The Bible

 

Joel 3

Study

   

1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

4 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompence me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;

5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:

8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:

10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but The LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #471

Study this Passage

  
/ 962  
  

471. And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. (10:3) This symbolizes a grievous lamentation that the church was taken from Him.

That to cry aloud as when a lion roars symbolizes a grievous lamentation over the church, which was taken from Him, is apparent from the explanations in the preceding chapter, where the states of life of people in the church were examined and exposed, states that were lamentable. It is apparent also from the following declaration in this chapter, that the angel swore by Him who lives forever and ever that there should be no more time, which symbolically means that there would be no more church. And in the next chapter as well, that the beast ascending from the bottomless pit killed His two witnesses. Especially is it apparent from the fact that people do not acknowledge the Lord and turn to Him, even though He is God of heaven and earth.

A lamentation over this is what the angel's roaring like a lion symbolizes; for a lion roars when it sees its enemies and is attacked by them, and when it sees its young or its prey carried off. The same is comparatively the case with the Lord when He sees His church carried off by devils.

[2] That this is the symbolic meaning of roaring like a lion can be seen from the following passages:

As a lion roars, and a young lion over his prey, when a multitude of shepherds comes against him..., so Jehovah of Hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion... (Isaiah 31:4)

...the anger of Jehovah is kindled against His people... His roaring is like that of a lion, He roars like young lions; He growls and lays hold of the prey... (For) behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened in its ruins. (Isaiah 5:25-30)

Jehovah will roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His habitations. (Jeremiah 25:30)

Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem. (Joel 3:16)

I will not... destroy Ephraim... They shall go after Jehovah. He will roar like a lion, for He will roar... (Hosea 11:9-10)

A lion roars. Who does not fear? The Lord Jehovih has spoken. Who will not prophesy? (Amos 3:8)

(God) roars with His voice; He thunders with His majestic voice... (Job 37:4-5)

That roaring symbolizes a grievous lamentation is clear from the following passages:

...my bones grew old through my roaring all the day long. (Psalms 32:3)

I am feeble and worn; I have roared because of the roaring of my heart. (Psalms 38:8)

...my sighing comes before bread, and my roarings pour out like water. (Job 3:24)

  
/ 962  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.