The Bible

 

Lamentaciones 2

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1 Alef : ¡Cómo oscureció el Señor en su furor a la hija de Sion! Derribó del cielo a la tierra la hermosura de Israel, y no se acordó del estrado de sus pies en el día de su ira.

2 Bet : Destruyó el Señor, y no perdonó; destruyó en su furor todas las tiendas de Jacob; echó por tierra las fortalezas de la hija de Judá, contaminó el Reino y sus príncipes.

3 Guímel : Cortó con la ira de su furor todo el cuerno de Israel; hizo volver atrás su diestra delante del enemigo; y se encendió en Jacob como llama de fuego que ha devorado alrededor.

4 Dálet : Entesó su arco como enemigo, afirmó su mano derecha como adversario, y mató toda cosa hermosa a la vista en la tienda de la hija de Sion; derramó como fuego su enojo.

5 He : Fue el Señor como enemigo; destruyó a Israel, destruyó todos sus palacios, disipó sus fortalezas, y multiplicó en la hija de Judá la tristeza y el luto.

6 Vau : Y traspasó como de huerto su tabernáculo, destruyó su congregación. El SEÑOR hizo olvidar en Sion solemnidades y sábados; y desechó en la ira de su furor rey y sacerdote.

7 Zain : Desechó el Señor su altar, menospreció su Santuario, entregó en mano del enemigo los muros de sus palacios; dieron grito en la Casa del SEÑOR como en día de fiesta.

8 Chet : El SEÑOR determinó destruir el muro de la hija de Sion; extendió el cordel, no retrajo su mano de destruir; se enlutó el antemuro y el muro; fueron destruidos juntamente.

9 Tet : Sus puertas fueron echadas por tierra, destruyó y quebrantó sus cerrojos; su rey y sus príncipes son llevados entre los gentiles; no hay ley; sus profetas tampoco hallaron visión del SEÑOR.

10 Yod : Se sentaron en tierra, callaron los ancianos de la hija de Sion; echaron polvo sobre sus cabezas, se ciñeron de cilicio; las hijas de Jerusalén bajaron sus cabezas a tierra.

11 Caf : Mis ojos desfallecieron de lágrimas, rugieron mis entrañas, mi hígado se derramó por tierra por el quebrantamiento de la hija de mi pueblo, desfalleciendo el niño y el que mamaba, en las plazas de la ciudad.

12 Lámed : Decían a sus madres: ¿Dónde está el trigo y el vino? Desfalleciendo como muertos en las calles de la ciudad, derramando sus almas en el regazo de sus madres.

13 Mem : ¿Qué testigo te traeré, o a quién te haré semejante, oh hija de Jerusalén? ¿A quién te compararé para consolarte, oh Virgen hija de Sion? Porque grande es tu quebrantamiento como el mar; ¿quién te medicinará?

14 Nun : Tus profetas te predicaron vanidad y locura; y no descubrieron tu pecado para estorbar tu cautiverio, sino que te predicaron vanas profecías y disgresiones.

15 Sámec : Todos los que pasaban por el camino, batieron las manos sobre ti. Silbaron, y movieron sus cabezas sobre la hija de Jerusalén, diciendo : ¿Es ésta la ciudad que decían de perfecta hermosura, el gozo de toda la tierra?

16 Pe : Todos tus enemigos abrieron sobre ti su boca; y silbaron, y rechinaron los dientes; dijeron: Devoremos; cierto éste es el día que esperábamos; lo hemos hallado, lo hemos visto.

17 Ayin : El SEÑOR hizo lo que determinó, cumplió su palabra que él había mandado desde tiempo antiguo; destruyó, y no perdonó; y alegró sobre ti al enemigo, y enalteció el cuerno de tus adversarios.

18 Tsade : El corazón de ellos clamaba al Señor: Oh muro de la hija de Sion, echa lágrimas como un arroyo día y noche; no descanses, ni calle la niña de tu ojo.

19 Cof : Levántate, da voces en la noche, en el principio de las velas; derrama como agua tu corazón ante la presencia del Señor; alza tus manos a él por la vida de tus pequeñitos, que desfallecen de hambre en las entradas de todas las calles.

20 Resh : Mira, oh SEÑOR, y considera a quién has vendimiado así. ¿Han de comer las mujeres su fruto, los pequeñitos de sus crías? ¿Han de ser muertos en el Santuario del Señor el sacerdote y el profeta?

21 Sin : Niños y viejos yacían por tierra en las calles; mis vírgenes y mis jóvenes cayeron a cuchillo. Mataste en el día de tu furor; degollaste, no perdonaste.

