The Bible

 

Joel 3

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1 For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided my land.

3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

4 Yes, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense upon your own head;

5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things.

6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold to the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head:

8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:

10 Beat your plow-shares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together around: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

12 Let the heathen be awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen on every side.

13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, go down; for the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

16 The LORD also will roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but The LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #432

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432. Verse 5. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.

"Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand," signifies love to the Lord, and that all who are in that love are in heaven, and come into heaven. "Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand," signifies the light of truth from that good, and that all who are in that light are in heaven, and come into heaven. "Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand," signifies the good of life thence.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1200

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1200. That 'Canaan' means external worship that has nothing internal within it has been shown already where Canaan was the subject. The type of external worship which is called 'Canaan' is similar to that of the Jews before the Lord's Coming, and after it as well. They had an external worship, which they also celebrated meticulously, yet they were unaware of what is internal, indeed so unaware of it as to imagine that they lived solely with a body. Of the soul, or faith, or the Lord, or spiritual and celestial life, or life after death, they were totally ignorant. Consequently very many in the Lord's time said that there was no resurrection, as is clear in Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40. When a person is such that he does not believe he will live after death, he also does not believe in the existence of anything internal which is spiritual and celestial. This applies also to people whose lives are sunk in wholly evil desires because they lead merely bodily and worldly lives, especially those who are steeped in filthy avarice. They nevertheless have worship, some going to synagogue, or to church, and taking part in the services, some most meticulously. But because they do not believe in a life after death their worship is inevitably external worship having nothing internal within it, like a shell without a nut, and like a tree on which there is no fruit or even leaves. Such external worship is meant by 'Canaan'. All other types of external worship dealt with above were forms of worship that had internal things within them.

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