The Bible

 

Sáng thế 23

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1 Sa-ra hưởng thọ được một trăm hai mươi bảy tuổi. Ấy là bao nhiêu năm của đời Sa-ra.

2 Sa-ra qua đời tại Ki-ri-át-a-ra-ba, tức là Hếp-rôn, thuộc về xứ Ca-na-an. Áp-ra-ham đến chịu tang cho Sa-ra và than khóc người.

3 Ðoạn, Áp-ra-ham đứng dậy trước người chết mình và nói cùng dân họ Hếch rằng:

4 Ta là một khách kiều ngụ trong vòng các ngươi; xin hãy cho một nơi mộ địa trong xứ các ngươi, để chôn người thác của ta.

5 Dân họ Hếch đáp rằng:

6 Lạy Chúa, xin hãy nghe chúng tôi: giữa chúng tôi, Chúa tức là một quân trưởng của Ðức Chúa Trời; hãy chôn người chết của Chúa nơi mộ địa nào tốt hơn hết của chúng tôi. Trong bọn chúng tôi chẳng có ai tiếc mộ địa mình, đặng chôn người chết của Chúa đâu.

7 Áp-ra-ham bèn đứng dậy, sấp mình xuống trước mặt các dân của xứ, tức dân họ Hếch,

8 nói rằng: Nếu các ngươi bằng lòng cho chôn người chết ta, thì hãy nghe lời, và cầu xin Ép-rôn, con của Xô-ha giùm ta,

9 đặng người nhượng cho ta hang đá Mặc-bê-la, ở về tận đầu đồng người, để lại cho đúng giá, hầu cho ta được trong vòng các ngươi một nơi mộ địa.

10 Vả, Ép-rôn, người Hê-tít, đương ngồi trong bọn dân họ Hếch, đáp lại cùng Áp-ra-ham trước mặt dân họ Hếch vẫn nghe và trước mặt mọi người đến nơi cửa thành, mà rằng:

11 Không, thưa chúa, hãy nghe lời tôi: Hiện trước mặt dân tôi, tôi xin dâng cho chúa cánh đồng, và cũng dâng luôn cái hang đá ở trong đó nữa; hãy chôn người chết của chúa đi.

12 Áp-ra-ham sấp mình xuống trước mặt dân của xứ,

13 nói lại cùng Ép-rôn hiện trước mặt dân của xứ đương nghe, mà rằng: Xin hãy nghe, ta trả giá tiền cái đồng, hãy nhận lấy đi, thì ta mới chôn người chết ta,

14 Ép-rôn đáp rằng:

15 Thưa Chúa, hãy nghe lời tôi: một miếng đất giá đáng bốn trăm siếc-lơ bạc, mà tôi cùng chúa, thì có giá chi đâu? Xin hãy chôn người chết của chúa đi.

16 Áp-ra-ham nghe theo lời Ép-rôn, trước mặt dân họ Hếch cân bốn trăm siếc-lơ bạc cho người, là bạc thông dụng nơi các tay buôn bán.

17 Vậy, cái đồng của Ép-rôn, tại Mặc-bê-la, nằm ngang Mam-rê, nghĩa là cái đồng ruộng hang đá, các cây cối ở trong và chung quanh theo giới hạn đồng,

18 đều trước mặt có các dân họ Hếch cùng mọi người đến cửa thành, nhận chắc cho Áp-ra-ham làm sản nghiệp.

19 Sau các việc đó, Áp-ra-ham chôn Sa-ra, vợ mình, trong hang đá của đồng Mặc-bê-la, nằm ngang Nam-rê tại Hếp-rôn, thuộc về xứ Ca-na-an.

20 Ðồng và hang đá đều có các người họ Hếch nhận chắc, để lại cho Áp-ra-ham dùng làm mộ địa.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3069

Study this Passage

  
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3069. 'And I will drink' means instruction from them in truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'drinking' as receiving instruction. References to 'drinking' occur in various places in the Word, and whenever the subject is the goods and truths of faith, instruction in these and reception of them is meant, as in Isaiah,

The new wine will mourn, the vine will languish, all the merry-hearted will sigh; they will not drink wine with singing, strong drink will be bitter to those drinking it. Isaiah 24:7, 9.

