圣经文本

 

Genesis第41章

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1 And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river.

2 And behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fine-looking and fat-fleshed, and they fed in the reed-grass.

3 And behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, bad-looking and lean-fleshed, and stood by the kine on the bank of the river.

4 And the kine that were bad-looking and lean-fleshed ate up the seven kine that were fine-looking and fat. And Pharaoh awoke.

5 And he slept and dreamed the second time; and behold, seven ears of corn grew up on one stalk, fat and good.

6 And behold, seven ears, thin and parched with the east wind, sprung up after them.

7 And the thin ears devoured the seven fat and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke; and behold, it was a dream.

8 And it came to pass in the morning, that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the scribes of Egypt, and all the sages who were therein, and Pharaoh told them his dream; but [there was] none to interpret them to Pharaoh.

9 Then spoke the chief of the cup-bearers to Pharaoh, saying, I remember mine offences this day.

10 Pharaoh was wroth with his bondmen, and put me in custody into the captain of the life-guard's house, me and the chief of the bakers.

11 And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each according to the interpretation of his dream.

12 And there was there with us a Hebrew youth, a bondman of the captain of the life-guard, to whom we told [them], and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each he interpreted according to his dream.

13 And it came to pass, just as he interpreted to us, so it came about: me has he restored to my office, and him he hanged.

14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph; and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. And he shaved [himself], and changed his clothes, and came in to Pharaoh.

15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamt a dream, and there is none to interpret it. And I have heard say of thee, thou understandest a dream to interpret it.

16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.

17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood on the bank of the river.

18 And behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed and of fine form, and they fed in the reed-grass.

19 And behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor, and very ill-formed, and lean-fleshed -- such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness.

20 And the lean and bad kine ate up the seven first fat kine;

21 and they came into their belly, and it could not be known that they had come into their belly; and their look was bad, as at the beginning. And I awoke.

22 And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears came up on one stalk, full and good.

23 And behold, seven ears, withered, thin, parched with the east wind, sprung up after them;

24 and the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. And I told it to the scribes; but there was none to make it known to me.

25 And Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God will do he has made known to Pharaoh.

26 The seven fine kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

27 And the seven lean and bad kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears, parched with the east wind, will be seven years of famine.

28 This is the word which I have spoken to Pharaoh: what God is about to do he has let Pharaoh see.

29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout the land of Egypt.

30 And there will arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will waste away the land.

31 And the plenty will not be known afterwards in the land by reason of that famine; for it will be very grievous.

32 And as regards the double repetition of the dream to Pharaoh, it is that the thing is established by God, and God will hasten to do it.

33 And now let Pharaoh look himself out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.

34 Let Pharaoh do [this]: let him appoint overseers over the land, and take the fifth part of the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty,

35 and let them gather all the food of these coming good years, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, for food in the cities, and keep [it].

36 And let the food be as store for the land for the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt, that the land perish not through the famine.

37 And the word was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his bondmen.

38 And Pharaoh said to his bondmen, Shall we find [one] as this, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?

39 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has made all this known to thee, there is none [so] discreet and wise as thou.

40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according to thy commandment shall all my people regulate themselves; only concerning the throne will I be greater than thou.

41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.

42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in clothes of byssus, and put a gold chain on his neck.

43 And he caused him to ride in the second chariot that he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee! and he set him over all the land of Egypt.

44 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah, and gave him as wife Asnath the daughter of Potipherah the priest in On. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh, and passed through the whole land of Egypt.

47 And in the seven years of plenty the land brought forth by handfuls.

48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years that was in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities; the food of the fields of the city, which were round about it, he laid up in it.

49 And Joseph laid up corn as sand of the sea exceeding much, until they left off numbering; for it was without number.

50 And to Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asnath the daughter of Potipherah the priest in On bore to him.

51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh -- For God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.

52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim -- For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

53 And the seven years of plenty that were in the land of Egypt were ended;

54 and the seven years of the dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said. And there was dearth in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

55 And all the land of Egypt suffered from the dearth. And the people cried to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph: what he says to you, that do.

56 And the famine was on all the earth. And Joseph opened every place in which there was [provision], and sold grain to the Egyptians; and the famine was grievous in the land of Egypt.

57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph, to buy [grain], because the famine was grievous on the whole earth.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#5297

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5297. 'Food in the cities' means such things present in the interior parts of the natural mind. This is clear from the meaning of 'food' as all things that have a useful purpose, dealt with just above in 5293; and from the meaning of 'cities' as the interior parts of the natural mind. In the universal sense 'cities' means matters of doctrine known to the Church, see 402, 2268, 2449, 2451, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4491, 4493, but in a particular sense it means the interior parts of a person where matters of doctrine exist, or rather where truths joined to good exist. For the forms of truth and good existing with a person form a city so to speak, see 3584, which is why a person who has the Church within him is called 'the city of God'. The meaning that 'a city' has is similar to the meaning that 'a house' has. In a universal sense 'a house' means good; in a particular sense however it means a person, 3128, and in a specific sense it means his mind so far as goodness and truth are joined together there, 3538, 4973, 5023. Also a house with its rooms, surrounding buildings, and courtyards is a city in miniature.

