The Bible

 

Иезекииль 13

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1 И было ко мне слово Господне:

2 сын человеческий! изреки пророчество на пророковИзраилевых пророчествующих, и скажи пророкам от собственного сердца: слушайте слово Господне!

3 Так говорит Господь Бог: горе безумным пророкам, которые водятся своим духом и ничего не видели!

4 Пророки твои, Израиль, как лисицы в развалинах.

5 В проломы вы не входите и не ограждаете стеною дома Израилева,чтобы твердо стоять в сражении в день Господа.

6 Они видят пустое и предвещают ложь, говоря: „Господь сказал"; а Господь не посылал их; и обнадеживают, что слово сбудется.

7 Не пустое ли видение видели вы? и не лживое ли предвещание изрекаете, говоря: „Господь сказал", а Я не говорил?

8 Посему так говорит Господь Бог: так как вы говорите пустое и видите в видениях ложь, за то вот Я - на вас, говорит Господь Бог.

9 И будет рука Моя против этих пророков, видящих пустое и предвещающих ложь; в совете народа Моего они не будут, и в список дома Израилева не впишутся, и в землю Израилеву не войдут; и узнаете, что Я Господь Бог.

10 За то, что они вводят народ Мой в заблуждение, говоря: „мир", тогда как нет мира; и когда он строит стену, они обмазывают ее грязью,

11 скажи обмазывающим стену грязью, что она упадет. Пойдет проливной дождь, и вы, каменные градины, падете, и бурный ветер разорвет ее.

12 И вот, падет стена; тогда не скажут ли вам: „где та обмазка, которою вы обмазывали?"

13 Посему так говорит Господь Бог: Я пущу бурный ветер во гневе Моем, и пойдет проливной дождь в ярости Моей, и камни града в негодовании Моем, для истребления.

14 И разрушу стену, которую вы обмазывали грязью, и повергну ее наземлю, и откроется основание ее, и падет, и вы вместе с нею погибнете;и узнаете, что Я Господь.

15 И истощу ярость Мою на стене и на обмазывающих ее грязью, и скажу вам: нет стены, и нет обмазывавших ее,

16 пророков Израилевых, которые пророчествовали Иерусалиму и возвещали ему видения мира, тогда как нет мира, говорит Господь Бог.

17 Ты же, сын человеческий, обрати лице твое к дщерям народа твоего, пророчествующим от собственного своего сердца, и изреки на них пророчество,

18 и скажи: так говорит Господь Бог: горе сшивающимчародейные мешочки под мышки и делающим покрывала для головы всякого роста, чтобы уловлять души! Неужели, уловляя души народа Моего, вы спасете ваши души?

19 И бесславите Меня пред народом Моим за горсти ячменя и за куски хлеба, умерщвляя души, которые не должны умереть, и оставляя жизнь душам, которые не должны жить, обманывая народ, который слушает ложь.

20 Посему так говорит Господь Бог: вот, Я – на ваши чародейные мешочки,которыми вы там уловляете души, чтобы они прилетали, и вырву их из-под мышц ваших, и пущу на свободу души, которые вы уловляете, чтобы прилетали к вам.

21 И раздеру покрывала ваши, и избавлю народ Мой от рук ваших, и не будут уже в вашихруках добычею, и узнаете, что Я Господь.

22 За то, что вы ложью опечаливаете сердце праведника, которое Я не хотел опечаливать, и поддерживаете руки беззаконника, чтобы он не обратился отпорочного пути своего и не сохранил жизни своей, –

23 за это уже не будете иметь пустых видений и впредь не будете предугадывать; и Я избавлю народ Мой от рук ваших, и узнаете, что Я Господь.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8908

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8908. 'You shall not answer as a witness of a lie against your neighbour' means that good must not be called evil, nor truth falsity, and conversely that evil must not be called good, nor falsity truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'witness of a lie' as the confirmation of falsity. For the meaning of 'witness' as confirmation, see 4197; and the meaning of 'a lie' as falsity of faith will be evident from what follows below. 'Answering against the neighbour' is speaking to someone in that manner; for 'neighbour' means any and every person, in particular everyone governed by good, and in the abstract sense good itself, 3419, 5025, 6704, 6706-6711, 6818, 8123, so that in the internal sense 'you shall not answer as the witness of a lie against your neighbour' means not saying what is false to anyone, that is, not saying that good is evil and truth is falsity, or vice versa.

