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Exodus第9章

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1 Then the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people Go so that they may give me worship.

2 For if you will not let them go, but still keep them in your power,

3 Then the hand of the Lord will put on your cattle in the field, on the horses and the asses and the camels, on the herds and the flocks, a very evil disease.

4 And the Lord will make a division between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt; there will be no loss of any of the cattle of Israel.

5 And the time was fixed by the Lord, and he said, Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.

6 And on the day after, the Lord did as he had said, causing the death of all the cattle of Egypt, but there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel.

7 And Pharaoh sent and got word that there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel. But the heart of Pharaoh was hard and he did not let the people go.

8 And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, Take in your hand a little dust from the fire and let Moses send it in a shower up to heaven before the eyes of Pharaoh.

9 And it will become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and will be a skin-disease bursting out in wounds on man and beast through all the land of Egypt.

10 So they took some dust from the fire, and placing themselves before Pharaoh, Moses sent it out in a shower up to heaven; and it became a skin-disease bursting out on man and on beast.

11 And the wonder-workers were not able to take their places before Moses, because of the disease; for the disease was on the wonder-workers and on all the Egyptians.

12 And the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he would not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.

13 And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning and take your place before Pharaoh, and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may give me worship.

14 For this time I will send all my punishments on yourself and on your servants and on your people; so that you may see that there is no other like me in all the earth.

15 For if I had put the full weight of my hand on you and your people, you would have been cut off from the earth:

16 But, for this very reason, I have kept you from destruction, to make clear to you my power, and so that my name may be honoured through all the earth.

17 Are you still uplifted in pride against my people so that you will not let them go?

18 Truly, tomorrow about this time I will send down an ice-storm, such as never was in Egypt from its earliest days till now.

19 Then send quickly and get in your cattle and all you have from the fields; for if any man or beast in the field has not been put under cover, the ice-storm will come down on them with destruction.

20 Then everyone among the servants of Pharaoh who had the fear of the Lord, made his servants and his cattle come quickly into the house:

21 And he who gave no attention to the word of the Lord, kept his servants and his cattle in the field.

22 And the Lord said to Moses, Now let your hand be stretched out to heaven so that there may be an ice-storm on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field through all the land of Egypt.

23 And Moses put out his rod to heaven: and the Lord sent thunder, and an ice-storm, and fire running down on the earth; the Lord sent an ice-storm on the land of Egypt.

24 So there was an ice-storm with fire running through it, coming down with great force, such as never was in all the land of Egypt from the time when it became a nation.

25 And through all the land of Egypt the ice-storm came down on everything which was in the fields, on man and on beast; and every green plant was crushed and every tree of the field broken.

26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no ice-storm.

27 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have done evil this time: the Lord is upright, and I and my people are sinners.

28 Make prayer to the Lord; for there has been enough of these thunderings of God and this ice-storm; and I will let you go and will keep you no longer.

29 And Moses said, When I am gone outside the town, my hands will be stretched out to the Lord; the thunders and the ice-storm will come to an end, so that you may see that the earth is the Lord's.

30 But as for you and your servants, I am certain that even now the fear of the Lord God will not be in your hearts.

31 And the flax and the barley were damaged, for the barley was almost ready to be cut and the flax was in flower.

32 But the rest of the grain-plants were undamaged, for they had not come up.

33 So Moses went out of the town, and stretching out his hands made prayer to God: and the thunders and the ice-storm came to an end; and the fall of rain was stopped.

34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the ice-storm and the thunders were ended, he went on sinning, and made his heart hard, he and his servants.

35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hard, and he did not let the people go, as the Lord had said by the mouth of Moses.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#7573

