The Bible

 

Jeremija 50

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1 Reč koju reče Gospod za Vavilon i za zemlju haldejsku preko Jeremije proroka.

2 Javite narodima i razglasite, podignite zastavu, razglasite, ne tajite, recite: Uze se Vavilon, posrami se Vil, razbi se Merodah; posramiše se idoli njegovi, razbiše se gadni bogovi njegovi.

3 Jer se narod podiže na nj sa severa, koji će mu zemlju opusteti, da neće biti nikoga da živi u njoj; i ljudi i stoka pobeći će i otići.

4 U te dane i u to vreme, govori Gospod, doći će sinovi Izrailjevi i sinovi Judini zajedno, ići će plačući i tražiće Gospoda Boga svog.

5 Pitaće za put u Sion, i obrativši se onamo reći će: Hodite, sjedinimo se s Gospodom zavetom večnim, koji se ne zaboravlja.

6 Narod je moj stado izgubljeno; pastiri njegovi zavedoše ga, te luta po gorama, ide s brda na humove, zaboravivši stan svoj.

7 Ko ih nađe, proždiraše ih, i neprijatelji njihovi govoriše: Nećemo biti krivi, jer zgrešiše Gospodu, stanu pravde, Gospodu, nadi otaca njihovih.

8 Bežite iz Vavilona i iziđite iz zemlje haldejske i budite kao ovnovi pred stadom.

9 Jer, evo, ja ću podignuti i dovešću na Vavilon zbor velikih naroda iz zemlje severne, koji će se uvrstati da se biju s njim, i uzeće ga; strele su im kao u dobrog junaka, ne vraćaju se prazne.

10 I zemlja će se haldejska opleniti, svi koji će je pleniti nasitiće se, govori Gospod.

11 Jer se veseliste, jer se radovaste pleneći moje nasledstvo; jer besneste kao junica na travi i rzaste kao jaki konji.

12 Mati se vaša osramoti vrlo, roditeljka vaša postide se; evo biće poslednja među narodima, pustinja, zemlja suva i pustoš.

13 Od gneva Gospodnjeg neće se u njoj živeti, nego će sva opusteti; ko god prođe mimo Vavilona, čudiće se i zviždaće radi svih rana njegovih.

14 Postavite se oko Vavilona svi koji natežete luk, streljajte ga, ne žalite strela; jer je sagrešio Gospodu.

15 Vičite na nj unaokolo; pruža ruku; temelji mu padoše, zidovi su mu razvaljeni; jer je osveta Gospodnja, osvetite mu se; kako je činio, onako mu činite.

16 Istrebite iz Vavilona sejača i onog koji maše srpom o žetvi; od mača nasilnikovog neka se vrati svaki svom narodu, i svaki u svoju zemlju neka beži.

17 Izrailj je stado razagnano, lavovi ga rasplašiše; najpre ga jede car asirski, a posle mu kosti izlomi Navuhodonosor, car vavilonski.

18 Zato ovako veli Gospod nad vojskama, Bog Izrailjev: Evo, ja ću pohoditi cara vavilonskog i zemlju njegovu, kao što sam pohodio cara asirskog.

19 I povratiću Izrailja u torove njegove, i pašće po Karmilu i Vasanu; i po gori Jefremovoj i Galadu sitiće se duša njegova.

20 U one dane i u ono vreme, govori Gospod, tražiće se bezakonje Izrailjevo, ali ga neće biti; i gresi Judini, ali se neće naći, jer ću oprostiti onima koje ostavim.

21 Iziđi na zemlju meratijamsku i na stanovnike fekodske; zatri i istrebi iza njih, govori Gospod, i učini sve kako ti zapovedim.

22 Vika je ubojna u zemlji i polom velik.

23 Kako se slomi i skrši malj cele zemlje? Kako Vavilon posta čudo među narodima?

24 Ja ti metnuh zamku, Vavilone, i ti se uhvati ne doznavši, našao si se i uhvatio si se, jer si se zaratio s Gospodom.

25 Gospod otvori riznicu svoju i izvadi oružje gneva svog; jer je to delo Gospoda Gospoda nad vojskama u zemlji haldejskoj.

