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Hoseas 2

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1 Si da til eders brødre: Ammi*! Og til eders søstre: uhama**! / [HSE 2, 1 er i trykte bøker plassert på slutten av kapittel 1.] {* Du mitt folk!.} {** Du som har fÃ¥tt miskunn! 1PE 2, 10.}

2 Gå i rette med eders mor, gå i rette med henne! For hun er ikke min hustru, og jeg er ikke hennes mann. Få henne til å ta sine horeminer bort fra sitt ansikt og sine utuktige fakter fra sine bryster,

3 forat jeg ikke skal klæ henne naken og stille henne frem som hun var den dag hun blev født, og gjøre henne lik en ørken, et tørt land, og la henne av tørst!

4 Og hennes barn vil jeg ikke miskunne mig over; for de er horebarn.

5 For deres mor har drevet hor, hun som fødte dem, har båret sig skammelig at - hun sa: Jeg vil gå efter mine elskere, de som gir mig mitt brød og mitt vann, min ull og mitt lin, min olje og min vin.

6 Se, derfor stenger jeg din vei med torner; jeg reiser en mur foran henne, så hun ikke finner sine stier;

7 når hun løper efter sine elskere, skal hun ikke nå dem, når hun søker dem, skal hun ikke finne dem. Da skal hun si: Jeg vil vende tilbake til min første mann; for dengang hadde jeg det bedre enn nu.

8 Hun skjønte ikke at det var jeg som gav henne kornet og mosten og oljen, og som gav henne sølv og gull i mengdevis, som de brukte til Ba'al.

9 Derfor vil jeg ta mitt korn tilbake, når dets tid kommer, og min most, når tiden er inne, og jeg vil ta bort min ull og mitt lin, som tjener til å skjule hennes blusel.

10 Ja, nu vil jeg avdekke hennes visne kropp for hennes elskeres øine, og ingen skal rive henne ut av min hånd.

11 Og jeg vil gjøre ende på all hennes glede, hennes fester, hennes nymåner og hennes sabbater og alle hennes høitider.

12 Og jeg vil ødelegge hennes vintre og hennes fikentre, hvorom hun har sagt: De er min horelønn, som mine elskere har gitt mig. Og jeg vil gjøre dem til skog, og markens dyr skal ete dem.

13 Og jeg vil hjemsøke henne for de dager da hun brente røkelse for Ba'alene og prydet sig med nesering og halssmykke og gikk efter sine elskere, men glemte mig, sier Herren.

14 Se, derfor vil jeg lokke henne og føre henne ut i ørkenen og tale vennlig til henne,

15 og så snart hun kommer derfra, vil jeg gi henne hennes vingårder igjen og gjøre Akors dal* til en håpets dør for henne; og hun skal takke der**, som i sin ungdoms dager, som den dag hun drog op fra Egyptens land. / {* JOS 7, 24. 26.} {** hun skal takke Herren for de velgjerninger hvormed han i Kana'an mottar henne.}

16 Og det skal skje på den dag, sier Herren, at du skal rope: Min mann! Og du skal ikke mere rope til mig: Min Ba'al!

17 Og jeg vil ta Ba'alenes navn bort fra hennes munn, og de skal ikke mere nevnes ved navn.

18 Og jeg vil den dag gjøre en pakt for dem med markens dyr og himmelens fugler og jordens kryp; og bue og sverd og krig vil jeg sønderbryte og utrydde av landet, og jeg vil la dem bo i trygghet.

19 Og jeg vil trolove mig med dig for evig tid; jeg vil trolove mig med dig i rettferdighet og rett, i miskunhet og barmhjertighet,

20 og jeg vil trolove mig med dig i trofasthet, og du skal kjenne Herren.

21 Og det skal skje på den dag at jeg vil bønnhøre, sier Herren, jeg vil bønnhøre himmelen, og den skal bønnhøre jorden,

22 og jorden skal bønnhøre kornet og mosten og oljen, og de skal bønnhøre Jisre'el.

