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Jeremiah 48

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1 Concerning Moab: `Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Wo unto Nebo, for it is spoiled, Put to shame, captured hath been Kiriathaim, Put to shame hath been the high tower, Yea, it hath been broken down.

2 There is no more praise of Moab, In Heshbon they devised against it evil: Come, and we cut it off from [being] a nation, Also, O Madmen, thou art cut off, After thee goeth a sword.

3 A voice of a cry [is] from Horonaim, Spoiling and great destruction.

4 Destroyed hath been Moab, Caused a cry to be heard have her little ones.

5 For the ascent of Luhith with weeping, Go up doth weeping, For in the descent of Horonaim Adversaries a cry of desolation have heard.

6 Flee ye, deliver yourselves, Ye are as a naked thing in a wilderness.

7 For, because of thy trusting in thy works, And in thy treasures, even thou art captured, And gone out hath Chemosh in a removal, His priests and his heads together.

8 And come in doth a spoiler unto every city, And no city doth escape, And perished hath the valley, And destroyed been the plain, as Jehovah said.

9 Give wings to Moab, for she utterly goeth out, And her cities are for a desolation, Without an inhabitant in them.

10 Cursed [is] he who is doing the work of Jehovah slothfully, And cursed [is] he Who is withholding his sword from blood.

11 Secure is Moab from his youth, And at rest [is] he for his preserved things, And he hath not been emptied out from vessel unto vessel, And into captivity he hath not gone, Therefore hath his taste remained in him, And his fragrance hath not been changed.

12 Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have sent to him wanderers, And they have caused him to wander, And his vessels they empty out, And his bottles they dash in pieces.

13 And ashamed hath been Moab because of Chemosh, As the house of Israel have been ashamed Because of Beth-El their confidence.

14 How do ye say, We [are] mighty, And men of strength for battle?

15 Spoiled is Moab, and her cities hath one gone up, And the choice of its young men Have gone down to slaughter, An affirmation of the King, Jehovah of Hosts [is] His name.

16 Near is the calamity of Moab to come, And his affliction hath hasted exceedingly.

17 Bemoan for him, all ye round about him, And all knowing his name, say ye: How hath it been broken, the staff of strength, The rod of beauty.

18 Come down from honour, sit in thirst, O inhabitant, daughter of Dibon, For a spoiler of Moab hath come up to thee, He hath destroyed thy fenced places.

19 On the way stand, and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer, Ask the fugitive and escaped, Say, What hath happened?

20 Put to shame hath been Moab, For it hath been broken down, Howl and cry, declare ye in Arnon, For spoiled is Moab,

21 And judgment hath come in unto the land of the plain -- unto Holon, And unto Jahazah, and on Mephaath,

22 And on Dibon, and on Nebo, And on Beth-Diblathaim, and on Kirathaim,

23 And on Beth-Gamul, and on Beth-Meon,

24 And on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, And on all cities of the land of Moab, The far off and the near.

25 Cut down hath been the horn of Moab, And his arm hath been broken, An affirmation of Jehovah.

26 Declare ye him drunk, For against Jehovah he made himself great And Moab hath stricken in his vomit, And he hath been for a derision -- even he.

27 And was not Israel the derision to thee? Among thieves was he found? For since thy words concerning him, Thou dost bemoan thyself.

28 Forsake cities, and dwell in a rock, Ye inhabitants of Moab, And be as a dove making a nest in the passages of a pit's mouth.

29 We have heard of the arrogance of Moab, Exceeding proud! His haughtiness, and his arrogance, And his pride, and the height of his heart,

30 I -- I have known, an affirmation of Jehovah, His wrath, and [it is] not right, His devices -- not right they have done.

31 Therefore for Moab I howl, even for Moab -- all of it, I cry for men of Kir-Heres, it doth mourn,

32 With the weeping of Jazer, I weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah, Thy branches have passed over a sea, Unto the sea of Jazer they have come, On thy summer fruits, and on thy harvest, A spoiler hath fallen.

33 And removed hath been joy and gladness From the fruitful field, Even from the land of Moab, And wine from wine-presses I have caused to cease, Shouting doth not proceed, The shouting [is] no shouting!

34 Because of the cry of Heshbon unto Elealeh, Unto Jahaz they have given their voice, From Zoar unto Horonaim, A heifer of the third [year], For even waters of Nimrim become desolations.

35 And I have caused to cease to Moab, An affirmation of Jehovah, Him who is offering in a high place, And him who is making perfume to his god.

36 Therefore my heart for Moab as pipes doth sound, And my heart for men of Kir-Heres As pipes doth sound, Therefore the abundance he made did perish.

37 For every head [is] bald, and every beard diminished, On all hands cuttings, and on the loins -- sackcloth.

38 On all roofs of Moab, and in her broad-places, All of it -- [is] lamentation, For I have broken Moab as a vessel in which there is no pleasure, An affirmation of Jehovah.

39 How hath it been broken down! they have howled, How hath Moab turned the neck ashamed, And Moab hath been for a derision. And for a terror to all round about her.

40 For thus said Jehovah: Lo, as an eagle he doth flee, And hath spread his wings unto Moab.

41 Captured have been the cities, And the strongholds are caught, And the heart of the mighty of Moab Hath been in that day as the heart of a distressed woman.

42 And Moab hath been destroyed from [being] a people, For against Jehovah he exerted himself.

43 Fear, and a snare, and a gin, [are] for thee, O inhabitant of Moab -- an affirmation of Jehovah,

44 Whoso is fleeing because of the fear falleth into the snare, And whoso is coming up from the snare is captured by the gin, For I bring in unto her -- unto Moab -- The year of their inspection, An affirmation of Jehovah.

