The Bible

 

Ezekiel 26

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1 And it cometh to pass, in the eleventh year, in the first of the month, there hath been a word of Jehovah unto me, saying: `Son of man,

2 Because that Tyre hath said of Jerusalem: Aha, she hath been broken, the doors of the peoples, She hath turned round unto me, I am filled -- she hath been laid waste,

3 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I [am] against thee, O Tyre, And have caused to come up against thee many nations, As the sea causeth its billows to come up.

4 And they have destroyed the walls of Tyre, And they have broken down her towers, And I have scraped her dust from her, And made her for a clear place of a rock.

5 A spreading place of nets she is in the midst of the sea, For I -- I have spoken -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And she hath been for a spoil to nations.

6 And her daughters who [are] in the field, by sword they are slain, And they have known that I [am] Jehovah,

7 For, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am bringing in unto Tyre Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, From the north -- a king of kings, With horse, and with chariot, and with horsemen, Even an assembly, and a numerous people.

8 Thy daughters in the field by sword he slayeth, And he hath made against thee a fort, And hath poured out against thee a mount, And hath raised against thee a buckler.

9 And a battering-ram before him he placeth against thy walls, And thy towers he breaketh by his weapons.

10 From the abundance of his horses cover thee doth their dust, From the noise of horseman, and wheel, and rider, Shake do thy walls, in his coming in to thy gates, As the coming into a city broken-up.

11 With hoofs of his horses he treadeth all thine out-places, Thy people by sword he doth slay, And the pillars of thy strength to the earth come down.

12 And they have spoiled thy wealth, And they have plundered thy merchandise, And they have thrown down thy walls, And thy desirable houses they break down, And thy stones, and thy wood, and thy dust, In the midst of the waters they place.

13 And I have caused the noise of thy songs to cease, And the voice of thy harps is heard no more.

14 And I have given thee up for a clear place of a rock, A spreading-place of nets thou art, Thou art not built up any more, For I, Jehovah, I have spoken, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

15 Thus said the Lord Jehovah to Tyre: Do not -- from the noise of thy fall, In the groaning of the wounded, In the slaying of the slaughter in thy midst, The isles shake?

16 And come down from off their thrones have all princes of the sea, And they have turned aside their robes, And their embroidered garments strip off, Trembling they put on, on the earth they sit, And they have trembled every moment, And they have been astonished at thee,

17 And have lifted up for thee a lamentation, And said to thee: How hast thou perished, That art inhabited from the seas, The praised city, that was strong in the sea, She and her inhabitants, Who put their terror on all her inhabitants!

18 Now they tremble, is it not the day of thy fall? Troubled have been the isles that [are] in the sea, at thine outgoing.

19 For thus said the Lord Jehovah: In my making thee a city wasted, Like cities that have not been inhabited, In bringing up against thee the deep, Then covered thee have the great waters.

20 And I have caused thee to go down, With those going down to the pit, Unto the people of old, And I have caused thee to dwell in the land, The lower parts -- in wastes of old, With those going down to the pit, So that thou art not inhabited, And I have given beauty in the land of the living.

21 Wastes I do make thee, and thou art not, And thou art sought, and art not found any more -- to the age, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #206

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206. "'Because you say, "I am rich and wealthy."'" (3:17) This symbolically means, because they believe they possess in great abundance concepts of goodness and truth having to do with the church and heaven.

To be rich and wealthy means, symbolically, nothing else here than to have full knowledge and understanding of such things as have to do with the church and heaven, things which are called spiritual and theological, because they are the subject here. Spiritual riches and wealth are nothing else.

People who base their beliefs on their own thinking, and not on the Lord through the Word, also believe that they know and understand everything. That is because their spiritual mind is closed and only their natural mind open, and without spiritual light the natural mind has no other sight.

That riches and wealth in the Word symbolize spiritual riches and wealth, which are concepts of truth and goodness, is apparent from the following passages:

By your wisdom and your intelligence you have gained riches for yourself..., gold and silver in your treasuries; by the increase of your wisdom... you have increased your riches... (Ezekiel 28:4-5)

This is said of Tyre, which symbolizes the church in respect to its concepts of truth and good. Similarly:

The daughter of Tyre (the daughter of the king) (will bring you) a gift; the rich among the people will seek to placate your face. (Psalms 45:12)

...(Jehovah) will impoverish (Tyre); He will destroy its wealth in the sea... (Zechariah 9:4)

They will plunder (O Tyre) your riches... (Ezekiel 26:12)

(Asshur said,) "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am intelligent...; (therefore) I... will plunder the treasures of the peoples... My hand will find... the wealth of the peoples...." (Isaiah 10:13-14)

Asshur symbolizes the rational faculty - here that it perverts the goods and truths of the church, which are the treasures and wealth of the peoples that it will plunder.

I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places... (Isaiah 45:3)

Blessed is the man who fears Jehovah... Wealth and riches will be in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. (Psalms 112:1, 3)

(God) has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. (Luke 1:53)

...woe to you who are rich, for you have received your joy. Woe to you who are filled, for you shall hunger. (Luke 6:24-25)

The rich here mean people who possessed concepts of truth and good because they had the Word, namely the Jews. So, too, the "rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen" (Luke 16:19).

The rich and riches have a similar meaning elsewhere, as in Isaiah 30:6; Jeremiah 17:11; Micah 4:13; 6:12; Zechariah 14:14; Matthew 12:35; 13:44; Luke 12:21.

  
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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.