The Bible

 

Hosea 7

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1 `When I give healing to Israel, Then revealed is the iniquity of Ephraim, And the wickedness of Samaria, For they have wrought falsehood, And a thief doth come in, Stript off hath a troop in the street,

2 And they do not say to their heart, [That] all their evil I have remembered, Now compassed them have their doings, Over-against My face they have been.

3 With their wickedness they make glad a king, And with their lies -- princes.

4 All of them [are] adulterers, Like a burning oven of a baker, He ceaseth from stirring up after kneading the dough, till its leavening.

5 A day of our king! Princes have polluted themselves [with] the poison of wine, He hath drawn out his hand with scorners.

6 For they have drawn near, As an oven [is] their heart, In their lying in wait all the night sleep doth their baker, Morning! he is burning as a flaming fire.

7 All of them are warm as an oven, And they have devoured their judges, All their kings have fallen, There is none calling unto Me among them.

8 Ephraim! among peoples he mixeth himself, Ephraim hath been a cake unturned.

9 Devoured have strangers his power, And he hath not known, Also old age hath sprinkled [itself] on him, And he hath not known.

10 And humbled hath been the excellency of Israel to his face, And they have not turned back unto Jehovah their God, Nor have they sought Him for all this.

11 And Ephraim is as a simple dove without heart, Egypt they called on -- [to] Asshur they have gone.

12 When they go I spread over them My net, As the fowl of the heavens I bring them down, I chastise them as their company hath heard.

13 Wo to them, for they wandered from Me, Destruction to them, for they transgressed against Me, And I -- I ransom them, and they have spoken lies against Me,

14 And have not cried unto Me with their heart, but howl on their beds, For corn and new wine they assemble themselves, They turn aside against Me.

15 And I instructed -- I strengthened their arms, And concerning Me they think evil!

16 They turn back -- not to the Most High, They have been as a deceitful bow, Fall by sword do their princes, From the insolence of their tongue, This [is] their derision in the land of Egypt!

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #624

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624. 14:5 And in their mouth was found no deceit. This symbolically means that they do not speak with cunning or with a purpose to persuade people of falsity and evil.

A mouth symbolizes speech, preaching, and doctrine (no. 452). And deceit symbolizes a persuasion to evil by means of falsity, especially with cunning and purpose. For someone who urges something with cunning or deceit also does so on purpose. Indeed, cunning or deceit proposes it to itself, conceals it, and acts on it when given the opportunity.

A lie in the Word symbolizes falsity and false speaking. Deceit symbolizes each of these on purpose. Lying and deceit are both mentioned in the following passages:

(Jesus said of Nathanael,) "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!" (John 1:47)

The remnant of Israel shall... not speak a lie, nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth. (Zephaniah 3:13)

...He did no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. (Isaiah 53:9)

Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak falsehood, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. (Micah 6:12)

You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; Jehovah abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. (Psalms 5:6)

Deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. (Psalms 120:2-3)

They have taught their tongue to speak lies... Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they have refused to know Me. (Jeremiah 9:5-6)

Ephraim has encircled Me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit. (Hosea 11:12)

But if someone purposes to kill his neighbor by deceit, you shall take him from My altar and he will die. (Exodus 21:14)

Cursed is he who does the work of Jehovah deceitfully... (Jeremiah 48:10)

And so on elsewhere, as for instance in Jeremiah 5:26-27; 8:5; 14:14; 23:26; Job 13:7; 27:4.

Deceitful people are symbolically meant in the Word by poisonous reptiles, such as crocodiles and vipers, and their deceit by the reptiles' poison.

  
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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.