The Bible

 

Lamentaciones 5

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1 Acuérdate, oh SEÑOR, de lo que nos ha sucedido. Ve y mira nuestro oprobio.

2 Nuestra heredad se ha vuelto a extraños, nuestras casas a forasteros.

3 Huérfanos somos sin padre; nuestras madres son como viudas.

4 Nuestra agua bebemos por dinero; nuestra leña por precio compramos.

5 Persecución padecemos sobre nuestra cerviz; nos cansamos, y no hay para nosotros reposo.

6 Al egipcio y al asirio dimos la mano, para saciarnos de pan.

7 Nuestros padres pecaron, y son muertos; y nosotros llevamos sus castigos.

8 Siervos se enseñorearon de nosotros; no hubo quien nos librase de su mano.

9 Con peligro de nuestras vidas traíamos nuestro pan delante del cuchillo del desierto.

10 Nuestra piel se ennegreció como un horno a causa del ardor del hambre.

11 Violaron a las mujeres en Sion, a las vírgenes en las ciudades de Judá.

12 A los príncipes colgaron con su mano; no respetaron el rostro de los ancianos.

13 Llevaron los jóvenes a moler, y los niños desfallecieron en la leña.

14 Los ancianos cesaron de la puerta, los jóvenes de sus canciones.

15 Cesó el gozo de nuestro corazón; nuestro corro se tornó en luto.

16 Cayó la corona de nuestra cabeza. ¡Ay ahora de nosotros! Porque pecamos.

17 Por esto fue entristecido nuestro corazón, por esto se entenebrecieron nuestro ojos,

18 Por el Monte de Sion que está asolado; zorras andan en él.

19 Mas tú, SEÑOR, permanecerás para siempre; tu trono de generación en generación.

20 ¿Por qué te olvidarás para siempre de nosotros, y nos dejarás por largos días?

21 Vuélvenos, oh SEÑOR, a ti, y nos volveremos; renueva nuestros días como al principio.

22 Porque repeliendo nos has desechado; te has airado contra nosotros en gran manera.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #902

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902. 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations. This symbolically means that the Word in its literal sense contains all of the doctrines of the New Church.

The wall of the city symbolizes the Word in its literal sense (no. 898), and its twelve foundations symbolize all of the doctrines of the church - its foundations symbolizing doctrines, and the number twelve all. The church, moreover, is founded on doctrine, for it teaches how a person is to believe and live, and its doctrine is to be drawn only from the Word. That it is to be drawn from the Word's literal sense may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 50-61.

Since the twelve foundations of the wall of the city New Jerusalem symbolize all of the church's doctrine, and the church is a church by virtue of its doctrine, therefore its foundations are described in more detail in verses 19 and 20 below.

The foundations of the earth are mentioned a number of times in the Word, and they do not mean the foundations of the earth, but the foundations of the church, inasmuch as the earth symbolizes the church (no. 285). And the foundations of the church are only ones that come from the Word and are called doctrines. For it is the Word itself that provides a foundation for the church.

[2] Doctrines drawn from the Word are symbolized by foundations also in the following passages:

Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21)

I will put My words in your mouth... to plant the heavens and found the earth... (Isaiah 51:16)

They do not acknowledge, they do not understand, they walk in darkness, all the foundations of the earth shake. (Psalms 82:5)

...the Word of Jehovah... who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundations of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. (Zechariah 12:1)

Jehovah... kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations. (Lamentations 4:11)

The impious... shoot in darkness the upright in heart, because the foundations are being destroyed... (Psalms 11:2-3)

Hear, O mountains, Jehovah's quarrel, you strong foundations of the earth; for Jehovah has a quarrel with His people... (Micah 6:2)

...the floodgates on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken... (Isaiah 24:18-20)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 14:32; 48:13; 51:13; Psalms 24:2; 102:25; 104:5-6; 2 Samuel 22:8, 16.

Whoever does not think that the earth symbolizes the church cannot help but think only naturally, even materially, when he reads in these places about the foundations of the earth. So it would be also if he were not to think of the city Jerusalem here as symbolizing the church when he reads about its wall, gates, foundations, streets, dimensions, and more, which are described in this chapter as features of a city, when in fact they are features of the church and so must be interpreted not materially, but spiritually.

  
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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.