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

 

Arcana Coelestia #5536

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5536. 'You have bereaved me [of my children]' means that thus no Church existed any longer. This is clear from the representation of Jacob, the one who says this about himself, as the good of truth, dealt with in 3659, 3669, 3677, 3775, 4234, 4273, 4538 (and as the good of truth is represented, so also is the Church because good is the essential element of the Church. It therefore amounts to the same whether you say the good of truth or the Church, for the person who has the good of truth present with him has the Church present with him. 'Jacob' represents the Church, see 4286, 4520, and that being so his sons represent the truths known to the Church, 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512); and from the meaning of 'bereaving' as depriving the Church of its truths and forms of good, such as those here which are represented by Joseph, Benjamin, and Simeon, to whom reference is made directly after the words 'you have bereaved me'.

[2] 'Bereaving' is depriving the Church of its truths for the reason that the Church is likened to a marriage. Good is likened to the husband and truth to the wife, while the truths born from that marriage are likened to 'the sons' and the forms of good to 'the daughters', and so on. When therefore a state of bereavement or an action causing this is mentioned, the meaning is that the Church has been deprived of its truths and as a consequence ceases to be a Church. The expressions 'bereft' and 'bereavement' are also used in various other places in the Word, as in

Ezekiel,

I will send famine and evil wild animals upon you, and I will make you bereft. Ezekiel 5:17.

In the same prophet,

When I cause evil wild animals to pass through the land and they leave it bereft so that it becomes a desolation, with the result that no one passes through on account of the wild animals. Ezekiel 14:15.

In Leviticus,

I will send into you the wild animals of the field, which will leave you bereft and will cut off your beasts, 1 and make you few in number, so that your roads are laid waste. Leviticus 26:22.

[3] In these quotations 'famine' stands for an absence of cognitions of good and truth and the consequent desolation, 'evil wild animals' for falsities derived from evils, and 'the land' for the Church. 'Sending famine and evil wild animals, and leaving the land bereft' stands for destroying the Church by means of falsities derived from evils and so depriving it completely of truths. In Jeremiah,

I will winnow them with a winnowing-fork in the gates of the land; I will bereave, I will destroy My people. Jeremiah 15:7.

Here also 'bereaving' stands for depriving of truths. In the same prophet,

Give their children over to the famine, and cause them to be wiped out by the power of the sword, 2 so that their wives become bereaved [of children] and widows. Jeremiah 18:11.

'So that their wives become bereaved and widows' stands for their being left without truths or good.

[4] In Hosea,

As for the Ephraimites, their glory will fly away like a bird, away from birth, and from the belly, and from conception. Even if they bring up their sons, I will make them bereft of human beings. Hosea 9:11-12.

Here the meaning is similar. In Ezekiel,

I will cause human beings to walk upon you, even My people; and those human beings will by inheritance take possession of you and you will be an inheritance to them; no more will you bereave them [of their children]. Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Because they say to you, You have been one devouring human beings and one bereaving your peoples [of children]. Ezekiel 36:12-13.

Here also 'bereaving' stands for depriving of truths.

[5] In Isaiah,

Now hear this, you lover of pleasures, sitting securely, saying in her 3 heart, I am, and there is no one else like me; a widow I shall not sit, nor shall I know bereavement [of children]. But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day-bereavement and widowhood. Isaiah 47:8-9.

This refers to the daughter of Babel and to Chaldea, that is, to those who are outwardly holy but inwardly unholy and who call themselves the Church by virtue of that outward holiness. 'Bereavement and widowhood' stands for a deprivation of truth and good. In the same prophet,

Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together, they come to you. The children of your bereavements will say again in your ears, The place is too narrow for me; yield me a place to dwell in. But you will say in your heart, Who has begotten these for me, when yet I am bereft [of children] and alone, an exile and one who has been displaced? Who therefore has brought these up? I was left, alone. These, where were they? Isaiah 49:18, 20-21.

This refers to Zion, which is the celestial Church, and to its fruitfulness after it had been laid waste. 'The sons of bereavements' stands for the truths of which it was deprived when laid waste, but which were restored and underwent enormous increase.

Footnotes:

1. i.e. cattle

2. literally, cause them to flow down by means of the hand of the sword

3. The Latin means your but the Hebrew means her, which Swedenborg has in another place where he quotes this verse.

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