The Bible

 

Иоиль 2

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1 Трубите трубою на Сионе и бейте тревогу на святой горе Моей; да трепещут все жители земли, ибо наступает день Господень, ибо он близок –

2 день тьмы и мрака, день облачный и туманный: как утренняя заря распространяется по горам народ многочисленный и сильный, какого не бывало от века и после того не будет в роды родов.

3 Перед ним пожирает огонь, а за ним палит пламя; перед ним земля как сад Едемский, а позади него будет опустошенная степь, и никому не будет спасения от него.

4 Вид его как вид коней, и скачут они как всадники;

5 скачут по вершинам гор как бы со стуком колесниц, как бы с треском огненного пламени, пожирающего солому, как сильный народ, выстроенный к битве.

6 При виде его затрепещут народы, у всех лица побледнеют.

7 Как борцы бегут они и как храбрые воины влезают на стену, и каждый идет своею дорогою, и не сбивается с путей своих.

8 Не давят друг друга, каждый идет своею стезею, и падают на копья, но остаются невредимы.

9 Бегают по городу, поднимаются на стены, влезают на дома, входят в окна, как вор.

10 Перед ними потрясется земля, поколеблется небо; солнце и луна помрачатся, и звезды потеряют свой свет.

11 И Господь даст глас Свой пред воинством Своим, ибо весьма многочисленно полчище Его и могуществен исполнитель слова Его; ибо велик день Господеньи весьма страшен, и кто выдержит его?

12 Но и ныне еще говорит Господь: обратитесь ко Мне всем сердцем своим в посте, плаче и рыдании.

13 Раздирайте сердца ваши, а не одежды ваши, и обратитесь к Господу Богу вашему; ибо Он благ и милосерд, долготерпелив и многомилостив и сожалеет о бедствии.

14 Кто знает, не сжалится ли Он, и не оставит либлагословения, хлебного приношения и возлияния Господу Богу вашему?

15 Вострубите трубою на Сионе, назначьте пост и объявите торжественное собрание.

16 Соберите народ, созовите собрание, пригласите старцев, соберите отроков и грудных младенцев; пусть выйдет жених из чертога своего и невеста из своей горницы.

17 Между притвором и жертвенником да плачут священники, служители Господни, и говорят: „пощади, Господи, народ Твой, не предай наследия Твоего напоругание, чтобы не издевались над ним народы; для чего будут говорить между народами: где Бог их?"

18 И тогда возревнует Господь о земле Своей, и пощадит народ Свой.

19 И ответит Господь, и скажет народу Своему: вот, Я пошлю вам хлеб и вино и елей, и будете насыщаться ими, и более не отдам вас на поругание народам.

20 И пришедшего от севера удалю от вас, и изгоню в землю безводную и пустую, переднее полчище его – в море восточное, а заднее – в море западное, и пойдет от негозловоние, и поднимется от него смрад, так как он много наделал зла .

21 Не бойся, земля: радуйся и веселись, ибо Господь велик, чтобы совершить это.

22 Не бойтесь, животные, ибо пастбища пустыни произрастят траву, дерево принесет плод свой, смоковница и виноградная лоза окажут свою силу.

23 И вы, чада Сиона, радуйтесь и веселитесь о Господе Боге вашем; ибоОн даст вам дождь в меру и будет ниспосылать вам дождь, дождь ранний и поздний, как прежде.

24 И наполнятся гумна хлебом, и переполнятся подточилия виноградным соком и елеем.

25 И воздам вам за те годы, которые пожирали саранча, черви, жуки игусеница, великое войско Мое, которое послал Я на вас.

26 И до сытости будете есть и насыщаться и славить имя Господа Бога вашего, Который дивное соделал с вами, и непосрамится народ Мой во веки.

27 И узнаете, что Я посреди Израиля, и Я – Господь Бог ваш, и нет другого, и Мой народне посрамится вовеки.

28 И будет после того, излию от Духа Моего на всякую плоть, и будутпророчествовать сыны ваши и дочери ваши; старцам вашим будут сниться сны, и юноши ваши будут видеть видения.

29 И также на рабов и на рабынь в те дни излию от Духа Моего.

30 И покажу знамения на небе и на земле: кровь и огонь и столпы дыма.

31 Солнце превратится во тьму и луна – в кровь, прежде нежели наступит день Господень, великий и страшный.

