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Ezekiel 16

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1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,

3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.

4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.

6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

9 Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.

10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.

11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.

12 And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.

13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.

14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.

16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

18 And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.

19 My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.

20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,

21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?

22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.

23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;)

24 That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.

25 Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.

26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.

27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.

28 Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.

29 Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.

30 How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;

31 In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;

32 But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!

33 They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.

34 And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.

35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:

36 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;

37 Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

38 And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

39 And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.

40 They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.

41 And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.

42 So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

43 Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.

44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.

45 Thou art thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.

48 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

51 Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.

52 Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:

54 That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.

55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

56 For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride,

57 Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about.

58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD.

59 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.

61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.

62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:

63 That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.

   

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Daniel 9:13

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13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

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Apocalypse Explained #176

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176. Verse 27.And He shall rule them with an iron rod, signifies that He is about to chastise evils by means of truths that are in the natural man. This is evident from the signification of "ruling," as being to chastise, for it is added that "He would shiver them as pottery vessels," and the evils which are signified are chastised by means of truths. It is evident also from the signification of "an iron rod," as being truths that are in the natural man; a "rod" or "staff" signifies the power by which chastisement is effected; and "iron" truths in the natural man which chastise. (That a "rod" or "staff" is power, see Arcana Coelestia, n. 4013, 4015, 4876, 4936, 6947, 7011, 7026, 7568, 7572; that it is for this reason that kings have a scepter, which is a short staff, n. 4581, 4876.)

"Iron" signifies truths in the natural man, because metals, as well as the other things of the earth, by correspondence signify things spiritual and celestial, all of which have reference to truths and goods. "Gold" signifies the good of the internal man; "silver" its truth; "copper" or "brass" the good of the external or natural man; "iron" its truth. For this reason the ages were called by the ancients after the names of the metals, namely, Golden, Silver, Copper, and Iron; the Golden Age from the most ancient men, who lived in the good of love; the Silver Age from the ancients after them who lived in truths from that good; the Copper Age from their posterity who were in external or natural good; the Iron Age from the posterity of these who were in natural truth alone without good. Natural truth is truth in the memory, not in the life; truth of life is good. (But more about this correspondence in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 104, 115.)

[2] The successive states of the church, even until the coming of the Lord, are meant by the "gold," the "silver," the "brass," and the "iron," of which the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream was composed, which is thus described in Daniel:

His head was good gold, his breast and his arms silver, his belly and his thighs brass, his legs iron, his feet part iron and part clay. A stone was cut out of the rock, and it smote the image upon his feet that were iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Whereas thou sawest the feet partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it signifies that the kingdom shall be divided; the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. Whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves by the seed of man; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay (Daniel 2:32-34, 41-43).

By "the head which was good gold," the first state of the church is meant, when men were in the good of love to the Lord; by "the breast and arms which were silver," the second state of the church is meant, when they were in truths from that good; by "the belly and thighs which were of brass," the following third state of the church, when they were no longer in spiritual good but in natural good, for "brass" signifies natural good; by "the legs which were of iron," the fourth state of the church is meant, when natural good was no more, but truth only; but by "the feet which were of iron and clay," the last state of the church is meant when there are both truth and falsity, truth in the Word and falsity in doctrine; when the truths of the Word are falsified, and doctrine is drawn from truths falsified, the state of the church is "partly iron and partly clay," thus the kingdom is "partly strong and partly broken." "The kingdom" here is the church; it is therefore called also "the kingdom of God." That truths are thus mixed with falsities, but still they do not cohere, is meant by these words, "Whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves by the seed of man; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay." "The seed of man" is Divine truth, which is in the Word. (That this is signified by "seed," see Arcana Coelestia 3038, 3373, 10248, 10249; that "man" signifies the Lord, from whom is the Word, and also signifies the church, see n. 768, 4287, 7424, 7523, 8547, 9276.) That "potter's clay" signifies the falsities that are in the natural man, will be seen in the following article n. 177. By "the stone cut of the rock," which "smote the image upon his feet," the Lord by means of Divine truth is meant, and the destruction of falsities not cohering with truths from the Word. (That a "stone" is truth, and that "the stone of Israel" is the Lord in respect to Divine truth, see Arcana Coelestia 643[1-4], 1298, 3720, 6426, 8609, 10376; that "rock" likewise signifies the Lord, 8581, 10580, and in the small work on The Last Judgement, n. 57.) Because "iron" signifies truths in the natural man, "the feet of the statue" were seen to be "of iron," for "feet" signify the natural (See Arcana Coelestia 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952).

