The Bible

 

Hosea 8

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1 Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

2 Israel shall cry to me, My God, we know thee.

3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.

4 They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made for themselves idols, that they may be cut off.

5 Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; my anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocence?

6 For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if it shall yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

8 Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel in which is no pleasure.

9 For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

10 Yes, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.

11 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be to him to sin.

12 I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

13 They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of my offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.

14 For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fortified cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9392

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9392. Verses 6-8 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he sprinkled over the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people; and they said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it over the people, and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you according to all these words. 'And Moses took half of the blood' means Divine Truth which has become a matter of life and of worship.

'And put it in bowls' means present with a person, in the things forming his memory. 'And half of the blood he sprinkled over the altar' means Divine Truth from the Lord's Divine Human. 'And he took the book of the covenant' means the Word in the letter to which the Word in heaven was joined. 'And read it in the ears of the people' means to be listened to and obeyed. 'And they said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear' means receiving the truth that emanates from the Lord's Divine Human, and obeying it with heart and soul. 'And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it over the people' means making a person well-adapted to receive it. 'And said, Behold, the blood of the covenant' means that by means of this truth the Lord's Divine Human is joined to heaven and to earth. 'Which Jehovah has made with you according to all these words' means that the Lord accomplishes the joining together by means of every single part of the Word.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1297

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1297. 'And let us burn them thoroughly' means the evils that stem from self-love. This is clear from the meaning of 'to burn, a burning, fire, sulphur, and bitumen' in the Word, where they have reference to evil desires, chiefly to those that belong to self-love, as in Isaiah,

Our holy house, and our splendour, where our fathers praised You, has been made into a blaze of fire, and all our pleasant places have been made into a waste. Isaiah 64:11.

In the same prophet,

Conceive chaff, bring forth stubble. Your wind is a fire that will consume you. Thus the peoples will be burnings of lime; [like] thorns cut down they will be burned in the fire. Isaiah 33:11-12.

And there are many other examples besides these. 'Burning' and 'fire' have reference to evil desires because they possess similar characteristics.

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