Esodo 29:34
To many Protestant and Evangelical Italians, the Bibles translated by Giovanni Diodati are an important part of their history. Diodati’s first Italian Bible edition was printed in 1607, and his second in 1641. He died in 1649. Throughout the 1800s two editions of Diodati’s text were printed by the British Foreign Bible Society. This is the more recent 1894 edition, translated by Claudiana.
Apocalypse Explained #618
618. And it shall make bitter thy belly, signifies that inwardly it was undelightful, because outwardly it was adulterated. This is evident from the signification of "to be bitter" or "bitterness," as meaning undelightful because of adulterated truth (of which presently); and from the signification of the "belly," as meaning what is interior. The "belly" means what is interior, because after this it is said that "in the mouth it was as honey, sweet," and the "mouth" means what is exterior, for what is taken in by the mouth is chewed and passed down into the belly, thus going from the exterior to the interior and entering into the viscera of man; but as to the signification of "belly" it shall be told presently. "Bitter" (or bitterness) signifies what is undelightful because of adulterated truth, and therefore "to make bitter" signifies to render undelightful, because what is sweet becomes bitter and thus undelightful by a mixture with something offensive; from this comes the bitterness of wormwood, gall, and myrrh. Now as "sweet" signifies what is delightful from the good of truth and the truth of good, so "bitter" signifies what is undelightful because of adulterated truth. What is undelightful thence is not perceived and felt as bitter by anyone in the natural world, but by the spirit and angel in the spiritual world; for every adulterated good of truth, when it is changed with them into taste, is clearly perceived as bitter. For spirits and angels equally with men have taste, but the taste of spirits and angels flows forth from a spiritual source, but that of men from a natural source; the taste of bitterness with spirits is from the adulterated truth of good, but with men it is from a mixture of what is sweet with what is offensive. John's sensation of bitterness was also from a spiritual origin, for he was in the spirit, otherwise he could not have eaten the little book. Adulterated truth means the truth of good applied to evil and mixed with its falsity, and this is done when the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are applied to filthy loves, and are thus mixed with evils. This undelightfulness is what is here signified by the bitterness of the belly.
[2] It shall also be told briefly what is meant by what is interior in the Word, that is, the interiors of the Word. The interiors of the Word are the things contained in its internal or spiritual sense; these truths are genuine truths; to these the exterior truths of the Word correspond, which are the truths in the external or natural sense, called the sense of the letter and the literal sense. When the exterior things of the Word, or the truths in the sense of the letter or the literal sense of the Word, are falsified and adulterated, then the interior truths of the Word are falsified and adulterated; for this reason, when a man applies the Word in the sense of the letter to the evils of earthly loves, it becomes undelightful to angels, who are in the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, and this undelightfulness is like that of bitterness. From this it can be seen that "the little book would make bitter, and did make bitter, the belly," signifies that the Word was inwardly undelightful. This undelightfulness thus far spoken of is spiritual undelightfulness; but there is also a spiritual-natural undelightfulness that is also meant by this "bitterness," which is that the truth of doctrine inwardly gathered from the sense of the letter of the Word and called its literal sense, is undelightful to those who are in falsities of evil; for this relates to the understanding of the Word by the men of the church at its end, when they are for the most part in falsities from evil; and to such the falsities of evil, confirmed from the sense of the letter of the Word, are delightful, 1 but truths confirmed from the literal sense of the Word are undelightful. This, too, is signified by "the little book made bitter the belly, but in the mouth was like honey, sweet."
[3] That "bitter" signifies the truth of good adulterated can also be seen from the Word where "bitter" is mentioned, as in the following passages. In Isaiah:
Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe unto the mighty to drink wine, and to the men of strength to mingle strong drink (Isaiah 5:20, 22).
Evidently good and truth adulterated are here signified by "bitter," for it is said, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness," which signifies the adulteration of good and the falsification of truth; for good is adulterated when "good is called evil and when evil is called good," and truth is falsified when "darkness is put for light and light for darkness," "darkness" meaning falsities, and "light" truths. This makes clear that like things are signified by "putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter," also by "Woe unto the mighty to drink wine, and to the men of strength to mingle strong drink;" "the mighty to drink wine" signify those who adulterate the truth of the Word, and "the men of strength to mingle strong drink" signify those who falsify it, "wine" and "strong drink" meaning the truths of the Word, and "the mighty" and "men of strength" those who excel in ingenuity and skill in adulterating these.
[4] In the same:
The new wine shall mourn, the vine shall languish, all the glad in heart shall sigh. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it (Isaiah 24:7, 9).
"The new wine that shall mourn," and "the vine that shall languish," signify the truth of the Word and of the church which has been lost, "new wine" signifying the truth of the Word, and the "vine" the truth of the doctrine of the church; "all the glad in heart shall sigh, and they shall not drink wine with a song," signifies that internal blessedness of mind and felicity of heart will perish because of the loss of the truth of spiritual good; "strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it," signifies the truth of good made undelightful by its falsification and adulteration.
[5] In Moses:
The waters in Marah, that they were unable to drink because of the bitterness, were healed by the wood that was cast into them (Exodus 15:23-25).
