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Ezekiel 37

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1 The hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of Jehovah, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.

2 And he caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord Jehovah, thou knowest.

4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy over these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of Jehovah.

5 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.

6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and, behold, an earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

8 And I beheld, and, lo, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.

9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.

12 Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

13 And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, O my people.

14 And I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will place you in your own land: and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken it and performed it, saith Jehovah.

15 The word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying,

16 And thou, son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and [for] all the house of Israel his companions:

17 and join them for thee one to another into one stick, that they may become one in thy hand.

18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?

19 say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, [even] with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand.

20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thy hand before their eyes.

21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

22 and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all;

23 neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.

24 And my servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in mine ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them.

25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children's children, for ever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.

26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

27 My tabernacle also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

28 And the nations shall know that I am Jehovah that sanctifieth Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

   

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Apocalypse Explained #366

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366. That they should slay one another, signifies the falsification or extinction of truths. This is evident from the signification of "slaying," as meaning the extinction of truths; for "to slay" in the Word signifies to slay spiritually, that is, to slay the spiritual part of a man or his soul, which is to extinguish truths. It also means to falsify, because when truths are falsified they are also extinguished; for falsification produces a different understanding of truths, and truth is true to everyone according to his understanding of it; for the love and principle that rule in man draw and apply all things to themselves, even truths themselves; consequently when the love is evil, or the principle is false, then truths are infected with the evil of the love or the falsity of the principle, and thus are extinguished. This, therefore, is what is here signified by "they should slay one another." That this takes place when there is no good with man, and especially when there is no good in the doctrine of his church, is evident from the preceding words, where it is said, "When he had opened the second seal there went forth a red horse; and to him that sat upon him it was given to take peace from the earth;" which signifies a second state of the church when the understanding of the Word is destroyed in respect to good, which is the source of dissensions in the church (of which see above, n. 361, 364, 365).

[2] That the understanding of the Word, or what is the same, the understanding of the truth, is destroyed when there is no good with man, that is, when there is no love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbor, may be seen above n. 365; for good with man, or what is the same, love with him, is the fire of his life, and truth with him, or the faith of truth, is the light therefrom; consequently such as the good is, or such as the love is in man, such is truth, or such the faith of truth in him. From this it can be seen that when evil or an evil love is with man there can be no truth or faith of truth with him; for the light that goes forth from such fire is the light that those have who are in hell, which is a fatuous light like the light from burning coals, which light, when light from heaven flows in, is turned into mere thick darkness. Such also is the light that with the evil, when they reason against the things of the church, is called natural light [lumen].

[3] That they would falsify and thereby extinguish truths is meant also by the Lord's words in Matthew:

Jesus said to the disciples, The brother shall deliver up the brother, the father the son; children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death (Matthew 10:21).

And in Luke:

Ye shall be delivered up by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death (Luke 21:16).

"Parents," "brethren," "children," ["kinsfolk, "] and "friends," do not mean here parents, brethren, children, kinsfolk, friends, nor do "disciples" mean disciples, but the goods and truths of the church, also evils and falsities; it is also meant that evils would extinguish goods and falsities truths. (That such is the signification of these words, see Arcana Coelestia 10490.)

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.