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Ezekiel 4

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1 καὶ σύ υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου λαβὲ σεαυτῷ πλίνθον καὶ θήσεις αὐτὴν πρὸ προσώπου σου καὶ διαγράψεις ἐπ' αὐτὴν πόλιν τὴν ιερουσαλημ

2 καὶ δώσεις ἐπ' αὐτὴν περιοχὴν καὶ οἰκοδομήσεις ἐπ' αὐτὴν προμαχῶνας καὶ περιβαλεῖς ἐπ' αὐτὴν χάρακα καὶ δώσεις ἐπ' αὐτὴν παρεμβολὰς καὶ τάξεις τὰς βελοστάσεις κύκλῳ

3 καὶ σὺ λαβὲ σεαυτῷ τήγανον σιδηροῦν καὶ θήσεις αὐτὸ τοῖχον σιδηροῦν ἀνὰ μέσον σοῦ καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἑτοιμάσεις τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἐπ' αὐτήν καὶ ἔσται ἐν συγκλεισμῷ καὶ συγκλείσεις αὐτήν σημεῖόν ἐστιν τοῦτο τοῖς υἱοῖς ισραηλ

4 καὶ σὺ κοιμηθήσῃ ἐπὶ τὸ πλευρόν σου τὸ ἀριστερὸν καὶ θήσεις τὰς ἀδικίας τοῦ οἴκου ισραηλ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ κατὰ ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἡμερῶν πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατόν ἃς κοιμηθήσῃ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ λήμψῃ τὰς ἀδικίας αὐτῶν

5 καὶ ἐγὼ δέδωκά σοι τὰς δύο ἀδικίας αὐτῶν εἰς ἀριθμὸν ἡμερῶν ἐνενήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ἡμέρας καὶ λήμψῃ τὰς ἀδικίας τοῦ οἴκου ισραηλ

6 καὶ συντελέσεις ταῦτα πάντα καὶ κοιμηθήσῃ ἐπὶ τὸ πλευρόν σου τὸ δεξιὸν καὶ λήμψῃ τὰς ἀδικίας τοῦ οἴκου ιουδα τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας ἡμέραν εἰς ἐνιαυτὸν τέθεικά σοι

7 καὶ εἰς τὸν συγκλεισμὸν ιερουσαλημ ἑτοιμάσεις τὸ πρόσωπόν σου καὶ τὸν βραχίονά σου στερεώσεις καὶ προφητεύσεις ἐπ' αὐτήν

8 καὶ ἐγὼ ἰδοὺ δέδωκα ἐπὶ σὲ δεσμούς καὶ μὴ στραφῇς ἀπὸ τοῦ πλευροῦ σου ἐπὶ τὸ πλευρόν σου ἕως οὗ συντελεσθῶσιν αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ συγκλεισμοῦ σου

9 καὶ σὺ λαβὲ σεαυτῷ πυροὺς καὶ κριθὰς καὶ κύαμον καὶ φακὸν καὶ κέγχρον καὶ ὄλυραν καὶ ἐμβαλεῖς αὐτὰ εἰς ἄγγος ἓν ὀστράκινον καὶ ποιήσεις αὐτὰ σαυτῷ εἰς ἄρτους καὶ κατ' ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἡμερῶν ἃς σὺ καθεύδεις ἐπὶ τοῦ πλευροῦ σου ἐνενήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ἡμέρας φάγεσαι αὐτά

10 καὶ τὸ βρῶμά σου ὃ φάγεσαι ἐν σταθμῷ εἴκοσι σίκλους τὴν ἡμέραν ἀπὸ καιροῦ ἕως καιροῦ φάγεσαι αὐτά

11 καὶ ὕδωρ ἐν μέτρῳ πίεσαι τὸ ἕκτον τοῦ ιν ἀπὸ καιροῦ ἕως καιροῦ πίεσαι

12 καὶ ἐγκρυφίαν κρίθινον φάγεσαι αὐτά ἐν βολβίτοις κόπρου ἀνθρωπίνης ἐγκρύψεις αὐτὰ κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν

13 καὶ ἐρεῖς τάδε λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς τοῦ ισραηλ οὕτως φάγονται οἱ υἱοὶ ισραηλ ἀκάθαρτα ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν

14 καὶ εἶπα μηδαμῶς κύριε θεὲ τοῦ ισραηλ ἰδοὺ ἡ ψυχή μου οὐ μεμίανται ἐν ἀκαθαρσίᾳ καὶ θνησιμαῖον καὶ θηριάλωτον οὐ βέβρωκα ἀπὸ γενέσεώς μου ἕως τοῦ νῦν οὐδὲ εἰσελήλυθεν εἰς τὸ στόμα μου πᾶν κρέας ἕωλον

15 καὶ εἶπεν πρός με ἰδοὺ δέδωκά σοι βόλβιτα βοῶν ἀντὶ τῶν βολβίτων τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων καὶ ποιήσεις τοὺς ἄρτους σου ἐπ' αὐτῶν

16 καὶ εἶπεν πρός με υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ συντρίβω στήριγμα ἄρτου ἐν ιερουσαλημ καὶ φάγονται ἄρτον ἐν σταθμῷ καὶ ἐν ἐνδείᾳ καὶ ὕδωρ ἐν μέτρῳ καὶ ἐν ἀφανισμῷ πίονται

17 ὅπως ἐνδεεῖς γένωνται ἄρτου καὶ ὕδατος καὶ ἀφανισθήσεται ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ τακήσονται ἐν ταῖς ἀδικίαις αὐτῶν

   

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Arcana Coelestia #4759

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4759. 'For twenty pieces of silver' means the value set upon it. This is clear from the meaning of 'twenty' as the good and truth stored away by the Lord within the interior man, which are called remnants, dealt with in 2280, and so as holy good or truth. In this case holy truth is meant because the phrase 'twenty pieces of silver' is used, 'silver' meaning truth, 1551, 2954. The same number also means that which is not holy, for most things in the Word have a contrary meaning also, here truth that is not holy in the case of those who alienated Divine Truth, or 'sold Joseph', 4758, but is holy in the case of those who accepted it or 'bought him'. The meaning here therefore is that which is not holy separated from charity, but which is holy in the case of the Ishmaelites, that is, those in whom simple good is present. These are the things that are meant by the value set upon it. The reason why 'twenty' also means that which is not holy is that 'twenty' means remnants, as stated above. If people do not have any remnants of good and truth within their interior man, only evil and falsity instead, their holiness is not holiness, and depending on the kind of evil and falsity present in them it is either filthiness or else profanity.

[2] This further meaning which 'twenty' has of that which is not holy is clear in Zechariah,

I looked, and behold, a flying scroll. And he said to me, What do you see? I said to him, I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, its breadth ten cubits. And he said to me, This curse is going out over the face of the whole land. Zechariah 5:1-3.

In Haggai,

When one came to the winevat to draw fifty measures from the winevat, there were only twenty; I smote you with blight, and all the work of your hands with mildew. Haggai 2:16-17.

[3] In Ezekiel,

Your food which you eat shall be in weight twenty shekels each day; from time to time shall you eat it; and you shall eat it indeed as a barley-cake. As regards that cake, with human excrement you shall make it in their sight. For thus, Jehovah said, shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations. Ezekiel 4:10, 12-13.

In these places 'twenty' stands for that which is unholy, unclean, and profane. The death in the wilderness of all over twenty years - a prediction recorded in Numbers 14:29; 32:11 - also represented that which was holy in the case of those under that age, and that which was not holy in the case of those over it. For all numbers in the Word mean spiritual realities, see 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670; and remnants are good and truth stored away by the Lord within the interior man, 468, 530, 560, 561, 576, 660, 798, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284.

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