The Bible

 

Ezekiel 11

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1 Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east-gate of the LORD'S house, which looketh eastward: and behold, at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

2 Then said he to me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:

3 Who say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we are the flesh.

4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.

5 And the spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said to me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.

6 Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled its streets with the slain.

7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.

8 Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord GOD.

9 And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.

10 Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

11 This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst of it; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:

12 And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are around you.

13 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

14 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

15 Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Retire far from the LORD: to us is this land given in possession.

16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away from thence all its detestable things, and all its abominations.

19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh:

20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

21 But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.

22 Then the cherubim raised their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

24 Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.

25 Then I spoke to them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had shown me.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #517

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517. And there fell a great star from heaven burning as it were a lamp.- That this signifies the truth of the Word falsified from the proprium love, is evident from the signification of stars, as denoting the knowledges of truth and good, as well as the truths and goods of knowledges from the Word; concerning which see above (n. 72, 402); and from the signification of burning as a lamp, as denoting to be falsified from the proprium love; to burn being said of the proprium love, because this love is signified by fire, as may be seen above (n. 504:17); and a lamp signifies the truth of the Word, of doctrine, and of faith, as may also be seen above (n. 274). Hence it is evident, that by a great star falling from heaven, and burning as it were a lamp, is signified, the truth of the Word falsified from the proprium love.

[2] It must be known, that all those who are in the love of self, if they study the Word, falsify its truths. The reason of this is, that all truth is out of heaven from the Lord, and nothing [thereof] from the proprium of man; and those who are in the love of self are immersed in their proprium, and they take therefrom every idea of their thought concerning the truths of the Word. Hence it is, that they falsify those things, not as to the sense of the letter of the Word, but as to the understanding of the truth therein; for to understand words otherwise than according to their true sense, is to falsify them.

[3] There are two states of the thoughts of man, the one when he is in thought concerning truths from the Lord, and the other when [he is in thought] from himself. When he is in thought concerning truths from the Lord, then his mind is raised even into the light of heaven, and he consequently has an enlightenment and a just perception of truth; but when he is in thought concerning truths from himself, then his mind falls into the light of the world, and this light, in regard to spiritual things, or to things pertaining to heaven and the church, is thick darkness, in which man can see only such things as shine by means of the fire of the love of self and the love of the world, which things, in themselves, are falsities opposed to truths.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.