[2] What this implies must be explained briefly. None who are ruled by self-love or by love of the world, that is, whose end in view is either to have high and honoured positions or to possess wealth and gain, care when they tell and persuade others that something just is unjust or something unjust is just, and by doing this behave as 'witnesses of a lie'. The reason why they are like this is that their will is in complete subjection to those loves and accompanying desires; it is completely possessed and dominated by them. At the same time the understanding, which is the other part of the mind, indeed has the ability to see what is just or unjust but has no wish to see it. For the will prevails over the understanding; it flows into and persuades it, and at length also makes it blind. Those same people possess no conscience, nor do they know that conscience consists in saying that something just is just, and for no other reason than because it is so, that is, from a love of what is just. People who are like this in the world are also like it in the next life, except for the difference that they do not then say something just is unjust. Instead they call the good of faith evil, and truth falsity, since what is just in dealings with people in the world corresponds to what is good and true in the spiritual world. This is done by them without conscience and also without any shame because it was something they had learned to do during their lifetime and grown accustomed to.

[3] Many times in the Word the expression 'a lie' is used, and wherever it occurs the falsity and evil of faith is meant in the internal sense. And 'the witness of a lie', who is also called 'the witness of violence', means confirming something false, whether before a judge, or before someone else, or before oneself by convincing oneself in one's inner thinking, as in Exodus 23:1ff; Leviticus 19:11-12ff; Deuteronomy 19:16-20. The fact that 'a lie' in the spiritual sense is the evil and falsity of faith is clear from the following places: In John,

You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth because the truth is not in him. When he speaks a lie he speaks from the things that are his own, for he is the teller of a lie and the father of it. John 8:44.

Here 'a lie' stands for falsity of faith, for it refers to the unwillingness of the Jews to acknowledge the Lord. 'The devil' in the spiritual sense here is falsity, and 'the father of it' is evil; for falsity springs from evil like son from father. The falsity that is the devil's is the falsity of faith, the evil that is his is the evil of self-love and love of the world.

[4] In Isaiah,

Moab is exceedingly proud; his haughtiness, and his pride, and his anger - his lies are not firm. Isaiah 16:6.

'Lies' stands for falsities of faith, since 'Moab' is those who, ruled by the evil of self-love, therefore falsify truths, 2468, 8315. In the same prophet,

We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we have shaped a vision. We have put our trust in a lie, and we have hidden in falsity. Isaiah 28:15.

In the same prophet,

They were a rebellious people, lying sons, sons who did not wish to hear the law of Jehovah. Isaiah 30:9.

In Jeremiah,

They deceive one another, 1 and do not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak a lie Jeremiah 9:5.

In the same prophet,

Behold, I am against those that prophesy lying dreams 2 and tell them in order that they may mislead My people by their lies. Jeremiah 23:32.

In the same prophet,

O sword, [be] against the liars, that they may become foolish. Jeremiah 50:36.

In Ezekiel,

They have seen vanity and lying divination, 3 saying, Jehovah has said! when Jehovah has not sent them. Therefore thus has the Lord Jehovih said, Because you speak vanity and see a lie, therefore behold, I am against you. Ezekiel 13:6-9.

In Nahum,

Woe to the city of blood! 4 It is all full of lies and plunder. Nahum 3:1.

In Zephaniah,

The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity or speak any lie; nor will a fraudulent tongue be found in their mouth. They will feed and rest. Zephaniah 3:13.

In John,

Outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices a lie. Revelation 22:15.

In these as in many other places 'a lie' stands for the falsity and evil of faith.

Footnotes:

1. literally, They deceive, a man his companion

2. literally, dreams of a lie

3. literally, divination of a lie

4. literally, bloods

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