"The waters in Marah, that they were unable to drink because of their bitterness," represented truths adulterated, "waters" signifying truths, and "bitterness" adulteration. "Healing them by wood cast into them" represented the good of love and of life dispelling falsity and opening truth, and thus restoring it; for all truth is adulterated by the evil of life and of love, consequently it is opened and restored by the good of love and of life, because all truth is of good, and the good of love is like a fire, from which truth appears in light.
[6] The like is signified by:
The pottage into which the sons of the prophets cast the wild gourds or the bitter wild grapes, and which Elisha healed by casting in meal (2 Kings 4:38-41).
"The pottage into which they cast the bitter gourds" signifies the Word falsified; and the "meal" that was cast in, by which it was healed, signifies truth from good; for the truth that is from good dissipates the falsities from which is falsification.
[7] Because the sons of Jacob perverted all the truths of the Word, and by applying them to themselves and to earthly loves falsified and adulterated them, it is said of them in the song of Moses:
That their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah, and their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are of bitternesses (Deuteronomy 32:32).
A "vine" signifies the church in respect to truth, consequently also the truth of the church; and "the grapes" signify the goods therefrom, which are the goods of charity, and "clusters", the goods of faith; from which it is evident that "clusters of bitternesses" signify the goods of faith adulterated.
[8] In the same:
That the waters of the curse should be given to the wife accused by her husband of adultery, and if she was 2 guilty the waters would become bitternesses in her, and the belly would swell and the thigh fall away (Numbers 5:12-29).
The marriage of man and wife signifies the marriage of truth and good, for love truly conjugial descends from that spiritual marriage; therefore "adultery" signifies the conjunction of falsity and evil, and this was why "if she was guilty the waters became bitternesses," which signifies the adulteration of good; and as the "belly" signified conjugial love, in like manner as the womb, and also the thigh, so "the belly swelled and the thigh fell away," which signifies in the spiritual sense that the conjugial or conjugial love itself, spiritual and natural, had perished; "the womb" or "belly" signifying spiritual conjugial love, and the "thigh" natural conjugial love. From this it can be seen that "bitter" and "bitterness" signify in general the falsification and adulteration of truth and good, and that the various kinds of these are signified by "gall," "wormwood," "myrrh," "wild grapes," "wild gourds," and many others.
Fotnoter:
1. Latin has "undelightful," the context calls for "delightful."
2. Latin has "they were," the Hebrew "she was," cf. Arcana Coelestia 3021.
Leviticus 8
1
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2
"Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bull of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread;
3
and assemble all the congregation at the door of the Tent of Meeting."
4
Moses did as Yahweh commanded him; and the congregation was assembled at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
5
Moses said to the congregation, "This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded to be done."
6
Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.
7
He put the coat on him, tied the sash on him, clothed him with the robe, put the ephod on him, and he tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod on him, and fastened it to him with it.
8
He placed the breastplate on him; and in the breastplate he put the Urim and the Thummim.
9
He set the turban on his head; and on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown; as Yahweh commanded Moses.
10
Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and sanctified them.
11
He sprinkled it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its vessels, and the basin and its base, to sanctify them.
12
He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.
13
Moses brought Aaron's sons, and clothed them with coats, and tied sashes on them, and put headbands on them; as Yahweh commanded Moses.
14
He brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering.
15
He killed it; and Moses took the blood, and put it around on the horns of the altar with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar, and sanctified it, to make atonement for it.
16
He took all the fat that was on the innards, and the cover of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat; and Moses burned it on the altar.
17
But the bull, and its skin, and its flesh, and its dung, he burned with fire outside the camp; as Yahweh commanded Moses.
18
He presented the ram of the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.
19
He killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood around on the altar.
20
He cut the ram into its pieces; and Moses burned the head, and the pieces, and the fat.
21
He washed the innards and the legs with water; and Moses burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering for a pleasant aroma. It was an offering made by fire to Yahweh; as Yahweh commanded Moses.
22
He presented the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.
23
He killed it; and Moses took some of its blood, and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot.
24
He brought Aaron's sons; and Moses put some of the blood on the tip of their right ear, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot; and Moses sprinkled the blood around on the altar.
25
He took the fat, and the fat tail, and all the fat that was on the innards, and the cover of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the right thigh;
26
and out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before Yahweh, he took one unleavened cake, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat, and on the right thigh.
27
He put all these in Aaron's hands and in his sons' hands, and waved them for a wave offering before Yahweh.
28
Moses took them from their hands, and burned them on the altar on the burnt offering. They were a consecration for a pleasant aroma. It was an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
29
Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering before Yahweh. It was Moses' portion of the ram of consecration, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
30
Moses took some of the anointing oil, and some of the blood which was on the altar, and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, and on his sons, and on his sons' garments with him, and sanctified Aaron, his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.
31
Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, "Boil the flesh at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of consecration, as I commanded, saying, 'Aaron and his sons shall eat it.'
32
What remains of the flesh and of the bread you shall burn with fire.
33
You shall not go out from the door of the Tent of Meeting seven days, until the days of your consecration are fulfilled: for he shall consecrate you seven days.
34
What has been done this day, so Yahweh has commanded to do, to make atonement for you.
35
You shall stay at the door of the Tent of Meeting day and night seven days, and keep Yahweh's command, that you don't die: for so I am commanded."
36
Aaron and his sons did all the things which Yahweh commanded by Moses.
