The Bible

 

Ezekiel 6

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1 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying:

2 `Son of man, set thy face unto mountains of Israel, and prophesy concerning them:

3 And thou hast said: Mountains of Israel, Hear ye a word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus said the Lord Jehovah To the Mountains, and to the hills, To the streams, and to the valleys, Lo, I, I am bringing in against you a sword, And I have destroyed your high places.

4 And desolated have been your altars, And broken your images, And I have caused your wounded to fall before your idols,

5 And put the carcases of the sons of Israel before their idols, And scattered your bones round about your altars.

6 In all your dwellings the cities are laid waste, And the high places are desolate, So that waste and desolate are your altars, And broken and ceased have your idols, And cut down have been your images, And blotted out have been your works.

7 And fallen hath the wounded in your midst, And ye have known that I [am] Jehovah.

8 And I have caused [some] to remain, In their being to you the escaped of the sword among nations, In your being scattered through lands.

9 And remembered Me have your escaped among nations, Whither they have been taken captive, Because I have been broken with their heart that is going a-whoring, That hath turned aside from off Me, And with their eyes they are going a-whoring after their idols, And they have been loathsome in their own faces, For the evils that they have done -- all their abominations.

10 And they have known that I [am] Jehovah, Not for nought have I spoken to do to them this evil.

11 Thus said the Lord Jehovah: `Smite with thy palm, and stamp with thy foot, And say: Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, Who by sword, by famine, and by pestilence do fall.

12 The far-off by pestilence dieth, And the near by sword falleth, And the left and the besieged by famine dieth, And I have completed my fury upon them.

13 And ye have known that I [am] Jehovah, In their wounded being in the midst of their idols, Round about their altars, On every high hill, on all tops of mountains, And under every green tree, and under every thick oak, The place where they gave sweet fragrance to all their idols.

14 And I have stretched out my hand against them, And have made the land a desolation, Even a desolation from the wilderness to Diblath, In all their dwellings, And they have known that I [am] Jehovah!'

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #591

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591. 13:10 Anyone who leads into captivity shall go into captivity. This symbolically means that someone who uses that heresy to draw others away from believing rightly and living rightly is drawn by his own falsities and evils into hell.

To lead into captivity means, symbolically, to persuade and win over to one's side so that people consent to and attach themselves to that heresy meant by the dragon and the beast, and thus to draw them away from believing rightly and living rightly. To go into captivity means, symbolically, to be drawn by one's own falsities and evils into hell.

Captivity here means spiritual captivity, which is to be led astray and so to be drawn away from truths and goods into falsities and evils.

That captivity in the Word means this spiritual captivity can be seen from the following passages:

Hear now, all peoples, and behold my sorrow; my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity. (Lamentations 1:18)

(God) forsook His dwelling..., (and) the tent where He dwelt among men, and delivered His strength into captivity... (Psalms 78:60-61)

The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity; ...then you will be ashamed... because of all your wickedness. (Jeremiah 22:22)

I will make My arrows drunk... with the blood of the slain and the captivity... (Deuteronomy 32:42)

They stooped (and) bowed down..., and their soul will go into captivity. (Isaiah 46:1-2)

(Jehovah) has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, ...to the bound, ...to the blind... (Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18-19)

I will stir him up in righteousness...; he shall... let My captives go free, not for price nor reward... (Isaiah 45:13)

You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive... (Psalms 68:18)

Shall... the captivity of the righteous be delivered? ..."Even the captivity of the strong shall be taken away, and the captured of the violent be delivered." (Isaiah 49:24-25)

Shake yourself from the dust...; sit, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion! (Isaiah 52:1-2)

And so on elsewhere, as in Jeremiah 48:46-47; 50:33-34, Ezekiel 6:1-10; 12:1-12, Obadiah 1:11, Psalms 14:7; 53:6.

The captivities of the children of Israel by their enemies described in the book of Judges, in 2 Kings 25, and in the prophets represented and so symbolized spiritual captivities, as discussed elsewhere.

The bound have the same symbolic meaning as captives in the following places:

...by the blood of your covenant I will set the bound free from the... pit. (Zechariah 9:11)

The groaning of the bound shall come to You. (Psalms 79:11)

...the bound shall be gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison. (Isaiah 24:22)

He made the world a wilderness..., He did not open the house to his bound ones. (Isaiah 14:17)

(The king said, "I was) in prison and you did not come to Me." (Matthew 25:43)

(Jesus said,) "Ought not this... daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound..., be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?" (Luke 13:16)

  
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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.