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7573. 'And Jehovah gave forth voices' means the departure and severance of communication with those governed by good and guided by truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'voices', which are claps of thunder, as God's truths which enlighten and perfect those in heaven, but frighten those in hell and subject them to vastation; and since they devastate the latter they mean the departure and severance of communication with those governed by good and guided by truth, this being the way in which they are devastated. The situation in all this is evident from what has been stated already in 7502, 7541, 7542, 7545, 7554. In these places it was shown that those who have belonged to the Church and consequently absorbed cognitions of truth and good from the Word, yet have led an evil life, have a line of communication with heaven through the truths and forms of good which they have brought with them from their time in the world, where they were in the Church. (A person brings with him into the next life whatever he knew in the world, indeed whatever he saw, heard, thought, spoke, willed, or did, see 2474, 2475, 2481-2486, 7398). This communication is what is taken away when they undergo vastation; and when communication has been taken away, so are truths and forms of good, and cognitions of them, removed. For whatever spirits, and indeed angels know flows in from the Lord by way of heaven, thus through communications that are made, see 6053-6058, 6180, 6215, 6307-6717, 6466-6495, 6613-6626. All this shows what is meant by a departure and severance of communication with those who are guided by truth and governed by good. The situation with God's truth in heaven and in hell - the truth that is meant by 'voices' - is like that with claps of thunder on earth. On high mountains claps of thunder are heard as no more than a gentle, quiet sound; but on the land lying below they are heard as a frightening crash. In the same way God's truth in heaven is gentle and mild, whereas in hell it is frightening.

[2] The meaning of 'voices', which are claps of thunder, as God's truths that enlighten and perfect those in heaven, and that frighten those in hell and subject them to vastation, is evident from the following places: In Isaiah,

You will have joy of heart, as when one marches with a pipe to come to the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel. Then Jehovah will cause His glorious voice 1 to be heard, and will cause His arm to see repose, in the indignation of [His] anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, [in] scattering, and deluging, and hailstones. For by the voice of Jehovah Asshur will be dismayed. Isaiah 30:29-31.

Here 'the voice of Jehovah' stands for God's truth which enlightens and perfects those who are governed by good but frightens those under the influence of evil and subjects them to vastation. In Joel,

The earth quaked before Him, the sun and moon were darkened, and the stars withdrew their shining; and Jehovah uttered His voice before His army, His camp is exceedingly great; for that which executes His word is uncountable. For great is the day of Jehovah, and extremely frightening. Joel 3:16.

Here the meaning is similar.

[3] In the same prophet,

Jehovah will roar from Zion, and from Jerusalem will give forth His voice; and the heavens and the earth will be shaken. But Jehovah will be a shelter for His people, and a fortification for the children of Israel. Joel 3:16.

'The voice of Jehovah' likewise stands for God's truth. It is given forth 'from Jerusalem' because that city means the Lord's spiritual kingdom, inhabited by those who are moved by truth to be governed by good and moved by good to be guided by truth.

[4] In David,

Jehovah thundered in the heavens, and the Most High gave forth His voice, hail, and coals of fire, so that He sent His arrows and scattered them, and many thunder-bolts, and threw them into confusion. Psalms 18:13-14.

'Giving forth voice, hail, and coals of fire' stands for the devastation of truth and good by means of falsities and evil desires. In the same author,

The clouds dropped water, the skies gave voice, also Your arrows went out, the voice of Your thunder into the earth; the lightnings lit up the earth. Psalms 77:16-18.

'A voice' stands for God's truth which enlightens those who belong to the Church.

[5] In the same author,

The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters, the God of glory causes it to thunder, Jehovah is over great waters; the voice of Jehovah is powerful; the voice of Jehovah is majestic; the voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars, Jehovah breaks to pieces the cedars of Lebanon; the voice of Jehovah strikes as flames of fire; the voice of Jehovah causes the wilderness to shake; the voice of Jehovah causes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare. Psalms 29:3-11.

Here 'the voice of Jehovah' stands for God's truth and the power it has. Thus it also stands for the Word since this is God's truth.

[6] In John,

A mighty angel coming down called out with a loud voice; and when he called out, seven thunders uttered their voices. I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them. Revelation 10:3-4.

'Voices' stands for God's truth, 'thunders' for those who convey it, bringing it from heaven to earth. No one can fail to see that 'thunders and 'voices' mean things that are Divine, not thunders and crashes. And since they mean Divine things and are called Jehovah's voices it is evident that they are Divine Truth. This was why, when Jehovah came down on Mount Sinai and proclaimed Divine Truth, there were voices, lightnings, and thunders, Exodus 19:16; 20:18, and why He spoke out of the midst of the fire, Deuteronomy 4:11-12; 5:22-24.

脚注:

1. literally, the voice of His glory

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.