[2] The interior parts of the natural mind are meant by 'cities' in Isaiah,

On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak in the lips of Canaan and swear to Jehovah Zebaoth. Isaiah 19:18.

Both forms of good and of truth present in the interior parts are meant by 'cities' in the Lord's parable in Luke,

He said to the one who used his mina to earn ten minas, Well done, good servant; because you have been faithful over a little, be over ten cities. And he said to the second who earned five minas, You also, be over five cities. Luke 19:11 and following verses.

The recommendation here therefore that they should store up food in cities and should guard it means that truths joined to good were to be stored away in the interior parts of the natural mind. When these truths and forms of good have been stored away there they are called remnants. These remnants are where a person's actual spiritual life resides, and they are what a person is nourished by spiritually whenever need and desire, that is, whenever spiritual famine, arises.

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

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#402

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402. 'A city that was built' means all doctrinal or heretical teaching founded on that heresy. This is clear from the Word wherever the name of any city occurs. In the Word 'city' never means a city but something doctrinal or else something heretical. For angels are totally ignorant of what a city is or what the name of any city is. They never do nor can have any city in mind, for their ideas are of spiritual and celestial things, as shown already. Their perception is solely of what is meant spiritually by cities, and the names of them. For example, by the Holy City, which is also called the Holy Jerusalem, they understand nothing other than the Lord's kingdom in general, or as it exists with each individual who has the Lord's kingdom within him. And the city of Zion or Mount Zion they understand in a similar way, the latter being the celestial degree of faith, the former the spiritual.

[2] And the celestial and spiritual itself is also described by cities, palaces, houses, walls, the foundations of walls, ramparts, gates, bars, and by the temple at the centre, as in Ezekiel 48, and in Revelation 21:15-end. In Revelation 21:2, 10, it is called 'the Holy Jerusalem'; in Jeremiah 31:38 ['the city for Jehovah']; in David, Psalms 46:4, 'the city of God, the holy place of the dwellings of the Most High'; and in Ezekiel 48:35, it is called 'the city, Jehovah is there'. And in Isaiah,

The sons of the foreigner will build up your walls. They will bend down to the soles of your feet, all who disapprove of you, and they will call you the City of Jehovah, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 60:10, 14.

In Zechariah,

Jerusalem [will be called] the city of truth, and Mount Zion the mountain of holiness. Zechariah 8:3

Here 'city of truth', which is Jerusalem, means the spiritual things of faith, and 'the holy mountain', which is Zion, the celestial things of faith. And whereas the celestial and spiritual things of faith were represented by a city, so all matters of doctrine were meant by the cities of Judah and Israel, each one, when mentioned by name, meaning some specific point of doctrine, though exactly which nobody can know except from the internal sense.

[3] As cities meant matters of doctrine, cities also meant heretical ideas, each one when mentioned by name meaning some specific heretical idea. But at this point solely the consideration that in general a city means doctrinal teaching or else heretical may be established from the following places:

[4] In Isaiah,

On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak in the lip of Canaan and swear to Jehovah Zebaoth. One of these will be called the city Heres. Isaiah 19:18.

This refers to man's knowledge of spiritual and celestial things at the time of the Lord's Coming. In the same prophet,

Full of tumults, a tumultuous city, an exultant city. Isaiah 22:1, 2.

This refers to 'the valley of vision', which is delusion. In Jeremiah,

The cities of the south are shut up, with none opening them. Jeremiah 13:10.

This refers to people who are in 'the south', that is, who dwell in the light of truth, but blot it out. In the same prophet,

Jehovah thought to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He causes rampart and wall to mourn; they have languished together. Her gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken in pieces her bars. Lamentations 2:8-9.

Here anyone may see that nothing else is meant by 'wall, rampart, gates and bars' than matters of doctrine.

[5] Similarly in Isaiah,

This song will be sung in the land of Judah, Ours is a strong city, salvation will establish walls and a rampart. Open the gates that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. Isaiah 26:1-2.

In the same prophet,

I will exalt You, I will confess Your name. You have made the city into a heap, the fortified city into a ruin; let not a palace of aliens be built of the city for ever. Therefore a strong people will honour You, the city of terrifying nations will fear You. Isaiah 25:1-3.

Nor does this refer to any actual city. In Balaam's prophecy,

Edom will be an inheritance, and out of Jacob one will have dominion, and he will accomplish the destruction of the remnant of the city. Numbers 24:18-19.

Here anyone may see that 'the city' does not mean an actual city. In Isaiah,

The city of hollowness has been broken down, every house has been shut up so that none may enter in. There is an outcry in the streets over the wine. Isaiah 24:10-11.

Here 'city of hollowness' stands for hollowness of doctrine. In this and other places 'streets' means the things that constitute a city, namely falsities or truths. In John,

When the seventh angel poured out his bowl the great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations fell. Revelation 16:17, 19.

That 'a great city' means something heretical, as do 'the cities of the nations', may be clear to anyone. The explanation is also given in Revelation 17:18 that the great city means the woman whom John saw, 'the woman', as shown already, being a Church of that nature.

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