The Bible

 

Joel 3

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1 "For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land,

3 and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

4 "Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.

5 Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,

6 and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border.

7 Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head;

8 and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for Yahweh has spoken it."

9 Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up.

10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'

11 Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together." Cause your mighty ones to come down there, Yahweh.

12 "Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

13 Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great."

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision.

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

16 Yahweh will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but Yahweh will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.

17 "So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.

18 It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters, and a fountain will come forth from the house of Yahweh, and will water the valley of Shittim.

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

20 But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 I will cleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed: for Yahweh dwells in Zion."

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #651

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651. And threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. This symbolizes an examination of the character of the people's works, revealing that their works were evil.

To throw clusters of grapes into a winepress means, symbolically, to examine people's works, for clusters of grapes symbolize works (see no. 649 above). But because the winepress is called the great winepress of the wrath of God, it symbolizes a finding that their works were evil; for the wrath of God is predicated of evil (no. 635).

A winepress symbolizes examination because in presses the juice is expressed from grapes, and oil from olives, and one perceives the character of the grapes and olives from the juice and oil expressed. Moreover, because the vineyard symbolizes the Christian Church, and its clusters of grapes the people's works, therefore throwing the clusters into a winepress symbolizes an examination among people in the Christian Church. But because they have divorced faith from charity and made faith saving without the works of the law, and because a faith divorced from charity produces only evil works, the winepress is therefore called the great winepress of the wrath of God.

An examination of people's works is symbolized also by a winepress in the following passages:

My beloved had a vineyard on a fruitful hill. He... planted it with a choice vine. He also... hewed out a winepress in it; and he expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced wild grapes. (Isaiah 5:1-2)

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. ...go down, for the winepress is full, the vats have overflowed; for their wickedness is great. (Joel 3:13)

The threshing floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall deceive them. (Hosea 9:1-2)

The plunderer has fallen on... your grape harvest... I have caused wine to fail from the winepress; no one will tread with joyous shouting. There is no joyous shouting! (Jeremiah 48:32-33)

...a householder... planted a vineyard..., and dug in it a wine-press..., and leased it to farmers... (Matthew 21:33)

But they killed the servants he sent to them, and finally killed his son. 1

A winepress mentioned in Joel refers to goods of charity from which spring truths of faith:

Rejoice, you children of Zion... The threshing floors are full of grain, and the presses overflow with new wine and oil. (Joel 2:23-24)

Footnotes:

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.