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Ezekiel 11

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1 καὶ ἀνέλαβέν με πνεῦμα καὶ ἤγαγέν με ἐπὶ τὴν πύλην τοῦ οἴκου κυρίου τὴν κατέναντι τὴν βλέπουσαν κατὰ ἀνατολάς καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐπὶ τῶν προθύρων τῆς πύλης ὡς εἴκοσι καὶ πέντε ἄνδρες καὶ εἶδον ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν τὸν ιεζονιαν τὸν τοῦ εζερ καὶ φαλτιαν τὸν τοῦ βαναιου τοὺς ἀφηγουμένους τοῦ λαοῦ

2 καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρός με υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου οὗτοι οἱ ἄνδρες οἱ λογιζόμενοι μάταια καὶ βουλευόμενοι βουλὴν πονηρὰν ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ

3 οἱ λέγοντες οὐχὶ προσφάτως ᾠκοδόμηνται αἱ οἰκίαι αὕτη ἐστὶν ὁ λέβης ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰ κρέα

4 διὰ τοῦτο προφήτευσον ἐπ' αὐτούς προφήτευσον υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου

5 καὶ ἔπεσεν ἐπ' ἐμὲ πνεῦμα κυρίου καὶ εἶπεν πρός με λέγε τάδε λέγει κύριος οὕτως εἴπατε οἶκος ισραηλ καὶ τὰ διαβούλια τοῦ πνεύματος ὑμῶν ἐγὼ ἐπίσταμαι

6 ἐπληθύνατε νεκροὺς ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ καὶ ἐνεπλήσατε τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτῆς τραυματιῶν

7 διὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει κύριος τοὺς νεκροὺς ὑμῶν οὓς ἐπατάξατε ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς οὗτοί εἰσιν τὰ κρέα αὐτὴ δὲ ὁ λέβης ἐστίν καὶ ὑμᾶς ἐξάξω ἐκ μέσου αὐτῆς

8 ῥομφαίαν φοβεῖσθε καὶ ῥομφαίαν ἐπάξω ἐφ' ὑμᾶς λέγει κύριος

9 καὶ ἐξάξω ὑμᾶς ἐκ μέσου αὐτῆς καὶ παραδώσω ὑμᾶς εἰς χεῖρας ἀλλοτρίων καὶ ποιήσω ἐν ὑμῖν κρίματα

10 ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ πεσεῖσθε ἐπὶ τῶν ὁρίων τοῦ ισραηλ κρινῶ ὑμᾶς καὶ ἐπιγνώσεσθε ὅτι ἐγὼ κύριος

11 αὐτὴ ὑμῖν οὐκ ἔσται εἰς λέβητα καὶ ὑμεῖς οὐ μὴ γένησθε ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς εἰς κρέα ἐπὶ τῶν ὁρίων τοῦ ισραηλ κρινῶ ὑμᾶς

12 καὶ ἐπιγνώσεσθε διότι ἐγὼ κύριος

13 καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ προφητεύειν με καὶ φαλτιας ὁ τοῦ βαναιου ἀπέθανεν καὶ πίπτω ἐπὶ πρόσωπόν μου καὶ ἀνεβόησα φωνῇ μεγάλῃ καὶ εἶπα οἴμμοι οἴμμοι κύριε εἰς συντέλειαν σὺ ποιεῖς τοὺς καταλοίπους τοῦ ισραηλ

14 καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρός με λέγων

15 υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου οἱ ἀδελφοί σου καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας σου καὶ πᾶς ὁ οἶκος τοῦ ισραηλ συντετέλεσται οἷς εἶπαν αὐτοῖς οἱ κατοικοῦντες ιερουσαλημ μακρὰν ἀπέχετε ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῖν δέδοται ἡ γῆ εἰς κληρονομίαν

16 διὰ τοῦτο εἰπόν τάδε λέγει κύριος ὅτι ἀπώσομαι αὐτοὺς εἰς τὰ ἔθνη καὶ διασκορπιῶ αὐτοὺς εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν καὶ ἔσομαι αὐτοῖς εἰς ἁγίασμα μικρὸν ἐν ταῖς χώραις οὗ ἂν εἰσέλθωσιν ἐκεῖ

17 διὰ τοῦτο εἰπόν τάδε λέγει κύριος καὶ εἰσδέξομαι αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ συνάξω αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν χωρῶν οὗ διέσπειρα αὐτοὺς ἐν αὐταῖς καὶ δώσω αὐτοῖς τὴν γῆν τοῦ ισραηλ

