The Bible

 

Revelation 22

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1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.

9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst Come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #533

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533. APOCALYPSE. CHAPTER 9.

1. And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth; and there was given unto him the key of the pit of the abyss.

2. And he opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke 1 of a great furnace; and the sun was darkened, and the air, by the smoke of the pit.

3. And out of the smoke there went forth locusts on the earth; and there was given unto them power as the scorpions of the earth have power.

4. And it was said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but the men only that have not the seal of God on their foreheads.

5. And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should torment them five months; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man.

6. And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it; and they shall long to die and death shall flee from them.

7. And the likenesses of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for battle; and upon their heads as it were crowns like gold, and their faces as men's faces.

8. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as those of lions.

9. And they had breastplates as iron breastplates; and the voice of their wings was as the voice of chariots of many horses running into battle.

10. And they had tails like scorpions, and stings were in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months.

11. And they had over them a king, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew Abaddon, and in Greek he hath the name Apollyon.

12. One woe is past; behold there come yet two woes after this.

13. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God.

14. Saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Loose the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates.

15. And the four angels were loosed that had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men.

16. And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two myriads of myriads; and I heard the number of them.

17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those that sat on them, having breastplates fiery and hyacinthine and brimstone-like; and the heads of the horses as the beads of lions; and out of their mouths proceeded fire and smoke and brimstone.

18. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone that proceeded out of their mouths.

19. For their power was in their mouth, for their tails were like serpents and had heads, and with them do they hurt.

20. And the rest of men who were not killed in these plagues, and repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not adore demons and idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.

21. And repented not of their murders nor of their enchantments nor of their whoredoms nor of their thefts.

Footnotes:

1. Latin "pit," Greek "smoke," as we find just above, as also in AE 539.

EXPOSITION.

Verses 1, 2. And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth; and there was given unto him the key of the pit of the abyss. And he opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun was darkened and the air by the smoke of the pit.

1. "And the fifth angel sounded" signifies influx out of heaven manifesting the state of the church, that it was wholly changed (n. 534); "and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth," signifies the knowledges of truth falsified, and thus turned into falsities (n. 535); "and there was given unto him the key of the pit of the abyss," signifies communication and conjunction with the hells n. 536.

2. "And he opened the pit of the abyss," signifies communication and conjunction with the hells, where and from which are such falsities (n. 537, 538); "and there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace," signifies dense falsities therefrom out of the evils of earthly and corporeal loves (n. 539, 540); "and the sun was darkened and the air by the smoke of the pit," signifies that the light of truth from the Lord was made thick darkness by infernal falsities (n. 541).

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

The Bible

 

Revelation 9

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1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.