23 Og jeg vil plante henne* for mig i landet og miskunne mig over Lo- uhama, og jeg vil si til Lo-Ammi: Du er mitt folk, og det skal svare: Min Gud! / {* Israel}

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #7093

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7093. 'And let them hold a feast to Me in the wilderness' means in order that they may worship the Lord with gladness of mind, in the obscurity of faith they live in. This is clear from the meaning of 'holding a feast' as worship offered with gladness of mind, dealt with below (the fact that the Lord was the one to whom they were to hold the feast and whom 'to Me', that is, Jehovah, is used to mean here, see just above in 7091); and from the meaning of 'the wilderness' as obscurity of faith, dealt with in 1708, 7055. Regarding those who belong to the spiritual Church, that they live in comparative obscurity of faith, see 2708, 2715-2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3246, 3833, 6289, 6500, 6945.

[2] The reason why 'holding a feast' means offering worship with gladness of mind is that they were to hold the feast three days' journey away from Egypt, thus not in a state when molested by falsities but in a state of freedom. For a person who is delivered from falsities and from the distress felt at that time gives thanks to God with gladness of mind, and in so doing holds a feast. Furthermore the feasts which had been instituted among those people, three a year, are also said to have been instituted in remembrance of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, by which in the spiritual sense is meant in remembrance of deliverance from molestation by falsities through the Lord's Coming into the world. They were also told to be glad on these occasions, as is evident in Moses where the feast of tabernacles is dealt with,

At the feast of tabernacles you shall take 1 on the first day the fruit of a fine tree, 2 fronds of palm trees, the bough of a thick tree, and willows of the powerful stream; and you shall be glad before Jehovah your God seven days. Leviticus 23:40

[3] 'The fruit of a fine tree, fronds of palm trees, the bough of a thick tree, and willows of the powerful stream' means joy because of the goodness and truth present in a person from the inmost to the external parts of his being. The good of love, which is inmost, is meant by 'the fruit of a fine tree'; the good of faith by 'fronds of palm trees'; factual knowledge that accords with truth by 'the branch of a thick tree'; and sensory impressions that accord with truth, which are the most external, by 'the willows of a powerful stream'. No command to take all these things would have been given if there had not been some cause lying behind it in the spiritual world; and that cause does not become evident to anyone except from the internal sense.

[4] They were to be glad during the feast of weeks, as is also clear in Moses,

You shall keep the feast of weeks to Jehovah your God, and you shall be glad before Jehovah your God, you, and your son and your daughter, and your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates. Deuteronomy 16:10-11.

These words too, in the internal sense, mean gladness because of the goodness and truth present in people from the inmost to the external parts of their being.

[5] The fact that feasts were times of gladness, so that holding a feast means worshipping with gladness of mind, is also evident from the following places: In Isaiah,

You will have a song like that of a night for hallowing a feast. Isaiah 30:29.

In Nahum,

Look, on the mountains the feet of one bringing good tidings, of one proclaiming peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah, perform your vows; for [the man of] belial 3 will no more pass through you, he will be cut off completely. 4 Nahum 1:15.

In Zechariah,

The fasts will be to the house of Judah ones of joy and gladness and good feasts; only love truth and peace. Zechariah 8:19.

In Hosea,

I will cause all her joy to cease, her feasts, her new moons. Hosea 2:11.

In Amos,

I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. Amos 8:10.

The fact that 'holding a feast' means offering worship with gladness of mind because they had been delivered from slavery in Egypt, or in the spiritual sense because they had been delivered from molestation by falsities, is made plain by the feast of Passover. They were commanded to celebrate this each year on the day of their departure from Egypt; and they were commanded to do so on account of the deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery, that is, on account of the deliverance of those who belonged to the spiritual Church from falsities, and so from damnation. And since the Lord delivered them by His Coming and raised them up with Him into heaven when He rose again, therefore this too was done at the Passover. This is also meant by the Lord's words in John,

Now is the judgement of this world, now will the prince of this world be cast outdoors. But I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself. John 12:31-32.

Footnotes:

1. The Latin means they shall take but the Hebrew means you shall take, which Swedenborg has in another place where he quotes this verse.

2. literally, a tree of honour

3. A Hebrew word meaning worthlessness

4. literally, every one will be cut off

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