The Bible

 

Lamentations 3

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1 I [am] the man [who] hath seen affliction By the rod of His wrath.

2 Me He hath led, and causeth to go [in] darkness, and without light.

3 Surely against me He turneth back, He turneth His hand all the day.

4 He hath worn out my flesh and my skin. He hath broken my bones.

5 He hath built up against me, And setteth round poverty and weariness.

6 In dark places He hath caused me to dwell, As the dead of old.

7 He hath hedged me about, and I go not out, He hath made heavy my fetter.

8 Also when I call and cry out, He hath shut out my prayer.

9 He hath hedged my ways with hewn work, My paths He hath made crooked.

10 A bear lying in wait He [is] to me, A lion in secret hiding-places.

11 My ways He is turning aside, and He pulleth me in pieces, He hath made me a desolation.

12 He hath trodden His bow, And setteth me up as a mark for an arrow.

13 He hath caused to enter into my reins The sons of His quiver.

14 I have been a derision to all my people, Their song all the day.

15 He hath filled me with bitter things, He hath filled me [with] wormwood.

16 And He breaketh with gravel my teeth, He hath covered me with ashes.

17 And Thou castest off from peace my soul, I have forgotten prosperity.

18 And I say, Perished hath my strength and my hope from Jehovah.

19 Remember my affliction and my mourning, Wormwood and gall!

20 Remember well, and bow down doth my soul in me.

21 This I turn to my heart -- therefore I hope.

22 The kindnesses of Jehovah! For we have not been consumed, For not ended have His mercies.

23 New every morning, abundant [is] thy faithfulness.

24 My portion [is] Jehovah, hath my soul said, Therefore I hope for Him.

25 Good [is] Jehovah to those waiting for Him, To the soul [that] seeketh Him.

26 Good! when one doth stay and stand still For the salvation of Jehovah.

27 Good for a man that he beareth a yoke in his youth.

28 He sitteth alone, and is silent, For He hath laid [it] upon him.

29 He putteth in the dust his mouth, if so be there is hope.

30 He giveth to his smiter the cheek, He is filled with reproach.

31 For the Lord doth not cast off to the age.

32 For though He afflicted, yet He hath pitied, According to the abundance of His kindness.

33 For He hath not afflicted with His heart, Nor doth He grieve the sons of men.

34 To bruise under one's feet any bound ones of earth,

35 To turn aside the judgment of a man, Over-against the face of the Most High,

36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord hath not approved.

37 Who [is] this -- he hath said, and it is, [And] the Lord hath not commanded [it]?

38 From the mouth of the Most High Go not forth the evils and the good.

39 What -- sigh habitually doth a living man, A man for his sin?

40 We search our ways, and investigate, And turn back unto Jehovah.

41 We lift up our heart on the hands unto God in the heavens.

42 We -- we have transgressed and rebelled, Thou -- Thou hast not forgiven.

43 Thou hast covered Thyself with anger, And dost pursue us; Thou hast slain -- Thou hast not pitied.

44 Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, So that prayer doth not pass through.

45 Offscouring and refuse Thou dost make us In the midst of the peoples.

46 Opened against us their mouth have all our enemies.

47 Fear and a snare hath been for us, Desolation and destruction.

48 Rivulets of water go down my eye, For the destruction of the daughter of my people.

49 Mine eye is poured out, And doth not cease without intermission,

50 Till Jehovah looketh and seeth from the heavens,

51 My eye affecteth my soul, Because of all the daughters of my city.

52 Hunted me sore as a bird have my enemies without cause.

53 They have cut off in a pit my life, And they cast a stone against me.

54 Flowed have waters over my head, I have said, I have been cut off.

55 I called Thy name, O Jehovah, from the lower pit.

56 My voice Thou hast heard, Hide not Thine ear at my breathing -- at my cry.

57 Thou hast drawn near in the day I call Thee, Thou hast said, Fear not.

58 Thou hast pleaded, O Lord, the pleadings of my soul, Thou hast redeemed my life.

59 Thou hast seen, O Jehovah, my overthrow, Judge Thou my cause.

60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance, All their thoughts of me.

61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O Jehovah, All their thoughts against me,

62 The lips of my withstanders, Even their meditation against me all the day.

63 Their sitting down, and their rising up, Behold attentively, I [am] their song.

64 Thou returnest to them the deed, O Jehovah, According to the work of their hands.

65 Thou givest to them a covered heart, Thy curse to them.

66 Thou pursuest in anger, and destroyest them, From under the heavens of Jehovah!

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #410

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410. The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood. (8:11) This symbolizes hellish falsity, the origin of their personal intelligence, by which they had falsified all the Word's truths.

The star symbolizes their personal intelligence owing to a conceit arising from a hellish love (no. 408). The name symbolizes its character (nos. 81, 122, 165). Wormwood symbolizes hellish falsity, which we will consider next. Waters symbolize truths (no. 50), here the Word's truths, because the subject is faith. A third means, symbolically, all, as said before. Gathering these into a single meaning yields the meaning presented above.

As for wormwood, it symbolizes hellish falsity because of its extreme bitterness, which renders foods and beverages unpalatable. Wormwood symbolizes such falsity, therefore, in the following places:

Behold, I feed... this people with wormwood, and will give them water of gall to drink. (Jeremiah 9:14-15)

...thus says Jehovah... against the prophets: Behold, I feed them with wormwood, and will make them drink water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem hypocrisy has gone out into all the land. (Jeremiah 23:15)

...you turn justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. (Amos 6:12, cf. 5:7)

...that there may not be among you a root bearing gall or wormwood. (Deuteronomy 29:18)

Since the Jewish Church falsified all the Word's truths, like the church which is the subject here, and the Lord represented it by all the events of His suffering, by permitting the Jews to treat Him as they had the Word, because He embodied the Word, therefore "they gave Him vinegar mingled with gall," which is like wormwood, "but when He had tasted it, He would not drink" (Matthew 27:34, Mark 15:23, cf. Psalms 69:21).

As that was the character of the Jewish Church, it is therefore described in this way:

He has filled me with bitterness, (and) He has made me drunk on wormwood. (Lamentations 3:15, 19)

  
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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.