The Bible

 

Ezequiel 5

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1 Y TU, hijo del hombre, tómate un cuchillo agudo, una navaja de barbero toma, y hazla pasar sobre tu cabeza y tu barba: tómate después un peso de balanza, y reparte los pelos.

2 Una tercera parte quemarás con fuego en medio de la ciudad, cuando se cumplieren los días del cerco, y tomarás una tercera parte, y herirás con cuchillo alrededor de ella; y una tercera parte esparcirás al viento, y yo desenvainaré espada en pos de ellos.

3 Tomarás también de allí unos pocos por cuenta, y los atarás en el canto de tu ropa.

4 Y tomarás otra vez de ellos, y los echarás en mitad del fuego, y en el fuego los quemarás: de allí saldrá el fuego en toda la casa de Israel.

5 Así ha dicho el Señor Jehová: Esta es Jerusalem: púsela en medio de las gentes y de las tierras alrededor de ella.

6 Y ella mudó mis juicios y mis ordenanzas en impiedad más que las gentes, y más que las tierras que están alrededor de ella; porque desecharon mis juicios y mis mandamientos, y no anduvieron en ellos.

7 Por tanto, así ha dicho Jehová: ¿Por haberos multiplicado más que á las gentes que están alrededor de vosotros, no habéis andado en mis mandamientos, ni habéis guardado mis leyes? Ni aun según las leyes de las gentes que están alrededor de vosotros habéis

8 Así pues ha dicho el Señor Jehová: He aquí yo contra ti; si, yo, y haré juicios en medio de ti á los ojos de las naciones.

9 Y haré en ti lo que nunca hice, ni jamás haré cosa semejante, á causa de todas tus abominaciones.

10 Por eso los padres comerán á los hijos en medio de ti, y los hijos comerán á sus padres; y haré en ti juicios, y esparciré á todos vientos todo tu residuo.

11 Por tanto, vivo yo, dice el Señor Jehová, ciertamente por haber violado mi santuario con todas tus abominaciones, te quebrantaré yo también: mi ojo no perdonará, ni tampoco tendré yo misericordia.

12 Una tercera parte de ti morirá de pestilencia, y de hambre será consumida en medio de ti; y una tercera parte caerá á cuchillo alrededor de ti; y una tercera parte esparciré á todos los vientos, y tras ellos desenvainaré espada.

13 Y cumpliráse mi furor, y haré que repose en ellos mi enojo, y tomaré satisfacción: y sabrán que yo Jehová he hablado en mi celo, cuando habré cumplido en ellos mi enojo.

14 Y te tornaré en desierto y en oprobio entre las gentes que están alrededor de ti, á los ojos de todo transeunte.

15 Y serás oprobio, y escarnio, y escarmiento, y espanto á las gentes que están alrededor de ti, cuando yo hiciere en ti juicios en furor é indignación, y en reprensiones de ira. Yo Jehová he hablado.

16 Cuando arrojare yo sobre ellos las perniciosas saetas del hambre, que serán para destrucción, las cuales enviaré para destruiros, entonces aumentaré el hambre sobre vosotros, y quebrantaré entre vosotros el arrimo del pan.

17 Enviaré pues sobre vosotros hambre, y malas bestias que te destruyan; y pestilencia y sangre pasarán por ti; y meteré sobre ti cuchillo. Yo Jehová he hablado.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #635

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635. 14:10 "He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed with pure wine in the cup of His indignation." This symbolically means that they falsify the Word's goods and truths and steep themselves in a life in accordance with their falsification of them.

This is the symbolic meaning of this declaration, because the wine of the wrath of God mixed with pure wine symbolizes the Word's truth falsified. The cup of His indignation symbolizes truth which leads to good, likewise falsified. And to drink means, symbolically, to adopt these falsified truths, or to steep oneself in a life in accordance with them.

