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Daniel第8章

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1 In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared unto me, [even] to me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first.

2 And I saw in the vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was in the fortress of Shushan, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai.

3 And I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns; and the two horns were high; and one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.

4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward, and no beast could stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; and he did according to his will, and became great.

5 And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west over the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

6 And he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran upon him in the fury of his power.

7 And I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged with him, and smote the ram, and broke his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him; and he cast him down to the ground, and trampled upon him; and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.

8 And the he-goat became exceeding great; but when he was become strong, the great horn was broken; and in its stead came up four notable ones toward the four winds of the heavens.

9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which became exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the beauty [of the earth].

10 And it became great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down [some] of the host and of the stars to the ground, and trampled upon them.

11 (And he magnified [himself] even to the prince of the host, and from him the continual [sacrifice] was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

12 And a time of trial was appointed unto the continual [sacrifice] by reason of transgression.) And it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised and prospered.

13 And I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that one who spoke, How long shall be the vision of the continual [sacrifice] and of the transgression that maketh desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden down under foot?

14 And he said unto me, Until two thousand and three hundred evenings [and] mornings: then shall the sanctuary be vindicated.

15 And it came to pass, when I Daniel had seen the vision, I sought for the understanding of it, and behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.

16 And I heard a man's voice between [the banks of] the Ulai; and he called and said, Gabriel, make this [man] to understand the vision.

17 And he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was afraid, and fell on my face; and he said unto me, Understand, son of man; for the vision is for the time of the end.

18 Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep stupor, with my face toward the ground. And he touched me, and set me up where I had stood.

19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be at the end of the indignation: for at the set time the end shall be.

20 The ram that thou sawest having the two horns: they are the kings of Media and Persia.

21 And the rough goat is the king of Greece; and the great horn that was between his eyes is the first king.

22 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up in its stead, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with his power.

23 And at the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors shall have come to the full, a king of bold countenance, and understanding riddles, shall stand up.

24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy marvellously, and shall prosper, and shall practise, and shall destroy the mighty ones, and the people of the saints.

25 And through his cunning shall he cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he will magnify [himself] in his heart, and by prosperity will corrupt many; and he will stand up against the Prince of princes: but he shall be broken without hand.

26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which hath been told is true; but close thou up the vision, for it is for many days [to come].

27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick [certain] days: then I rose up, and did the king's business. And I was astonished at the vision, but none understood [it].

   

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Isaiah第13章:18

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18 And [their] bows shall dash the young men to pieces, and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb: their eye shall not spare children.

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Apocalypse Revealed#574

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574. And its mouth like the mouth of a lion. This symbolizes their reasonings based on falsities as though on truths.

A mouth symbolizes doctrine, preaching and discourse (no. 454), here reasoning based on doctrinal falsities, because the head containing the mouth symbolizes irrationality resulting from absolute falsities (no. 568). A lion symbolizes Divine truth in its power (nos. 241, 471), but here falsities in their power appearing as truth as a result of reasonings (no. 573). Consequently its mouth like the mouth of a lion symbolizes reasonings based on falsities as though on truths.

That the symbolic meanings of a leopard, bear and lion are as stated can be seen from the similar beasts that Daniel saw, which are described as follows:

Four great beasts came up from the sea... The first was like a lion, but had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on its feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it. ...a second beast (was) like a bear, and it raised itself up on one side, had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth, and was told, "Arise, devour much flesh!" ...(the third beast was) like a leopard, which had on its back four wings, like those of a bird, and the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. ...a fourth beast (was) dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong, which had... iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet. (Daniel 7:3-7)

[2] These four beasts describe succeeding states of the church, from its first state to its last, until it was completely desolate of any good or truth of the Word prior to the Lord's advent. The lion symbolizes the Divine truth of the Word in the first state, by which the church was established. This is what is meant by its being lifted up from the earth and made to stand on its feet like a man, and its being given a man's heart.

The bear describes the church's second state, a state in which the Word is indeed read, but not understood. The three ribs between its teeth symbolize appearances and misconceptions, and much flesh symbolizes the literal sense of the Word in its totality.

The church's third state is described by the leopard, which symbolizes the Word falsified in respect to its truths. The four wings on its back, like those of a bird, symbolize affirmations of falsities.

The fourth and last state of the church is described by the beast which was dreadful and terrible, which symbolizes the destruction of any goodness or truth. That is why we are told that it broke in pieces and devoured, and trampled the residue with its feet.

Finally the Lord's advent is described, and the destruction of the church at that time and the establishment of a new one, from verse 9 to the end of the chapter.

[3] Daniel saw these four beasts come up from the sea one after another, but John saw the aforementioned three beasts, also from the sea, united in a single body. That is because in Daniel they describe succeeding states of the church, whereas in the book of Revelation here they describe the last state, in which all the prior states are present concurrently. Moreover, because this beast was seen to have a body like a leopard, feet like a bear, and a mouth like a lion, the leopard and bear mentioned in the one place and the other have the same symbolism. However, the mouth like that of a lion symbolizes reasonings based on falsities, because we are later told that the beast used its mouth to speak blasphemies (verses 5, 6), and because its heads symbolize irrationality resulting from absolute falsities.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.