18 καὶ εἰσελεύσονται ἐκεῖ καὶ ἐξαροῦσιν πάντα τὰ βδελύγματα αὐτῆς καὶ πάσας τὰς ἀνομίας αὐτῆς ἐξ αὐτῆς

19 καὶ δώσω αὐτοῖς καρδίαν ἑτέραν καὶ πνεῦμα καινὸν δώσω ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐκσπάσω τὴν καρδίαν τὴν λιθίνην ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτῶν καὶ δώσω αὐτοῖς καρδίαν σαρκίνην

20 ὅπως ἐν τοῖς προστάγμασίν μου πορεύωνται καὶ τὰ δικαιώματά μου φυλάσσωνται καὶ ποιῶσιν αὐτά καὶ ἔσονταί μοι εἰς λαόν καὶ ἐγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτοῖς εἰς θεόν

21 καὶ εἰς τὴν καρδίαν τῶν βδελυγμάτων αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν ἀνομιῶν αὐτῶν ὡς ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν ἐπορεύετο τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτῶν εἰς κεφαλὰς αὐτῶν δέδωκα λέγει κύριος

22 καὶ ἐξῆραν τὰ χερουβιν τὰς πτέρυγας αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ τροχοὶ ἐχόμενοι αὐτῶν καὶ ἡ δόξα θεοῦ ισραηλ ἐπ' αὐτὰ ὑπεράνω αὐτῶν

23 καὶ ἀνέβη ἡ δόξα κυρίου ἐκ μέσης τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἔστη ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους ὃ ἦν ἀπέναντι τῆς πόλεως

24 καὶ ἀνέλαβέν με πνεῦμα καὶ ἤγαγέν με εἰς γῆν χαλδαίων εἰς τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν ἐν ὁράσει ἐν πνεύματι θεοῦ καὶ ἀνέβην ἀπὸ τῆς ὁράσεως ἧς εἶδον

25 καὶ ἐλάλησα πρὸς τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν πάντας τοὺς λόγους τοῦ κυρίου οὓς ἔδειξέν μοι

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Doctrine of Life #86

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86. A person has a natural mind and a spiritual mind. The natural mind is below and the spiritual mind above.

The natural mind is the mind he has in the world, and the spiritual mind is the mind he has in heaven.

The natural mind may be termed his animal mind, and the spiritual mind his human mind.

Human beings also differ from animals by their having a spiritual mind. By virtue of that mind they can be in heaven while still living in the world. It is also by virtue of that mind that a person lives on after death.

[2] A person may be intellectually functional in his spiritual mind and so in heaven, but he cannot be volitionally functional in his spiritual mind and so in heaven unless he refrains from evils as being sins. If he is not volitionally functional in that mind, he is still not in heaven, because his will draws his understanding downward and causes it to be just as natural and animal as itself.

[3] A person may be likened to a garden, with his intellect likened to light, and his will to warmth. A garden has the benefit of light and not at the same time of warmth in wintertime, but of light and warmth together in summertime. A person who has only light in his intellect is like a garden in winter, whereas someone who has both light in his intellect and warmth in his will is like a garden in summer.

Spiritual light also causes the intellect to grow wise, and spiritual warmth causes the will to become loving. For spiritual light is Divine wisdom, and spiritual warmth is Divine love.

[4] As long as a person does not refrain from evils as being sins, the inner regions of the natural mind are, as regards the will, blocked up by lusts for those evils, where they form a kind of thick veil and a kind of dark cloud beneath the spiritual mind and keep it from opening.

On the other hand, as soon as a person refrains from evils as being sins, the Lord flows in then from heaven, removes the veil, dispels the cloud, and opens the spiritual mind, and so introduces the person into heaven.

[5] Lusts for evils block up, as we said, the inner regions of the natural mind, and as long as they do, the person is for that time in hell. But as soon as those lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, the person is in heaven.

So, too, as long as lusts for evils block up the inner regions of the natural mind, the person remains for that time a natural person. But as soon as those lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, the person is a spiritual person.

Again, as long as lusts for evils block up the inner regions of the natural mind, the person is for that time an animal. He differs only in the fact that he can think and speak, even about matters not visible to the eye, a faculty he has from his ability to raise his intellect into the light of heaven. But as soon as those lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, the person becomes human, because he then thinks true thoughts in his intellect from goodness in his will.

Moreover, as long as the lusts for evils block up the inner regions of the natural mind, the person is for that time like a garden in winter. But as soon as those lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, he is like a garden in summer.

[6] The union of will and intellect in a person is meant in the Word by heart and soul and by heart and spirit. So we are told, for example, to love God with all our heart and with all our soul (Matthew 22:37), and that God will give us a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26-27). The heart means the will and its love, and the soul or spirit means the intellect and its wisdom.

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

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