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Amos 6

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1 Sa aba nila na nangagwawalang bahala sa Sion, at nila na mga tiwasay sa bundok ng Samaria, na magigiting na lalake sa mga pangulong bansa, ng mga pinagsasadya ng sangbahayan ni Israel!

2 Magsidaan kayo sa Calne, at inyong tingnan; at mula roon ay magsiparoon kayo sa Hamath na malaki; kung magkagayo'y magsibaba kayo sa Gath ng mga Filisteo: magaling baga sila kay sa mga kahariang ito? o malaki baga ang kanilang hangganan kay sa inyong hangganan?

3 Kayong nangaglalayo ng masamang araw at nangagpapalit ng likmuan ng karahasan;

4 Na nangahihiga sa mga higaang garing, at nagsisiunat sa kanilang mga hiligan, at nagsisikain ng mga batang tupa na mula sa kawan, at ng mga guya na mula sa gitna ng kulungan;

5 Na nagsisiawit ng mga pagayongayong awit sa tinig ng biola; na nagsisikatha sa ganang kanilang sarili ng mga panugtog ng tugtugin, na gaya ni David;

6 Na nagsisiinom ng alak sa mga mankok, at nagsisipagpahid ng mga mainam na pabango; nguni't hindi nangahahapis sa pagdadalamhati ng Jose.

7 Sila nga ngayo'y magsisiyaong bihag na kasama ng unang nagsiyaong bihag, at ang kasayahan nila na nagsisihiga ay mapaparam.

8 Ang Panginoong Dios ay sumumpa sa kaniyang sarili, sabi ng Panginoon, ng Dios ng mga hukbo: Aking kinayayamutan ang karilagan ng Jacob, at aking kinapopootan ang kaniyang mga palacio; kaya't aking ibibigay ang bayan sangpu ng lahat na nandoon.

9 At mangyayari, kung may matirang sangpung tao sa isang bahay, na pawang mangamamatay.

10 At pagka itataas siya ng amain, sa makatuwid baga'y ng sumusunog sa kaniya, upang ilabas ang mga buto sa bahay, at sasabihin doon sa nasa pinakaloob ng bahagi ng bahay, May kasama ka pa bagang sinoman? at kaniyang sasabihin: Wala; kung magkagayo'y kaniyang sasabihin: Tumahimik ka; sapagka't hindi natin mababanggit ang pangalan ng Panginoon.

11 Sapagka't narito, naguutos ang Panginoon, at ang malaking bahay ay magkakasira, at ang munting bahay ay magkakabutas.

12 Tatakbo baga ang mga kabayo sa malaking bato? magaararo baga roon ang sino man sa pamamagitan ng mga toro? inyo ngang ginagawang kapaitan ang katarungan, at ajenjo ang bunga ng katuwiran,

13 Kayong nangagagalak sa isang bagay na walang kabuluhan na nangagsasabi; Di baga kami ay nagtaglay para sa amin ng mga sungay sa pamamagitan ng aming sariling kalakasan?

14 Sapagka't, narito, aking ititindig laban sa inyo ang isang bansa, Oh sangbahayan ni Israel, sabi ng Panginoon, ng Dios ng mga hukbo; at kanilang pagdadalamhatiin kayo mula sa pasukan sa Hamath hanggang sa batis ng Araba.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #137

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137. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation. (2:22) This symbolically means that therefore they must be left to their doctrine with its falsifications and be sorely infested by falsities.

A bed symbolizes doctrine, as we will see momentarily. Those committing adultery mean, symbolically, falsifications of truth (see nos. 134 and 136 above). And tribulation symbolizes an infestation by falsities (nos. 33, 95, 101), thus a great tribulation a severe infestation.

A bed symbolizes doctrine because of its correspondence; for as the body rests in its bed, so the mind rests in its doctrine. The doctrine symbolized by a bed, however, is the kind that each person acquires for himself, either from the Word or from his own intelligence. For it is in this that his mind finds repose and, so to speak, sleeps.

The beds that people rest in in the spiritual world come from just such an origin. For everyone there has a bed in keeping with the character of his knowledge and intelligence - the wise having magnificent beds, those without wisdom having humble beds, and falsifiers having squalid beds.

[2] This is the symbolic meaning of a bed in Luke:

I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. (Luke 17:34)

The subject is the Last Judgment. The two men in one bed are two who share the same doctrine, but not the same life.

In John:

Jesus said to (the sick man), "Rise, take up your bed and walk." And... he took up his bed, and walked. (John 5:8-12)

And in Mark:

...(Jesus) said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." (And to the scribes He said,) "Which is easier, to say..., 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, '...take up your bed and walk'?..." (Then He said,) "Rise, take up your bed (and walk.)" And... he took up the bed and went out (from their presence). (Mark 2:5, 9, 11-12)

It is apparent that a bed has some symbolic meaning here, because Jesus said, "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" To carry one's bed and walk means, symbolically, to meditate on doctrine. That is how it is understood in heaven.

[3] A bed symbolizes doctrine also in Amos:

As a shepherd rescues from the mouth of a lion..., so shall the children of Israel be rescued who dwell in Samaria at the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch. (Amos 3:12)

At the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch means relatively removed from the truths and goods of doctrine.

A bed or a couch has the same symbolic meaning elsewhere, as in Isaiah 28:20; 57:2, 7-8.

Because Jacob in the prophecies of the Word symbolizes the church in respect to its doctrine, therefore it is said of him that "he bowed himself on the head of the bed" (Genesis 47:31), that when Joseph came, "he sat up on the bed" (Genesis 48:2), and that "he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last" (Genesis 49:33).

Since Jacob symbolizes the church's doctrine, therefore at times, when thinking of Jacob, I have seen at a height before me a man lying on a bed.

  
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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.

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