45 In the shadow of Heshbon stood powerless have fugitives, For fire hath gone forth from Heshbon, And a flame from within Sihon, And it consumeth the corner of Moab, And the crown of the sons of Shaon.

46 Wo to thee, O Moab, Perished hath the people of Chemosh, For thy sons were taken with the captives, And thy daughters with the captivity.

47 And I have turned back [to] the captivity of Moab, In the latter end of the days, An affirmation of Jehovah! Hitherto [is] the judgment of Moab.

   

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Apocalypse Explained #196

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196. And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. That this signifies the spiritual life which they have procured by means of the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, is evident from the signification of walking, as being to live (concerning which see above, n. 97), and from the signification of in white, as being in truths, for whiteness and brightness in the Word are said of truths, concerning which we shall speak presently. By walking with Me in white, is signified spiritual life for spiritual life is the life of truth, that is, life according to truths, or according to the precepts of the Lord in the Word; also from the signification of for they are worthy, as being because they have spiritual life from the Lord. In the measure that any one receives from the Lord, in the same measure he is worthy, but in the measure that he receives from himself, that is, from his own, or from his proprium, in the same measure he is not worthy. Nothing else constitutes spiritual life with man but the knowledge of truth and good from the Word applied to life; and these are applied to life when a man makes them the laws of his life; for thus he looks to the Lord in everything and the Lord is present with him, and gives him intelligence and wisdom, with their affection and delight. For the Lord is in His own truths with man, because every truth proceeds from Him; and what proceeds from the Lord is His, so that it is Himself; therefore the Lord says,

"I am the truth and the life" (John 14:6).

"He that doeth truth cometh to the light, because [his works] are wrought in God" (John 3:21).

"The Word was with God, and God was the Word. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. He was the true light which lighteth every man. And the Word was made flesh" (John 1:1, 2, 4, 9, 14).

The Lord is called the Word because the Word signifies Divine truth, and He is also called the light, because Divine truth is the light of heaven; He is also called the life, because everything that lives, lives from that light; this also is the source of intelligence and wisdom to angels, in which their life consists. He who supposes that life is from any other source than the Divine which proceeds from the Lord, which in heaven is called Divine truth, and appears there as light, is much deceived. It is therefore evident how it is to be understood that God was the Word, that in Him was life, and that the life was the light of men.

[2] The reason why white in the Word is said of truths, is, because Divine truth is the light of heaven, as just said, and from the light of heaven arise whiteness and brightness. This is why,

When the Lord was transfigured before Peter, James, and John, "His face appeared as the sun, and His garments were white as the light" (Matthew 17:2), and as "white, and glistering" (Luke 9:29), "shining white as snow, so as no fuller on earth could whiten them" (Mark 9:3).

Also why

The raiment of the angels at the sepulchre of the Lord was white as snow (Matthew 28:3), and shining (Luke 24:4);

Why there appeared to John seven angels out of the temple clothed in linen clean and shining (Apoc. 15:6);

Why those who stood before the throne of the Lamb were arrayed in white robes (Apoc. 6:11; 7:9, 13, 14; 19:8)

Why the army of Him who sat on the white horse followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean (Apoc. 14:14);

And why also the garments of Aaron were of linen, and he put them on when he went within the veil to the mercy seat (Leviticus 16:1-5, 32).

Linen, from its whiteness, also signifies truth (see Arcana Coelestia 7601, 9959). Because white signifies truth, and truths reveal falsities and evils in man, and so purify him, it is therefore said in David,

"Behold thou desirest truth in the reins, and in the hidden part thou makest me to know wisdom. Thou shalt purify me with hyssop that I may be clean; thou shalt wash me and I shall be whiter than snow" (Psalms 51:6, 7).

[3] Because the Nazarite represented the Lord as to Divine truth in ultimates, which upon earth is the Word in the sense of the letter, and this was falsified and perverted with the Jews, therefore it is said concerning them in the Lamentations,

"Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, they were brighter than milk, their bones were more ruddy than pearls, their polishing was of sapphire; but their form is obscured, that they are not known in the streets" (4:7, 8).

(That the Nazarites represented the Lord as to Divine truth, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 6437; that the crown of the head of the Nazarite denotes Divine truth in ultimates, or the Word in the letter, n. 6437, 9407. That the hair which was of the Nazariteship, and was called the crown of the head of the Nazarite, denotes Divine truth in ultimates, n. 3301, 5247, 10044. That Divine truth in ultimates has strength and power, n. 9836; that hence the strength of Samson was in his hair, n. 3301.)

[4] Hence it is evident what is signified by the Nazarites being whiter than snow, and brighter than milk, and by the sapphire being the polishing of their bones, but that their form was obscured, so that they were not known in the streets. For whiteness and brightness signify Divine truth in its light, as said above; and bones, because they are the ultimates in man, being the supports of his whole body, correspond to the ultimates in heaven. For all things in man corresponding to all things in heaven (see the work, Heaven and Hell 87-102. Bones therefore signify the ultimates in the spiritual world, which are also the ultimates of Divine truth or the Word, Arcana Coelestia 5560-5564, 8005. Sapphire signifies what is translucent from truth, see n. 9407; and, not being known in the streets signifies Divine truth no longer appearing; for streets signify where the truths of doctrine are, n. 2336).

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

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Mark 9:3

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3 His clothing became glistening, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.