32 И будет: всякий, кто призовет имя Господне, спасется; ибо на горе Сионе и в Иерусалиме будет спасение, как сказал Господь, и у остальных, которых призовет Господь.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #413

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413. And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, and a third of them was darkened. This symbolically means that because of their evils springing from falsities and their falsities springing from evils, they did not know what love is, or what faith is, or any truth.

A third means, symbolically, all (no. 400). The sun symbolizes love (no. 53). The moon symbolizes intelligence and faith (no. 332). The stars symbolize concepts of truth and goodness from the Word (no. 51). To be darkened means, symbolically, to be unseen and unknown because of evils springing from falsities and falsities springing from evils.

Evils springing from falsities are found in people who adopt falsities having to do with religion and defend them to the point that they appear to be true. Then, when they live in accordance with them, they do evils as a result of the falsities, or the evils of falsity.

On the other hand, falsities springing from evils are found in people who do not regard evils as being sins, and still more in people who employ reasonings issuing from their natural self, and moreover from the Word, to establish in themselves that evils are not sins. Their very arguments are falsities springing from evils, and what we call the falsities of evil.

[2] Darkness symbolizes these falsities because light symbolizes truth, and when the light has been extinguished, darkness is left.

To confirm this we will first cite passages where things similar to those here in the book of Revelation are said regarding the sun, moon and stars, and darkness ensuing upon their being extinguished:

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and terrible day of Jehovah. (Joel 2:31)

...the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. (Isaiah 13:10, cf. 24:21, 24:23)

When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens..., I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. All the luminaries of light in the heavens I will make dark over you, and bring darkness upon your land... (Ezekiel 32:7-8)

...the day of Jehovah... is at hand... The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. (Joel 2:1, 10)

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven... (Matthew 24:29, cf. Mark 13:24-25)

Who, if he elevates his mind, cannot see that in these places it is not the world's sun, moon and stars that are meant.

[3] That darkness symbolizes falsities of various kinds is clear from these passages:

Woe to you who desire the day of Jehovah! ...It will be one of darkness, and not light... Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light? Very dark, without any brightness? (Amos 5:18, 20)

(The day of Jehovah will be) a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of clouds and overcast... (Zephaniah 1:15)

In that day... it will look to the land, which, behold, will be darkness...; and the light will grow dark in its ruins. (Isaiah 5:30, cf. 8:22)

...behold, the darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. (Isaiah 60:2)

Give glory to Jehovah... before He causes darkness...; you look for light, but He turns it into thick darkness. (Jeremiah 13:16)

We look for light, but there is darkness and no brightness; we walk in thick darkness... We stumble at noonday as at twilight; among the living we are as dead men. (Isaiah 59:9-10)

Woe to those... who put darkness for light, and light for darkness. (Isaiah 5:20)

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. (Isaiah 9:2, cf. Matthew 4:16)

...the rising sun from on high (has appeared) to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death... (Luke 1:78-79)

If you give your soul to the hungry..., your light shall rise in the darkness, and your thick darkness shall be as the noonday. (Isaiah 58:10)

In that day... the eyes of the blind who are in thick darkness and gloom shall see. (Isaiah 29:18, cf. 42:16; 49:9)

(Jesus said,) "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12)

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you... I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. (John 12:35, 46)

When I sit in darkness, Jehovah is a light to me. (Micah 7:8)

This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness more than light... (John 3:19, cf. 1:4-5)

If... the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:23, cf. Luke 11:34-36)

...this is your hour, and the power of darkness. (Luke 22:53)

Darkness in these places symbolizes falsity arising either from ignorance of truth or from some false tenet of religion, or from a life of evil.

Regarding people caught up in falsities having to do with religion, who are therefore caught up in evils in life, the Lord says that they should be "cast out into outer darkness" (Matthew 8:12, cf. 22:13; 25:30).

  
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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.

The Bible

 

Amos 5

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1 Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.

2 "The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up."

3 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel."

4 For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel: "Seek me, and you will live;

5 but don't seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don't pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

6 Seek Yahweh, and you will live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.

7 You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth:

8 seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name,

9 who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.

10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

11 Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

12 For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins-- you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the courts.

13 Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.

15 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph."

16 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord: "Wailing will be in all the broad ways; and they will say in all the streets, 'Alas! Alas!' and they will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

17 In all vineyards there will be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you," says Yahweh.

18 "Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why do you long for the day of Yahweh? It is darkness, and not light.

19 As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.

20 Won't the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?

21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can't stand your solemn assemblies.

22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

25 "Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

26 You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus," says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies.