This is not strictly true; neither Latin Jupiter (genitive Jovis) nor the corresponding Greek name Zeus have anything to do with the Hebrew Yahweh or Jehovah. -Translator

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

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