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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 #546

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546. Then the woman fled into the wilderness. (12:6) This symbolizes the church, namely, the New Jerusalem, being at first among few.

The woman symbolizes the New Church (no. 533), and the wilderness symbolizes a circumstance in which there are no longer any truths. The church is symbolized as being at first among few because the statement follows, "Where she has a place prepared by God, that they may feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days," which symbolizes the state of that church then, that in the meantime provision may be made for it to exist among more people until it grows to its appointed state (no. 547).

A wilderness in the Word symbolizes:

1. A church devastated, or one in which the Word's truths have all been falsified, as was the case with the Jews at the time of the Lord's advent.

2. A church without truths, because it does not have the Word, as was the case with upright gentiles at the time of the Lord's advent.

3. A state of temptation or trial, in which a person is seemingly without truths, being surrounded by evil spirits who induce the temptation or trial and appear to rob him of his truths.

[2] 1. That a wilderness symbolizes a church devastated, or one in which the Word's truths have all been falsified, as was the case with the Jews at the time of the Lord's advent: This is apparent from the following passages:

Is this the man who shook the earth, who made kingdoms tremble, who made the world as a wilderness...? (Isaiah 14:16-17)

This said in reference to Babylon.

On the land of my people will come up thorns and briers...; ...the palace will be deserted... (Isaiah 32:13-14)

I beheld, and lo, Carmel was a wilderness... "The whole land shall be a wasteland." (Jeremiah 4:26-27)

The land is the church (no. 285).

...shepherds have destroyed My vineyard..., they have made the field of My desire a desolate wilderness... The devastators are coming... in the wilderness. (Jeremiah 12:10, 12)

...(the vine) is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. (Ezekiel 19:13)

...fire has devoured the habitations of the wilderness. (Joel 1:19-20)

...the day of Jehovah is coming... The land is like the Garden of Eden before it, but after it a desolate wilderness. (Joel 2:1, 3)

...see the word of Jehovah! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? (Jeremiah 2:31)

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God." (Isaiah 40:3)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 33:9; Jeremiah 3:2; 23:10; Lamentations 5:9; Hosea 2:2-3; 13:15; Joel 3:19; Malachi 1:3; Matthew 24:26; Luke 13:35.

That such is the state of the church today may be seen in no. 566 below.

[3] 2. That a wilderness symbolizes a church without truths, because it does not have the Word, as was the case with upright gentiles at the time of the Lord's advent: This is apparent from these passages:

...the Spirit shall be poured upon us from on high, then the wilderness shall become a fertile field...; and judgment will dwell in the wilderness... (Isaiah 32:15-16)

(I will put) fountains in the midst of the valleys, [and turn] the wilderness into a pool of water... I will put in the wilderness the shittim cedar... and the oil tree. (Isaiah 41:18-19)

He will turn a wilderness into a pool of water, and dry land into springs of water. (Psalms 107:35-36)

I will make a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert... to give drink to My people, My chosen. (Isaiah 43:19-20)

...Jehovah... will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah; gladness and joy will be found in her... (Isaiah 51:3)

The habitations of the wilderness drip... (Psalms 65:12-13)

Let the wilderness... lift up (its) voice... Let the inhabitants of the rock sing... (Isaiah 43:10-11)

[4] 3. That a wilderness symbolizes a state of temptation or trial, in which a person is seemingly without truths, being surrounded by evil spirits who induce the temptation or trial and appear to rob him of his truths: This is apparent from Matthew 4:1-3, Mark 1:12-13.

  
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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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