Ezekiel 38
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And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
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Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.
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And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
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And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thy army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
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Persia, Cush, and Phut with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
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Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
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Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled to thee, and be thou a guard to them.
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After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall all dwell in safety.
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Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.
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Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
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And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
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To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thy hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
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Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all its young lions, shall say to thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
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Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
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And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
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And thou shalt come against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
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Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days many years, that I would bring thee against them?
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And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
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For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel.
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So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping animals that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be overturned, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
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And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother.
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And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
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Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Arcana Coelestia #790
790. 'Waters' here and in what follows means falsities. This becomes clear from the places in the Word quoted in the preliminary section of this chapter 1 and from those at verse 6 of this chapter, where the flood or inundation of waters is the subject. In those places it was shown that 'inundations of waters' meant desolations and temptations, which entail the same thing as falsities, for desolations and temptations are nothing else than inundations of falsities that have been activated by evil spirits. The reason why such waters mean falsities is that generally 'waters' in the Word means that which is spiritual, that is, that which is intellectual, rational, and factual. And since waters mean these they also mean their opposites, for every falsity is a factual matter, and seemingly rational and intellectual since it is a matter belonging to thought.
[2] That 'waters' means spiritual things is clear from very many places in the Word. But that 'waters' also means falsities, let the passages that follow, in addition to those quoted already, serve to confirm the point. In Isaiah,
This people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go out gently. Therefore, behold the Lord is causing to rise up over them the waters of the river, mighty and many. And it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks. Isaiah 8:6-7.
Here 'waters that go out gently' stands for spiritual things, 'waters mighty and many' for falsities. In the same prophet,
Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush, sending ambassadors to the sea, and in vessels of papyrus over the face' of the waters! Go, you swift ambassadors, to a nation marked out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled. Isaiah 18:1-2.
This stands for falsities, which belong to 'the land shadowing with wings'.
[3] In the same prophet,
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. Isaiah 43:2.
'Waters' and 'rivers' stand for difficulties, and also for falsities. In Jeremiah,
What have you to do with the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? And what have you to do with the way to Asshur, to drink the waters of the River? Jeremiah 2:18.
'Waters' stands for falsities arising out of reasonings. In the same prophet,
Who is this coming up like a river, like the rivers his waters are tossed about? Egypt comes up like the river, and like the rivers his waters are tossed about. And he said, I will go up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and those who dwell in it. Jeremiah 46:7-8.
'Waters' stands for falsities arising out of reasonings.
[4] In Ezekiel,
Thus said the Lord Jehovah, When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I shall cause the deep to come up over you, and many waters have covered you, I will cause you to go down with those who go down into the Pit. Ezekiel 16:19, 20.
'Waters' stands for evils and derivative falsities. In Habakkuk,
You did trample the sea with Your horses, the mud of many waters. Habakkuk 3:15.
'Waters' stands for falsities. In John,
The dragon poured water like a stream out of his mouth after the woman, to swallow her up in the river. Revelation 11:15, 16.
Here 'waters' stands for falsities and lies. In David,
Send forth Your hands from on high, rescue me, and deliver me from the many waters, from the hands of sons of the foreigner, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are right hands of falsity. Psalms 144:7-8.
Here 'many waters' clearly stands for falsities, and 'sons of the foreigner also means falsities.
