The Bible

 

Matthew 6

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1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

   

Commentary

 

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In Genesis 40:15, this signifies falsity, into which one may be rejected. (Arcana Coelestia 5138)

In Genesis 41:14, this signifies a state of vastation and temptation. (Arcana Coelestia 5246)

In Exodus 12:29, this signifies the last place for the falsified truths of faith. (Arcana Coelestia 7950)

In Revelation 18:2, this signifies hell.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 757)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8788

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8788. 'And sanctify them today and tomorrow' means covering over their interiors in order that those people may appear now and subsequently in the holiness of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'sanctifying' as arranging them so that outwardly they may appear in holiness; and since this is accomplished by covering over their interiors, 'sanctifying' has this meaning also. The fact that 'today and tomorrow' means now and subsequently is self-evident. What all this implies will be stated briefly. The Church established among the Jews was not, as regards the Jews themselves, the Church, only a representative of the Church. For the Church to exist there must reside with those belonging to the Church faith in the Lord, and also love to Him, as well as love towards the neighbour. These virtues make the Church. But they did not reside with the people who were called Jacob; for they did not acknowledge the Lord, and so did not wish to hear about faith in Him, let alone about love to Him or indeed about love towards the neighbour. They were ruled by self-love and love of the world, the kinds of love that are the complete opposites of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. Such a disposition has been rooted in that people from their earliest forebears. This is why no Church could be established among that people; all they could do was represent things that constitute the Church. Mere representation of the Church comes about when people's worship centres on external things, but only on such things as correspond to heavenly ones. External things then serve to represent internal, and the internal things are made evident in heaven, to which those people are consequently joined. Therefore to make representation possible among the Israelite people, when interiorly they were devoid of the faith and love of heaven, indeed were full of self-love and love of the world, their interiors were covered over. Then their externals alone, without their internals, could be conveyed to spirits, and through these to angels. Consequently unless their internals had been covered over, internals too would have been made evident, in which case the representation would have been destroyed because foul [thoughts and affections] would have burst out and defiled it. Such a covering over was possible with that people more than with all the rest because they venerated external things more than others did; they thought that those things themselves were intrinsically holy, indeed Divine.

All this makes clear what one should understand by 'sanctifying', namely covering over their interiors in order that those people may appear in the holiness of faith, though not to themselves, only to the angels present with them. See what has been shown already about this people and the establishment of the Church among them, in 4208, 4281, 4288, 4289, 4293, 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4429, 4433, 4444, 4459, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4899, 4911, 4912, 4500, 7048, 7051, 8588. The fact that sanctification among them amounted to no more than an appearance of holiness in externals, since they themselves had no holiness within them, becomes clear from the ceremonies by which they were sanctified, that is to say, by sacrifices, washings, sprinklings of blood, and anointings, which do not in any way whatever touch internal things.

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