2
说：你的母亲是甚麽呢？是个母狮子，蹲伏在狮子中间，在少壮狮子中养育小狮子。
5
母狮见自己等候失了指望，就从他小狮子中又将一个养为少壮狮子。
7
他知道列国的宫殿，又使他们的城邑变为荒场；因他咆哮的声音，遍地和其中所有的就都荒废。
8
於是四围邦国各省的人来攻击他，将网撒在他身上，捉在他们的坑中。
9
他们用钩子钩住他，将他放在笼中，带到巴比伦王那里，将他放入坚固之所，使他的声音在以色列山上不再听见。
10
你的母亲先前如葡萄树，极其茂盛（原文是在你血中），栽於水旁。因为水多，就多结果子，满生枝子；
11
生出坚固的枝干，可作掌权者的杖。这枝干高举在茂密的枝中，而且他生长高大，枝子繁多，远远可见。
722. That when she brought forth he might devour her offspring, signifies that they might destroy the doctrine of that church at its first rise. This is evident from the signification of "the offspring" that the woman was about to bring forth, as being the doctrine of the church; that this is meant by "the son a male" which she brought forth will be seen in the following article. Also from the signification of "to devour," as being to destroy; for what is predicated follows its subject, and when "the dragon" is the subject, "to devour" is predicated of him, but when the doctrine of the church is the subject, being destroyed is predicated of it, therefore "to devour" here signifies to destroy. To destroy it at its first rise is signified because it is said "that when the woman brought forth he might devour her offspring." "To devour" and "to eat" also elsewhere signify to destroy, when predicated of wild beasts, which signify falsities and evils, as is evident in Ezekiel:
One of the whelps of the lion went up, it became a young lion, and it learned to seize the prey, it devoured man (Ezekiel 19:3, 6).
"To devour man" signifies to destroy the understanding of truth and intelligence. In Hosea:
I will encounter them as a bear that is bereaved; and I will devour them like an immense lion; the wild beast of the field shall tear them (Hosea 13:8).
In Daniel:
Behold, a beast, like to a bear, it had three ribs in the mouth between the teeth, it was said to it, Rise, devour much flesh (Daniel 7:5).
Moreover, in the Hebrew, "to devour" in many passages stands for to consume, to ruin, and to destroy, as in Jeremiah:
They have devoured Jacob, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitations (Jeremiah 10:25).
