Ezekiel 36
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You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh.
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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because the enemy has said against you, Aha! and, The ancient high places are ours in possession;
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therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;
4
therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which are become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around;
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therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.
6
Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations:
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therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: I have sworn, [saying], Surely the nations that are around you, they shall bear their shame.
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But you, mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come.
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For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn into you, and you shall be tilled and sown;
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and I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built;
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and I will multiply on you man and animal; and they shall increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited after your former estate, and will do better [to you] than at your beginnings: and you shall know that I am Yahweh.
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Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no more henceforth bereave them of children.
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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because they say to you, You are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of your nation;
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therefore you shall devour men no more, neither bereave your nation any more, says the Lord Yahweh;
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neither will I let you hear any more the shame of the nations, neither shall you bear the reproach of the peoples any more, neither shall you cause your nation to stumble any more, says the Lord Yahweh.
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Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
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Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings: their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.
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Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols;
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and I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.
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When they came to the nations, where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, These are the people of Yahweh, and are gone forth out of his land.
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But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, where they went.
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Therefore tell the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I don't do [this] for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, where you went.
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I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am Yahweh, says the Lord Yahweh, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
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For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.
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I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
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I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
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I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.
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You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
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I will save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you.
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I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.
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Then you shall remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
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Nor for your sake do I [this], says the Lord Yahweh, be it known to you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.
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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built.
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The land that was desolate shall be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all who passed by.
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They shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.
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Then the nations that are left around you shall know that I, Yahweh, have built the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate: I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and I will do it.
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Thus says the Lord Yahweh: For this, moreover, will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a flock.
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As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
Arcana Coelestia #2906
2906. 'The years of the life of Sarah' means when any Divine truth still existed on earth. This is clear from the meaning of 'a year' as a whole period of the Church from start to finish, and so of 'years' as periods, dealt with immediately above in 2905; and from the meaning of 'the life of Sarah' as states as regards Divine truth, also dealt with just above, in 2904. Thus here the end when no Divine truth at all existed any longer is meant, as also follows from the words that occur immediately before these.
[2] That 'a year' means the whole length of time a state of the Church lasts, from start to finish, or what amounts to the same, a whole period, and that consequently 'years' means the periods of time within the general whole, becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,
Jehovah has anointed Me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; He has sent Me to bind up the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to captives, and opening of every kind to those that are bound, to proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God. Isaiah 61:1-2.
This refers to the Coming of the Lord. 'The year of Jehovah's good pleasure' stands for the time of the new Church. In the same prophet,
The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isaiah 63:4.
This similarly refers to the Coming of the Lord. 'The year of the redeemed' stands for the time of the new Church. In the same prophet,
The day of Jehovah's vengeance, the year of retributions on account of the controversy of Zion. Isaiah 34:8.
Here the meaning is similar.
[3] That same period is also called 'the year of visitation': in Jeremiah,
I will bring evil to the men of Anathoth in the year of their visitation. Jeremiah 11:23.
In the same prophet,
I will bring upon Moab the year of their visitation. Jeremiah 48:44.
And plainer still in Ezekiel,
After many days you will be visited; in the latter years you will come upon the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, upon the mountains of Israel, which will be a waste continually. Ezekiel 38:8.
'The latter years' stands for the final period of the Church when it becomes that which is not the Church, those who previously belonged to the Church having been rejected and others having been accepted from other places. In Isaiah,
Thus said the Lord to me, Within yet a year, according to the years of a hireling, and all the glory of Kedar will be brought to an end. Isaiah 21:16.
This too stands for the final period.
[4] In Ezekiel,
You have become guilty by your blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made, and you have brought your days near, and you have come even to your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mocking to all the lands. Ezekiel 22:4.
'Coming even to their years' stands for coming to the end when the Lord departs from the Church. In Isaiah,
Jehovah has now spoken, saying, In three years, as with the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will grow worthless, with all its great multitude; and the residue will be tiny and of no account. Isaiah 16:14.
'In three years' also stands for the end of the previous Church - 'three' meaning that which has been completed and that which is a beginning, see 1825, 2788.
[5] Seven, and also seventy, have the same meaning, see 720, 728, 901. Consequently it is said in Isaiah,
And it will be on that day, that Tyre will pass into oblivion for seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre according to the song of the harlot. And it will be at the end of seventy years, that Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she will return to hiring herself out as a harlot. Isaiah 23:15, 17.
'Seventy years' stands for a whole period, from the time a Church comes into being until the time it breathes its last, which is also 'the days of one king', for 'a king' means a Church's truth, see 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069. The captivity which the Jews were sent into lasting seventy years entails something similar. That captivity is also spoken of in Jeremiah as follows,
These nations will serve the king of Babel seventy years, and it will be, when the seventy years are fulfilled, that I will visit the king of Babel and this nation for their iniquity, said Jehovah. Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10.
[6] That 'a year', and also 'years', is a whole period of the Church, or the time it lasts, becomes clearer still in Malachi,
Behold, I am sending My angel, and he will prepare the way before Me; and suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, said Jehovah Zebaoth. And who can endure the day of His coming? Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Jehovah, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. Malachi 3:1-2, 4.
This refers to the Coming of the Lord. 'The days of old' stands for the Most Ancient Church, 'ancient years' for the Ancient Church, 'the offering of Judah' for worship springing from celestial love, and 'the offering of Jerusalem' for worship springing from spiritual love. Here it is quite evident that neither Judah nor Jerusalem was meant. In David,
I have considered the days of old, and the years of long ago. Psalms 77:5.
Here 'the days of old' and 'the years of long ago' stand for the same two Churches, as is plainer still in Moses,
Recollect the days of old, understand the years of generation after generation; ask your father and he will show you, your elders and they will tell you, When the Most High gave to the nations an inheritance, and Himself separated the sons of man. Deuteronomy 32:7-8.
[7] That 'a year' or 'years' is a complete period of the Church is also evident in Habakkuk,
O Jehovah, I have heard Your fame; I was afraid. O Jehovah, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath You will remember mercy. God will come out of Teman, and the Holy One out of Mount Paran. Habakkuk 3:2-3.
This refers to the Coming of the Lord. 'In the midst of the years' stands for in the fullness of time. For what the fullness of time is, see just above in 2905.
[8] As 'a year' and 'years', when used in reference to the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church, mean a complete period from start to finish, so when used in reference to the Lord's kingdom in heaven do they mean that which is eternal; as in David,
O God, Your years are from generation to generation. You are He, and Your years will have no end. The sons of Your servants will continue, and their seed will be established before You. Psalms 102:24, 27-28.
In the same author,
You will add days to the king's days; His years as generation after generation! And He will dwell for ever before God. Psalms 61:6-7.
Here 'years' stands for that which is eternal since these words refer to the Lord and His kingdom.
[9] The lambs offered in burnt offerings and sacrifices, which were to be in their first year, Leviticus 12:6; 14:10; Numbers 6:12; 7:15, 21, 33, 39, 45, 51, 57, 63, 69, 75, 81; and elsewhere, meant the celestial things of innocence in the Lord's kingdom, which are eternal. Hence burnt offerings of calves in their first year are referred to in Micah 6:6 as being most acceptable.
[10] That 'a year' in the internal sense does not mean a year is made additionally clear from the consideration that angels, who possess the internal sense of the Word, are not able to possess the idea of any year. But because a year is a complete period of time within the natural world, they have instead of the idea of a year the idea of that which is completed in relation to states of the Church, and of that which is eternal in relation to states in heaven. To them periods of time are states, 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837.