26 Hodite na nju s kraja zemlje, otvorite žitnice njene; gazite je kao stogove, i potrite je da ne ostane od nje ostatka.

27 Pokoljite mačem sve teoce njene, neka siđu na zaklanje; teško njima! Jer dođe dan njihov, vreme pohođenja njihovog.

28 Čuje se glas onih koji beže i koji pobegoše iz zemlje vavilonske da jave u Sionu osvetu Gospoda Boga našeg, osvetu dvora Njegovog.

29 Sazovite na Vavilon mnoštvo; svi koji natežete luk, stanite u logor prema njemu unaokolo da ne pobegne ni jedan, platite mu po delima njegovim; kako je činio, onako mu učinite, jer se je suprot Gospodu uznosio, suprot Svecu Izrailjevom.

30 Zato će mladići njegovi pasti po ulicama njegovim, i svi će vojnici njegovi izginuti u onaj dan, govori Gospod.

31 Evo mene na tebe, ponositi, govori Gospod Gospod nad vojskama, jer dođe dan tvoj, vreme da te pohodim.

32 Ponositi će se spotaći i pasti, i neće biti nikoga da ga podigne; i raspaliću oganj u gradovima njegovim, i spaliće svu okolinu njegovu.

33 Ovako veli Gospod nad vojskama: Sila se čini sinovima Izrailjevim i sinovima Judinim; koji ih zarobiše, drže ih, neće da ih puste.

34 Izbavitelj je njihov silan, ime Mu je Gospod nad vojskama, On će doista braniti stvar njihovu da umiri zemlju i smete stanovnike vavilonske.

35 Mač na Haldejce, govori Gospod, i na stanovnike vavilonske i na knezove njegove i na mudrace njegove.

36 Mač na laže njegove, i poludeće; Mač na junake njegove, i prepašće se.

37 Mač na konje njegove, i na kola njegova i na svu mešavinu što je usred njega, i postaće kao žene; Mač na blago njegovo, i razgrabiće se.

38 Suša na vode njegove, i usahnuće, jer je zemlja idolska, i oko lažnih bogova luduju.

39 Zato će se onde nastaniti divlje zveri i buljine, i sove će onde stanovati; i neće se naseliti do veka i neće se u njoj živeti nikada.

40 Kao kad Gospod zatre Sodom i Gomor i susedstvo njihovo, govori Gospod, neće se niko onde naseliti, niti će se baviti u njoj sin čovečji.

41 Evo, narod će doći sa severa, velik narod, i carevi silni podignuće se od krajeva zemaljskih.

42 Luk i koplje nosiće, žestoki će biti, niti će žaliti; glas će im kao more bučati i jahaće na konjima, spremni kao junaci za boj, na tebe, kćeri vavilonska.

43 Car vavilonski kad čuje glas o njima, klonuće mu ruke, tuga će ga spopasti i bolovi kao porodilju.

44 Gle, kao lav izaći će podižući se više nego Jordan na stan Silnoga; ali ću ga brzo oterati iz te zemlje, i postaviću nad njom onog ko je izabran; jer ko je kao ja? I ko će se preti sa mnom? I koji će mi pastir odoleti?

45 Zato čujte nameru Gospodnju što je naumio za Vavilon, i misli Njegove što je smislio za zemlju haldejsku: zaista najmanji iz stada razvlačiće ih, zaista će opusteti stan s njima.

46 Od praske kad se uzme Vavilon potrešće se zemlja, i vika će se čuti po narodima.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #437

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437. And the sound of their wings was like the sound of many horse-drawn chariots rushing into battle. This symbolizes their reasonings, as though founded on doctrinal truths from the Word fully understood, which they had to ardently defend.

The sound of wings symbolizes reasonings, because to fly means, symbolically, to perceive and teach (nos. 245, 415). Chariots symbolize doctrinal teachings, as we are about to show. Horses symbolize an understanding of the Word (no. 298), and many horses a full understanding. Plainly to rush into battle symbolizes an ardor to fight.

