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Joel 1

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1 λόγος κυρίου ὃς ἐγενήθη πρὸς ιωηλ τὸν τοῦ βαθουηλ

2 ἀκούσατε δὴ ταῦτα οἱ πρεσβύτεροι καὶ ἐνωτίσασθε πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν εἰ γέγονεν τοιαῦτα ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ὑμῶν ἢ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν

3 ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν τοῖς τέκνοις ὑμῶν διηγήσασθε καὶ τὰ τέκνα ὑμῶν τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν εἰς γενεὰν ἑτέραν

4 τὰ κατάλοιπα τῆς κάμπης κατέφαγεν ἡ ἀκρίς καὶ τὰ κατάλοιπα τῆς ἀκρίδος κατέφαγεν ὁ βροῦχος καὶ τὰ κατάλοιπα τοῦ βρούχου κατέφαγεν ἡ ἐρυσίβη

5 ἐκνήψατε οἱ μεθύοντες ἐξ οἴνου αὐτῶν καὶ κλαύσατε θρηνήσατε πάντες οἱ πίνοντες οἶνον εἰς μέθην ὅτι ἐξῆρται ἐκ στόματος ὑμῶν εὐφροσύνη καὶ χαρά

6 ὅτι ἔθνος ἀνέβη ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν μου ἰσχυρὸν καὶ ἀναρίθμητον οἱ ὀδόντες αὐτοῦ ὀδόντες λέοντος καὶ αἱ μύλαι αὐτοῦ σκύμνου

7 ἔθετο τὴν ἄμπελόν μου εἰς ἀφανισμὸν καὶ τὰς συκᾶς μου εἰς συγκλασμόν ἐρευνῶν ἐξηρεύνησεν αὐτὴν καὶ ἔρριψεν ἐλεύκανεν κλήματα αὐτῆς

8 θρήνησον πρός με ὑπὲρ νύμφην περιεζωσμένην σάκκον ἐπὶ τὸν ἄνδρα αὐτῆς τὸν παρθενικόν

9 ἐξῆρται θυσία καὶ σπονδὴ ἐξ οἴκου κυρίου πενθεῖτε οἱ ἱερεῖς οἱ λειτουργοῦντες θυσιαστηρίῳ

10 ὅτι τεταλαιπώρηκεν τὰ πεδία πενθείτω ἡ γῆ ὅτι τεταλαιπώρηκεν σῖτος ἐξηράνθη οἶνος ὠλιγώθη ἔλαιον

11 ἐξηράνθησαν οἱ γεωργοί θρηνεῖτε κτήματα ὑπὲρ πυροῦ καὶ κριθῆς ὅτι ἀπόλωλεν τρυγητὸς ἐξ ἀγροῦ

12 ἡ ἄμπελος ἐξηράνθη καὶ αἱ συκαῖ ὠλιγώθησαν ῥόα καὶ φοῖνιξ καὶ μῆλον καὶ πάντα τὰ ξύλα τοῦ ἀγροῦ ἐξηράνθησαν ὅτι ᾔσχυναν χαρὰν οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων

13 περιζώσασθε καὶ κόπτεσθε οἱ ἱερεῖς θρηνεῖτε οἱ λειτουργοῦντες θυσιαστηρίῳ εἰσέλθατε ὑπνώσατε ἐν σάκκοις λειτουργοῦντες θεῷ ὅτι ἀπέσχηκεν ἐξ οἴκου θεοῦ ὑμῶν θυσία καὶ σπονδή

14 ἁγιάσατε νηστείαν κηρύξατε θεραπείαν συναγάγετε πρεσβυτέρους πάντας κατοικοῦντας γῆν εἰς οἶκον θεοῦ ὑμῶν καὶ κεκράξατε πρὸς κύριον ἐκτενῶς

15 οἴμμοι οἴμμοι οἴμμοι εἰς ἡμέραν ὅτι ἐγγὺς ἡμέρα κυρίου καὶ ὡς ταλαιπωρία ἐκ ταλαιπωρίας ἥξει

16 κατέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ὑμῶν βρώματα ἐξωλεθρεύθη ἐξ οἴκου θεοῦ ὑμῶν εὐφροσύνη καὶ χαρά

17 ἐσκίρτησαν δαμάλεις ἐπὶ ταῖς φάτναις αὐτῶν ἠφανίσθησαν θησαυροί κατεσκάφησαν ληνοί ὅτι ἐξηράνθη σῖτος

18 τί ἀποθήσομεν ἑαυτοῖς ἔκλαυσαν βουκόλια βοῶν ὅτι οὐχ ὑπῆρχεν νομὴ αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰ ποίμνια τῶν προβάτων ἠφανίσθησαν

19 πρὸς σέ κύριε βοήσομαι ὅτι πῦρ ἀνήλωσεν τὰ ὡραῖα τῆς ἐρήμου καὶ φλὸξ ἀνῆψεν πάντα τὰ ξύλα τοῦ ἀγροῦ

20 καὶ τὰ κτήνη τοῦ πεδίου ἀνέβλεψαν πρὸς σέ ὅτι ἐξηράνθησαν ἀφέσεις ὑδάτων καὶ πῦρ κατέφαγεν τὰ ὡραῖα τῆς ἐρήμου

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #492

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492. "Clothed in sackcloth." This symbolizes the grief experienced meanwhile over the truth's not being accepted.

Being clothed in sackcloth symbolizes grief over the destruction of truth in the church, for garments symbolize truths (nos. 166, 212, 328, 378, 379). Consequently to be clothed in sackcloth, which is not a garment, symbolizes grief over the lack of truth, and where there is no truth, there is no church.

The children of Israel represented grief in various ways, which, because of their correspondence, were symbolic. For example, they would put ash on their heads, roll around in the dust, sit on the ground for a long time in silence, shave themselves, beat their breasts and wail, rend their garments, and also clothe themselves in sackcloth, and so on. Each action symbolized some evil in the church among them for which they were being punished. Then, when they were being punished, they put on a representation of repentance in these ways, and because of their representation of repentance, and at the same time then of their humbling themselves, they were heard.

[2] That putting on sackcloth represented grief over the destruction of truth in the church may be seen from the following passages:

The lion has come up from his thicket... He has gone forth from his place to make your land desolate... For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament, wail. (Jeremiah 4:7-8)

O daughter of my people, gird yourself in sackcloth and roll about in ashes! ...For the destroyer will suddenly come upon us. (Jeremiah 6:26)

Woe to you, Chorazin (and) Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented... in sackcloth and ashes. (Matthew 11:21, Luke 10:13)

After the king of Nineveh heard the words of Jonah, he "laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes." Moreover, he proclaimed a fast and ordered that "man and beast be covered with sackcloth." (Jonah 3:5-8)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 3:24; 15:2-3; 22:12; 37:1-2; 50:3; Jeremiah 48:37-38; 49:3; Lamentations 2:10; Ezekiel 7:17-18; 27:31; Daniel 9:3; Joel 1:8, 13; Amos 8:10; Job 16:15-16; Psalms 30:11; Psalms 35:13; 69:10-11; 2 Samuel 3:31; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Kings 6:30; 19:1-2.

  
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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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