De Bijbel

 

Hosea 4

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1 Höret, ihr Kinder Israel, des HERRN Wort! denn der HERR hat Ursache, zu schelten, die im Lande wohnen; denn es ist keine Treue, keine Liebe, keine Erkenntnis Gottes im Lande;

2 sondern Gotteslästern, Lügen, Morden, Stehlen und Ehebrechen hat überhandgenommen und eine Blutschuld kommt nach der andern.

3 Darum wird das Land jämmerlich stehen, und allen Einwohnern wird's übel gehen; denn es werden auch die Tiere auf dem Felde und die Vögel unter dem Himmel und die Fische im Meer weggerafft werden.

4 Doch man darf nicht schelten noch jemand strafen; denn dein Volk ist wie die, so den Priester schelten.

5 Darum sollst du bei Tage fallen und der Prophet des Nachts neben dir fallen; also will ich deine Mutter zu Grunde richten.

6 Mein Volk ist dahin, darum daß es nicht lernen will. Denn du verwirfst Gottes Wort; darum will ich dich auch verwerfen, daß du nicht mein Priester sein sollst. Du vergißt das Gesetz deines Gottes; darum will ich auch deine Kinder vergessen.

7 Je mehr ihrer wird, je mehr sie wider mich sündigen; darum will ich ihre Ehre zu Schanden machen.

8 Sie fressen die Sündopfer meines Volks und sind begierig nach ihren Sünden.

9 Darum soll es dem Volk gleich wie dem Priester gehen; denn ich will ihr Tun heimsuchen und ihnen vergelten, wie sie verdienen,

10 daß sie werden essen, und nicht satt werden, Hurerei treiben und sich nicht ausbreiten, darum daß sie den HERRN verlassen haben und ihn nicht achten.

11 Hurerei, Wein und Most machen toll.

12 Mein Volk fragt sein Holz, und sein Stab soll ihm predigen; denn der Hurerei-Geist verführt sie, daß sie wider ihren Gott Hurerei treiben.

13 Oben auf den Bergen opfern sie, und auf den Hügeln räuchern sie, unter den Eichen, Linden und Buchen; denn die haben feinen Schatten. Darum werden eure Töchter auch zu Huren und eure Bräute zu Ehebrechrinnen werden.

14 Und ich will's auch nicht wehren, wenn eure Töchter und Bräute geschändet werden, weil ihr einen andern Gottesdienst anrichtet mit den Huren und opfert mit den Bübinnen. Denn das törichte Volk will geschlagen sein.

15 Willst du, Israel, ja huren, daß sich doch nur Juda nicht auch verschulde. Geht nicht hin gen Gilgal und kommt nicht hinauf gen Beth-Aven und schwört nicht: So wahr der HERR lebt!

16 Denn Israel läuft wie eine tolle Kuh; so wird sie auch der HERR weiden lassen wie ein Lamm in der Irre.

17 Denn Ephraim hat sich zu den Götzen gesellt; so laß ihn hinfahren.

18 Sie haben sich in die Schwelgerei und Hurerei gegeben; ihre Herren haben Lust dazu, daß sie Schande anrichten.

19 Der Wind mit seinen Flügeln wird sie zusammen wegtreiben; sie müssen über ihrem Opfer zu Schanden werden.

   

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Apocalypse Revealed #861

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861. 20:9 And they went up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. This symbolically means that, being roused up by followers of the dragon, these people scorned every truth in the church and attempted to destroy everything connected with the New Church and its fundamental doctrine regarding the Lord and life.

To go up over the breadth of the earth means, symbolically, to scorn every truth in the church, because going up over symbolically means to transcend and bypass, thus to scorn. And the breadth of the earth symbolizes the truth in the church, as will be seen below. To surround the camp of the saints means, symbolically, to besiege and try to destroy everything connected with the New Church, as will be seen in the number following next. And the beloved city symbolizes the doctrine of the New Church. That a city symbolizes a church's doctrine may be seen in nos. 194, 501, 502, 712 above. The city is called beloved because its doctrine teaches about the Lord and how to live, as it is the doctrine of the New Jerusalem that is meant here.

That this is the symbolic meaning of these words, no one can see except as a consequence of the Word's spiritual sense. For it cannot possibly enter a person's thought that the breadth of the earth symbolizes the truth in a church, that the camp of the saints symbolizes everything connected with the New Church, both its truths and its goods, and that the city symbolizes its doctrine. Lest the mind remain in a state of doubt, therefore, we must demonstrate what breadth and the camp of the saints symbolize in the spiritual sense, which will make it possible for one to see afterward that the meaning of these words is as we have said.

[2] The breadth of the earth symbolizes the truth in a church because the spiritual world has in it four zones - eastern, western, southern and northern - and the eastern and western zones form its longitude or length, while the southern and northern zones form its latitude or breadth. Moreover, because the inhabitants in the eastern and western zones are ones impelled by the goodness of love, and therefore the east and west symbolize goodness, so likewise does longitude or length. And because the inhabitants in the southern and northern zones are ones impelled by truths of wisdom, and therefore the south and north symbolize truth, so likewise does latitude or breadth. But for more on this subject, see the book Heaven and Hell (London, 1758), nos. 141-153.

That breadth symbolizes truth can be seen from the following passages in the Word:

You (Jehovah) have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in the broad place. (Psalms 31:8)

Out of distress I called on Yah; He answered me in the broad place. (Psalms 118:5)

(Jehovah) led me out into the broad place; He delivered me... (Psalms 18:19)

...I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and impetuous nation which marches into the breadths of the earth... (Habakkuk 1:6)

(The Assyrian) will pass through Judah, He will overflow and pass over..., and the spreading of his wings will fill the breadth... (Isaiah 8:8)

...Jehovah will pasture them like a lamb in broad pasture. (Hosea 4:16)

And so on elsewhere, as in Psalms 4:1; 66:12, Deuteronomy 33:20.

[3] Nothing else is meant by the breadth of the city New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:16). For since the New Jerusalem means the New Church, its breadth and length cannot symbolically mean its breadth and length, but its truth and goodness. These, indeed, are the measures of a church.

So also in Zechariah:

I said (to the angel), "Where are you going?" He said..., "To measure Jerusalem, to see how great its width is and how great its length." (Zechariah 2:2)

So likewise the breadth and length of the new temple and new earth in Ezekiel, chapters 40-47.

So, too, the length and breadth of the altar of burnt offering, of the Tabernacle, of the table of showbread, of the altar of incense, and of the ark within. So also the length and breadth of the temple in Jerusalem, and of many other things whose dimensions are given.

  
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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.

De Bijbel

 

Ezekiel 43

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1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east:

2 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.

3 And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.

4 And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.

5 So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.

6 And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.

7 And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.

8 In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.

9 Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.

10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.

11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.

12 This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

13 And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the altar.

14 And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit.

15 So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns.

16 And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof.

17 And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east.

18 And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.

19 And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord GOD, a young bullock for a sin offering.

20 And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it.

21 Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary.

22 And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock.

23 When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.

24 And thou shalt offer them before the LORD, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the LORD.

25 Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.

26 Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves.

27 And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord GOD.