That a chariot symbolizes doctrine is clear from the following passages:

The chariots of God are twenty thousand, thousands of peaceful ones, the Lord among them... (Psalms 68:17)

(Jehovah) makes the clouds His chariots, He walks on the wings of the wind. (Psalms 104:3)

O Jehovah..., ...You ride on Your horses, Your chariots are salvation. (Habakkuk 3:8)

...behold, Jehovah will come with fire, and like a whirlwind His chariots... (Isaiah 66:15)

You shall be filled at My table with horses and chariots... (Thus) I will set My glory among the nations. (Ezekiel 39:20-21)

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. (Zechariah 9:10)

I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms... I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them. (Haggai 2:22)

...set a watchman, let him declare what he sees. He saw therefore a chariot, a pair of horsemen..., a chariot of camels..., and... the chariot of a man... And he... said, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen!" (Isaiah 21:6-7, 9)

Since Elijah and Elisha represented the Lord in respect to the Word and thus symbolized doctrine drawn from the Word, as did all the prophets (no. 8), therefore they were called "the chariots of Israel and its horsemen;" and for the same reason Elisha saw Elijah taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire, and Elisha's servant saw chariots and horses of fire around Elisha (2 Kings 2:11-12; 6:17; 13:14).

See also elsewhere where chariots are mentioned, as in Isaiah 31:1; 37:24; 66:20; Jeremiah 17:25; 22:4; 46:2-3, 8-9; 50:37-38; 51:20-21.

  
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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.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #419

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419. CHAPTER 9

1. Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth, and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit.

2. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.

3. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

4. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

5. And it was given them not to kill them, but to torment them for five months, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.

6. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

7. The locusts in appearance were like horses prepared for battle, and on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.

8. They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth.

9. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many horse-drawn chariots rushing into battle.

10. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months.

11. And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but who in Greek has the name Apollyon.

12. One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.

13. Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

14. saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

15. And the four angels were released, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, to kill a third of mankind.

16. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million, and I heard the number of them.

17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision and those who sat on them, having breastplates that were fiery, hyacinthine and sulfurous; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.

18. By these three a third of mankind was killed - by the fire and smoke and brimstone coming out of their mouths.

19. Their power was in their mouth [and in their tails]; for their tails were like serpents, having heads, and with them they do harm.

20. But the rest of mankind, who were not killed in these plagues, still did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.

21. And they did not repent of their murders or their enchantments or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

THE SPIRITUAL MEANING

The Contents of the Whole Chapter

An examination and disclosure of the state of life of those people in the Protestant Reformed church who are called learned and wise because of their defense of faith divorced from charity and of justification and salvation by it alone. This is the subject of verses 1-12.

An examination and disclosure of the state of life of those people in that church who are not so learned and wise, who are caught up in faith alone and live as they please. This is the subject of verses 13-19.

Finally, concerning people in that church who know only that faith is the whole means by which a person is saved, and nothing more beyond that. Verses 20, 21.

The Contents of the Individual Verses:

