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Ezekiel 3

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1 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, that which thou findest eat, eat this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel.'

2 And I open my mouth, and He causeth me to eat this roll.

3 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, thy belly thou dost feed, and thy bowels thou dost fill with this roll that I am giving unto thee;' and I eat it, and it is in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

4 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, go, enter in unto the house of Israel, and thou hast spoken with My words unto them.

5 For, not unto a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue [art] thou sent -- unto the house of Israel;

6 not unto many peoples, deep of lip and heavy of tongue, whose words thou dost not understand. If I had not sent thee unto them -- they, they do hearken unto thee,

7 but the house of Israel are not willing to hearken unto thee, for they are not willing to hearken unto Me, for all the house of Israel are brazen-faced and strong-hearted.

8 `Lo, I have made thy face strong against their face, and thy forehead strong against their forehead.

9 As an adamant harder than a rock I have made thy forehead; thou dost not fear them, nor art thou affrighted before them, for a rebellious house [are] they.'

10 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, all My words, that I speak unto thee, receive with thy heart, and with thine ears hear;

11 and go, enter in unto the Removed, unto the sons of thy people, and thou hast spoken unto them, and hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: whether they hear, or whether they forbear.'

12 And lift me up doth a spirit, and I hear behind me a noise, a great rushing -- `Blessed [is] the honour of Jehovah from His place!' --

13 even a noise of the wings of the living creatures touching one another, and a noise of the wheels over-against them, even a noise of a great rushing.

14 And a spirit hath lifted me up, and doth take me away, and I go bitterly, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Jehovah on me [is] strong.

15 And I come in unto the Removed, at Tel-Ahib, who are dwelling at the river Chebar, and where they are dwelling I also dwell seven days, causing astonishment in their midst.

16 And it cometh to pass, at the end of seven days,

17 that there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man, a watchman I have given thee to the house of Israel, and thou hast heard from My mouth a word, and hast warned them from Me.

18 In My saying to the wicked: Thou dost surely die; and thou hast not warned him, nor hast spoken to warn the wicked from his wicked way, so that he doth live; he -- the wicked -- in his iniquity dieth, and his blood from thy hand I require.

19 And thou, because thou hast warned the wicked, and he hath not turned back from his wickedness, and from his wicked way, he in his iniquity dieth, and thou thy soul hast delivered.

20 `And in the turning back of the righteous from his righteousness, and he hath done perversity, and I have put a stumbling-block before him, he dieth; because thou hast not warned him, in his sin he dieth, and not remembered is his righteousness that he hath done, and his blood from thy hand I require.

21 And thou, because thou hast warned him -- the righteous -- that the righteous sin not, and he hath not sinned, he surely liveth, because he hath been warned; and thou thy soul hast delivered.'

22 And there is on me there a hand of Jehovah, and He saith to me, `Rise, go forth to the valley, and there I do speak with thee.'

23 And I rise and go forth unto the valley, and lo, there the honour of Jehovah is standing as the honour that I had seen by the river Chebar, and I fall on my face.

24 And come into me doth a spirit, and causeth me to stand on my feet, and He speaketh with me, and saith unto me, `Go in, be shut up in the midst of thy house.

25 `And thou, son of man, lo, they have put on thee thick bands, and have bound thee with them, and thou goest not forth in their midst;

26 and thy tongue I cause to cleave unto thy palate, and thou hast been dumb, and art not to them for a reprover, for a rebellious house [are] they.

27 And in My speaking with thee, I do open thy mouth, and thou hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah; the hearer doth hear, and the forbearer doth forbear; for a rebellious house [are] they.

   

The Bible

 

Jeremiah 7:27

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27 And thou hast spoken unto them all these words, And they do not hearken to thee, And thou hast called unto them, And they do not answer thee.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #395

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395. 'Anyone killing Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold' means that to violate faith thus separated was utterly forbidden. This is clear from the meaning of 'Cain' as separated faith, and from the meaning of 'seven' as utterly inviolable. As is well known, the number seven was considered holy on account of the six days of creation and of the seventh, which is the celestial man in whom peace, rest, and the Sabbath exist. This is the reason why the number seven occurs so many times in the religious ceremonies of the Jewish Church, in every instance standing for that which is holy. It is also the reason why periods of time, long as well as short, were divided into seven, and were called weeks, as in the case of the long time intervals leading up to the time when the Messiah was to come, Daniel 9:24-25. A period of seven years is also called a week by Laban and Jacob, Genesis 29:27-28. Consequently wherever the number seven occurs it stands either for something holy or else for something utterly inviolable, as in David,

Seven times in the day I praise You. Psalms 119:164.

In Isaiah,

The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days. Isaiah 30:26.

Here 'the sun' is love, and 'the moon' faith deriving from love, a faith which is to be as love.

[2] Just as the periods of man's regeneration divide into six before he reaches the seventh, which is the celestial man, so also do the periods of vastation even until nothing celestial is left. This was represented by the many captivities of the Jews, and by the last of them, the Babylonian, which was a captivity of seven decades, that is, seventy years. And it was several times stated that the land had to rest during its Sabbaths. It was also represented by Nebuchadnezzar, of whom it is said in Daniel,

His heart will be changed from man, and the heart of a beast given him until seven times will pass over him. Daniel 4:16, 25, 32.

In reference to the vastation of the last times it is recorded in John,

I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful - seven angels holding the seven Revelation 15:1, 6-7.

They will trample over the holy city for forty-two months (that is, six times seven). Revelation 11:2.

In the same book,

I saw a book [written] within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Revelation 5:1.

Severe and increased penalties were for the same reason expressed by the number seven, as in Moses,

If you will not obey Me in this matter, I will chastise you seven times worse for your sins. Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28.

In David,

Return to our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom. Psalms 79:12.

So then, it is because it was utterly forbidden to violate faith - since it had a use to serve, as has been stated - that the statement is made about 'vengeance being taken sevenfold on him who killed Cain'.

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