The Bible

 

Amos 6

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1 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!

2 Go to Calneh, and see; and from there Go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. are they better than these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border?

3 Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

4 Who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

5 who strum on the strings of a harp; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;

6 who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

7 Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive; and the feasting and lounging will end.

8 "The Lord Yahweh has sworn by himself," says Yahweh, the God of Armies: "I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.

9 It will happen, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.

10 "When a man's relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, 'Is there yet any with you?' And he says, 'No;' then he will say, 'Hush! Indeed we must not mention the name of Yahweh.'

11 "For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.

12 Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness;

13 you who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, 'Haven't we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?'

14 For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel," says Yahweh, the God of Armies; "and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah."

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Sacred Scripture #84

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84. It can seem to readers who pay attention to such things that there are paired expressions in the Word that seem to be repetitions of the same thing - brother and companion, for example, poor and needy, waste and desolation, emptiness and void, enemy and foe, sin and iniquity, wrath and rage, nation and people, joy and gladness, grief and tears, justice and judgment, and the like. They do seem to be synonyms, but they are not, since brother, poor, waste, [emptiness,] enemy, sin, wrath, nation, joy, grief, and justice describe what is good (or in an opposite sense, what is evil), while companion, needy, desolation, void, foe, iniquity, rage, people, gladness, tears, and judgment describe what is true (or in an opposite sense, what is false). It seems to a reader who is unfamiliar with this mystery that poor and needy, waste and desolation, emptiness and void, enemy and foe are the same thing, as are sin and iniquity, wrath and rage, nation and people, joy and gladness, grief and tears, justice and judgment; yet they are not the same thing. Rather they become one thing by being brought together.

[2] Many other things are paired in the Word, like fire and flame, gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone, bread and water, bread and wine, purple and linen, and so on, and this is because fire, gold, bronze, wood, bread, and purple mean something good, while flame, silver, iron, stone, water, wine, and linen mean something true. In the same vein, it says that we are to love God with our whole heart and our whole soul and that God is going to create in us a new heart and a new spirit, “heart” describing the good that comes from love and “soul” the truth that comes from that good.

There are also expressions that occur alone with nothing appended because they designate both goodness and truth. These and many other expressions, though, are evident only to angels and to people who are aware of the spiritual meaning even while they are focused on the earthly meaning.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Isaiah 1:21

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21 How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.