22 Tau : Llamaste, como a día de solemnidad, mis temores de todas partes; ni hubo en el día del furor del SEÑOR quien escapase ni quedase vivo; los que crié y mantuve, mi enemigo los acabó.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #20

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20. And makes us kings and priests. (1:6) This symbolically means, who grants those who are born from Him, that is, who are reborn or regenerated, to be governed by wisdom from Divine truths, and by love from Divine goods.

People know that in the Word the Lord is called a king and also a priest. He is called a king owing to His Divine wisdom, and a priest owing to His Divine love. People who are governed by wisdom from the Lord are consequently called children of the king, and also kings, while people who are governed by love from Him are called ministers and priests. For the wisdom and the love in them do not originate from them, and so are not theirs but the Lord's. It is these people who are therefore meant in the Word by kings and priests. Not that they are kings and priests, but that they have the Lord in them, and He causes them to be termed such.

Such people are called also children born of Him, children of the kingdom, children of the Father, and heirs - children born of Him in John 1:12-13ff.), children of the kingdom in Matthew 8:12; 13:38, children of their Father in heaven in Matthew 5:45, and heirs in Psalms 127:3, 1 Samuel 2:8, Matthew 25:34. And being heirs, children of the kingdom, and children born of the Lord as their Father, they are therefore called kings and priests. Moreover, in Revelation 3:21 it is also said that they will sit with the Lord on His throne.

[2] The whole of heaven has been divided into two kingdoms - the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom. The spiritual kingdom is what is called the Lord's kingship, and because all who are in it are governed by wisdom founded on truths, therefore it is they who are meant by the kings that the Lord will make those people who are governed by wisdom from Him. The celestial kingdom, on the other hand, is what is called the Lord's priesthood, and because all who are in it are governed by love arising from goodness, therefore it is they who are meant by the priests that the Lord will make those people who are governed by love from Him. The Lord's church on earth is likewise divided into two kingdoms. Regarding these two kingdoms, see nos. 24, 226 in the book Heaven and Hell, published in London, 1758.

[3] Someone who does not know the spiritual meaning of kings and priests may be deluded in regard to many things said in the prophets and in the book of Revelation about them. For example, in regard to these statements in the prophets:

The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you... You shall suck the milk of gentiles, even the breasts of kings you shall suck, that you may know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer... (Isaiah 60:10, 16)

Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their princesses your wet nurses. (Isaiah 49:23)

Also elsewhere, as in Genesis 49:20; Psalms 2:10; Isaiah 14:9; 24:21; 52:15; Jeremiah 2:26; 4:9; 49:3; Lamentations 2:6, 9; Ezekiel 7:26-27; Hosea 3:4; Zephaniah 1:8. Kings there do not mean kings, but people who are governed by Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly, Divine truths themselves, from which comes wisdom.

"The king of the south" and "the king of the north" who waged war with each other in Daniel 11 do not mean kings either, but the king of the south means people who are governed by truths, and the king of the north people who are caught up in falsities.

[4] Likewise in the book of Revelation, which many times mentions kings, as in the following passages:

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared. (Revelation 16:12)

(With) the great harlot who sits on many waters... the kings of the earth committed whoredom... (Revelation 17:1-2)

...of the wine of the wrath of (Babylon's) whoredom all the nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her... (Revelation 18:3)

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war with Him who sat on the (white) horse... (Revelation 19:19)

And the nations that are saved shall walk in His light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into (the New Jerusalem). (Revelation 21:24)

Elsewhere also, as in Revelation 16:14; 17:9-14; 18:9-10. The kings there means people who are governed by truths, and in an opposite sense, people caught up in falsities, and abstractly, truths or falsities themselves. The whoredom of Babylon with the kings of the earth means the falsification of the truth of the church. Obviously Babylon, or the woman who sat on the scarlet beast, did not commit whoredom with kings, but rather falsified truths of the Word.

[5] It is apparent from this that the Lord's going to make people who are wise from Him kings does not mean that they will be kings, but that they will be wise. The reality of this is also something that enlightened reason sees.

Likewise in the following:

You have made us kings and priests to our God, that we may reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

That by king the Lord meant truth is apparent from His words to Pilate:

Pilate... said to Him, "Are You a king then?"

Jesus answered, "As you have said, because I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" (John 18:27, 38)

To bear witness to the truth is to be Himself the embodiment of truth. And because He called Himself a king by virtue of it, Pilate said, "What is truth?" - which is to say, "Is truth a king?

As for priests, we will see in later explanations that they symbolize people who are governed by the goodness of love, and abstractly, goods of love themselves.

  
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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.