[3] Like things are signified by "gold," "silver," "brass," and "iron," in these words in Isaiah:

For brass I will bring gold, for iron I will bring silver, for woods brass, and for stones iron (Isaiah 60:17).

"To bring gold for brass" means celestial good for natural good; "silver for iron" means celestial truth for natural truth; "brass for woods, and iron for stones," means natural good and truth in great abundance like that of woods and stones. Here the state of the celestial church is treated of. (That "iron" signifies truth in the natural man, see Arcana Coelestia 425, 426.)

[4] These passages are cited that it may be known what is meant by the "iron rod," namely, the power whereby the Lord chastises the evils and disperses the falsities that are in the natural man; for a "rod" or "staff" signifies power (as was said above), and "iron" signifies truths in the natural man. The Lord chastises evils and disperses falsities by means of truths in the natural man, because all evils and the falsities therefrom have their seat in the natural man, and none in the spiritual or internal man. The internal man does not receive evils and falsities, but is closed against them. And as all evils and falsities have their seat in the natural man, they must needs be chastised and dispersed by means of such things as are there, which are truths in the natural man. Truths in the natural man are knowledges and cognitions, from which man can think, reason, and conclude naturally respecting the truths and goods of the church, and the falsities and evils which are opposed to these, and can consequently be in some natural illustration when he reads the Word. For the Word in the letter is not understood without illustration; and illustration is either spiritual or natural. Spiritual illustration is only with those who are spiritual; and the spiritual are those that are of the good of love and charity and in truths therefrom; while mere natural illustration is with those who are natural (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 153, 425, 455; and above, n. 140. Moreover, those who are spiritual have, whilst they live in the world, illustration in the natural; but this springs from illustration in the spiritual; for with them the Lord flows in through the spiritual or internal man into the natural or external, and thus illustrates it, from which enlightenment man can see what is true and good, and what is false and evil, and when he sees that, the Lord scatters the evils and the falsities that are in the natural man, by means of the truths and goods that are also there and that make one with the goods and truths in the spiritual or internal man (See in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, on sciences and knowledges, what they effect, n. 51, and on Influx, n. 277, 278).

[5] From this it can now be seen what is signified by "the iron rod," with which the Lord is to rule the nations, that is, chastise the evils that are in the natural man. These things are said to the angel of this church, because in what is written to this angel the internal and external man and their conjunction are treated of; for when the internal and the external or the spiritual and the natural are conjoined, the Lord chastises the evils and falsities that are in the natural man, and this by means of the knowledges of truth and good. But with those with whom the internal and external man are not conjoined, evils and falsities cannot be chastised and scattered, since they receive nothing from heaven through the spiritual man, but all things they receive are from the world; and these their rational favors, and supplies confirmations. Things similar to those here signified by "the iron rod" are also signified in the following passages.

In David:

Thou shalt bruise [the nations] with an iron scepter; as a potter's vessel Thou shalt dash them in pieces (Ps. 2:9).

In Isaiah:

He shall smite the land with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked (Isa. 11:4).

In Revelation:

The woman brought forth a male, a son, who is to rule all nations with an iron rod (Rev. 12:5).

Out of the mouth of the One sitting on the white horse went forth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations; for He shall rule them with an iron rod (Rev. 19:15).

In Micah:

Arise, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass, that thou mayest beat in pieces many peoples (Micah 4:13).

The "daughter of Zion" is the celestial church; "horn" is power in the natural man; "hoofs" are the ultimates there, called sensual scientifics; hence it is evident what is signified by "making the horn iron, and the hoofs brass." (That the "daughter of Zion" is the celestial church, see Arcana Coelestia, n. 2362, 9055; that "horn" is the power of truth from good in the natural man, n. 2832[1-15], 9081, 9719, 9720, 9721, 10182, 10186; and that "hoofs" are the knowledges of the sensual man, which are truths in the ultimate of order, n. 7729.)

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