'Not drinking wine with singing' stands for not receiving instruction from the affection for truth and not receiving any consequent delight. 'Strong drink being bitter to those drinking it' stands for repugnance. In the same prophet,

It will be as when a thirsting man dreams, and behold, he is drinking; and he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and the soul is craving. Isaiah 29:8.

'Thirsting' stands for desiring instruction, 'drinking' for receiving it, but in things that are valueless.

[2] In Jeremiah,

Our waters we drink for silver, our timbers come for a price. Lamentations 5:4.

'Drinking waters for silver' stands for receiving instruction but not for nothing, and also attributing truth to oneself. Truth is a free gift and so does not come from oneself but from the Lord, as these words in Isaiah declare,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy! Isaiah 55:1.

And in John,

Jesus said, If anyone thirsts let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. John 7:37-38.

Here 'drinking' means being given instruction and accepting it. In Luke,

They will say, We ate in Your presence and we drank, and You taught in our streets. But the Lord will say, I do not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity! Luke 13:26-27.

Here 'eating and drinking in the Lord's presence' stands for giving instruction in, and proclaiming, the good and truth of faith, doing so from cognitions drawn from the Word, which is meant by 'You taught in our streets'. But because they did it for selfish reasons - for the sake of personal honour and gain, thus not out of any affection for good and truth, and so possessed cognitions of truth and yet led evil lives - it is said, 'I do not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity!'

[3] In the same gospel, where Jesus was talking to the disciples,

That you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom. Luke 22:30.

It is evident to anyone that in the Lord's kingdom they do not eat and drink, and that no table is there, thus that something different is meant by 'eating and drinking at the Lord's table in His kingdom', that is to say, enjoying a perception of good and truth. So also with what the Lord says in Matthew,

I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it [new] with you in My Father's kingdom. Matthew 26:28, 29.

'Drinking' stands for giving living instruction in truths and imparting a perception of good and truth. That which the Lord said -

Do not be anxious for your soul, what you are going to eat or what you are going to drink, nor for your body, what you are going to put on. Matthew 6:25, 31; Luke 12:29 - is indicative of spiritual things, that so far as all things of faith are concerned, goodness and truth are imparted by the Lord. In John,

Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but he who drinks from the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water leaping up into eternal life. John 4:7-14. 'Drinking' clearly stands for being given instruction in goods and truths, and the acceptance of them.

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

The Bible

 

Luke 13

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1 Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

2 Jesus answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things?

3 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.

4 Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?

5 I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way."

6 He spoke this parable. "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none.

7 He said to the vine dresser, 'Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?'

8 He answered, 'Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it, and fertilize it.

9 If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.'"

10 He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day.

11 Behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bent over, and could in no way straighten herself up.

12 When Jesus saw her, he called her, and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity."

13 He laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight, and glorified God.

14 The ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the multitude, "There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!"

15 Therefore the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath, and lead him away to water?

16 Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day?"

17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were disappointed, and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

18 He said, "What is the Kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it?

19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and put in his own garden. It grew, and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky lodged in its branches."

20 Again he said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?

21 It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened."

22 He went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and traveling on to Jerusalem.

23 One said to him, "Lord, are they few who are saved?" He said to them,

24 "Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able.

25 When once the master of the house has risen up, and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside, and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' then he will answer and tell you, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'

26 Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.'

27 He will say, 'I tell you, I don't know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.'

28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and yourselves being thrown outside.

29 They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in the Kingdom of God.

30 Behold, there are some who are last who will be first, and there are some who are first who will be last."

31 On that same day, some Pharisees came, saying to him, "Get out of here, and go away, for Herod wants to kill you."

32 He said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I complete my mission.

33 Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, for it can't be that a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem.'

34 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!

35 Behold, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!'"