That wine symbolizes the Word's truth may be seen in no. 316. That the wine of the wrath of God symbolizes the Word's truth adulterated and falsified may be seen in no. 632. Being mixed with pure wine clearly symbolizes its falsification. The cup also has the same symbolic meaning as the wine, because the cup is its containing vessel.

To drink means, symbolically, to steep one's life in the falsifications, because this declaration is made to people who live in accordance with the doctrine of justification by faith alone, as may be seen just above in no. 634.

Mixing wine, or wine mixed, symbolizes the falsification of truth also in the book of Psalms:

...in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and He has mixed it with wine; He has filled it with mixed wine and poured it out, and... all the impious of the earth shall drink it. (Psalms 75:8)

[2] The Word in many places mentions wrath and indignation together, and wrath there is predicated of evil, while indignation is predicated of falsity, because people caught up in evil are wrathful, while people caught up in falsity are indignant. Both characteristics, moreover, are in the Word attributed to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, but it means that someone is wrathful or indignant at the Lord (see no. 525 above).

That the Word mentions wrath and indignation together is apparent from the following passages there:

...Jehovah comes... with indignation and wrath... ...the earth will move out of her place... in the day (of the indignation) of His wrath. (Isaiah 13:5, 9, 13)

...Assyria, the rod of My wrath... I will order him... against the people of My indignation (Isaiah 10:4-7)

I... will fight against you... in wrath... and in... indignation. (Jeremiah 21:5)

Behold, I am gathering them... in My wrath and in My indignation... (Jeremiah 32:37)

...the wrath of Jehovah is against all nations, and His indignation against the whole host of them. (Isaiah 34:2)

...Jehovah... will repay in His indignation and wrath... (Isaiah 66:15)

I have trodden down the peoples in My wrath, and made them drunk in My indignation... (Isaiah 63:6)

...My wrath and My indignation will be poured out on this place... (Jeremiah 7:20)

And so on elsewhere, as in Jeremiah 33:5, Ezekiel 5:13, Deuteronomy 29:28. Also the indignation of wrath, Isaiah 13:13.

But in Isaiah:

Only in Jehovah... righteousness and strength... And all shall be ashamed who are indignant against Him. (Isaiah 45:24)

  
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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 #525

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525. "And Your wrath has come, and the time to judge the dead." This symbolizes the destruction of and the last judgment on those people who were without any spiritual life.

Your wrath symbolizes a last judgment (no. 340), thus their destruction. This is the symbolic meaning of the Lord's wrath because it appears to people as though the Lord casts people into hell out of anger, when in fact an evil person casts himself into hell. Indeed, the case is similar to that of an evildoer who blames his punishment on the law, or on the fire that burns him if he sticks his hand into it, or on the sword held out in the hand of someone protecting himself if he is pierced through when he rushes upon the blade. Such is the case with everyone who sets himself against the Lord and out of anger rushes upon those whom the Lord protects.

The dead who were to be judged mean, in a universal sense, people who have died and departed from the world, but in a strict sense, they mean people who are without any spiritual life. It is the latter who are spoken of in terms of judgment (John 3:18; 5:24, 29). That is because people who possess spiritual life are called the living. Spiritual life is present only in people who turn to the Lord and at the same time refrain from evils as sins.

[2] People who are without any spiritual life are those meant in the following passages:

They joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. (Psalms 106:28)

...the enemy persecutes my soul...; he has made me dwell in darkness, like the world's dead. (Psalms 143:3)

To hear the groaning of the prisoner, (and) to release those appointed to die... (Psalms 102:20)

I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, when you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die... (Revelation 3:1-2)

These are the people meant by the dead because their death means spiritual death. Consequently, the slain also mean people who have died that same death (nos. 321, 325, and elsewhere).

Those who have died and departed from the world are meant by the dead in the following places:

The dead were judged according to... the things which were written in the books. (Revelation 20:12)

The rest of the dead did not live again... (Revelation 20:5)

That is because the first death there means the natural death that is a passing on from the world, while the second death means spiritual death, which is damnation.

  
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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.