Verse ContentsSpiritual Meaning
1. Then the fifth angel sounded,An examination and disclosure of the state of life of those people in the Protestant Reformed Church who are called learned and wise because of their defense of faith divorced from charity and of justification and salvation by it alone.
and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth,Spiritual Divine truth flowing in from heaven into the church with them, examining and exposing them.
and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit.Their hell opened.
2. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace,Falsities accompanying the lusts of the natural self springing from those people's evil loves.
and the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.Therefore the light of truth became thick darkness.
3. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth,From them issued falsities of the lowest sort, such as are found in the case of people who have become sensual and who view and judge everything in accordance with the senses and their fallacies.
and to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.Their power to persuade that their falsities are true.
4. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.The Lord's Divinely providing that they be unable to take away any truth or good of faith, or any affection for or perception of these, from any others than people lacking in charity and so having no faith,
5. And it was given them not to kill them, but to torment them for five months,and that they also be unable to take away their faculty for understanding and willing truth and good, but be able only for a short time to induce a mental numbness,
and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.and this owing to their persuasiveness.
6. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.They wish the intellect to be closed and the will stopped up in matters of faith, which extinguishes spiritual light and life, but that this is impossible.
7. The locusts in appearanceThe appearance and likeness of those people who affirmed in themselves a faith divorced from charity,
were like horses prepared for battle,who because of their ability to reason appeared to themselves to be battling from an understanding of truth founded on the Word.
and on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold,They seemed to themselves to be conquerors.
and their faces were like the faces of men.They seemed to themselves to be wise.
8. They had hair like women's hair,They seemed to themselves to have an affection for truth.
and their teeth were like lions' teeth.Matters of the senses, which constitute the lowest elements of the natural self's life, appeared to them to have power over all else.
9. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron,Their arguments based on fallacies, with which they battled and prevailed, appeared to them too strong to be refuted.
and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many horse-drawn chariots rushing into battle.Their reasonings, as though founded on doctrinal truths from the Word fully understood, which they had to ardently defend.
10. They had tails like scorpions,The Word's truths falsified, by which they induce a mental numbness.
and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months.Their clever falsifications of the Word, by which for a short time they darkened and enchanted the intellect, and so deceived and captivated it.
11. And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but who in Greek has the name Apollyon.Those caught up in falsities springing from lusts, who by a total falsification of the Word destroyed the church, are in a satanic hell.
12. One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.Further lamentations over the state of the church.
13. Then the sixth angel sounded,An examination and exposure of the state of life among those people in the Protestant Reformed Church who were not so wise, and yet who placed the whole of religion in faith, thinking of it alone and living as they pleased.
and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14. saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet,A command by the Lord out of the spiritual heaven to those who were to examine and expose it,
"Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."to remove from them external bonds, to enable the interiors of their minds to appear.
15. And the four angels were released,When the external bonds were removed, the interiors of their minds became apparent.
who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, to kill a third of mankind.Their being in a perpetual effort to take away spiritual light and life from the people of the church.
16. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million,Their reasonings concerning faith alone, with which they had filled the interiors of the minds, springing from nothing but an abundance of falsities accompanying evil.
and I heard the number of them.Their character perceived.
17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision and those who sat on them,The discovery then that the reasonings of the interiors of their minds concerning faith alone were fanciful and illusory, and that they themselves were insane because of them.
having breastplates that were fiery, hyacinthine and sulfurous;Their fanciful and illusory arguments springing from a hellish love and their own inherent intelligence, and from the attendant lusts.
and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions;Their delusions with respect to faith alone, as though they had power.
and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.Interiorly regarded, their thoughts and discourses contained nothing else, and issuing from them was nothing but a love of self and the world, a conceit in their own intelligence, and from these two the lusts attendant on evil and falsity.
18. By these three a third of mankind was killed - by the fire and smoke and brimstone coming out of their mouths.It is because of these that the people of the church perish.
19. Their power was in their mouthThey prevailed only by their discourse affirming faith.
[and in their tails,] for their tails were like serpents, having heads, and with them they do harm.The reason being that they are sensual and turned upside down, speaking truths with their mouths, but falsifying them by the postulate which forms the chief tenet of their religion, and thus deceiving others.
20. But the rest of mankind, who were not killed in these plagues,Those people in the Protestant Reformed Church who were not as spiritually dead as the former were because of their illusory reasonings and love of self, a conceit in their own intelligence, and the attendant lusts, and yet who made faith alone the chief tenet of their religion.
still did not repent of the works of their hands,Nor did they refrain from their native proclivities, which are evils of every kind, as being sins.
so as not to worship demons,Thus they were caught up in the evils of their lusts, and acted in concert with their like in hell.
and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood,Thus they engage in worship founded on nothing but falsities,
which can neither see nor hear nor walk.which do not have in them any spiritual or truly rational life.
21. And they did not repent of their murders or their enchantments or their sexual immorality or their thefts.The heretical belief in faith alone induces in their hearts stupidity, backsliding, and intransigence, so that they give no thought to the Ten Commandments, not even to any sin as something to be shunned because it is on the side of the Devil and against God.

THE EXPOSITION

Then the fifth angel sounded. (9:1) This symbolizes an examination and disclosure of the state of life of those people in the Protestant Reformed Church who are called learned and wise because of their defense of faith divorced from charity and of justification and salvation by it alone.

That this is the subject in what follows now up to verse 12, is clear from the several particulars, understood in their spiritual sense.

To sound a trumpet means, symbolically, to examine and expose the state of the church and consequent life in people for whom religion is faith alone, as may be seen in no. 397 above.

  
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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.