Jeremiah第4章
1
"If you will return, Israel," says Yahweh, "if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you shall not be removed;
2
and you shall swear, 'As Yahweh lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory."
3
For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, "Break up your fallow ground, and don't sow among thorns.
4
Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
5
Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, 'Blow the trumpet in the land!' Cry aloud and say, 'Assemble yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities!'
6
Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don't wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction."
7
A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.
8
For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn't turned back from us.
9
"It shall happen at that day," says Yahweh, "that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder."
10
Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You shall have peace;' whereas the sword reaches to the heart."
11
At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse;
12
a full wind from these shall come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them."
13
Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots [shall be] as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined.
14
Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
15
For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim:
16
"Tell the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, 'Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah.
17
As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,'" says Yahweh.
18
"Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart."
19
My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can't hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
20
Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, [and] my curtains in a moment.
21
How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22
"For my people are foolish, they don't know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge."
23
I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
24
I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.
25
I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled.
26
I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, [and] before his fierce anger.
27
For thus says Yahweh, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end.
28
For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it."
29
Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers; they go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein.
30
You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; [your] lovers despise you, they seek your life.
31
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, [saying], "Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers."
Apocalypse Explained#578
578. Out of their mouths went out fire, and smoke, and brimstone, signifies thoughts and consequent reasonings springing from the love of evil and from the love of falsity, and from the lust for destroying truths and goods by the falsities of evil. This is evident from the signification of the "mouth," as being thought and consequent reasoning respecting which see in the explanation of verse 19); from the signification of "fire," as being the love of self and the love of evil therefrom (See above, n. 504, 539); from the signification of "smoke," as being the dense falsity springing from the love of evil (See also above, n. 494, 539); and from the signification of "brimstone," as being the lust of destroying the truths and goods of the church by the falsities of evil.
[2] That this is the signification of "brimstone" can be seen from passages of the Word where it is mentioned. Thus in Moses:
Jehovah made brimstone and fire to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24).
In Luke:
In the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. After the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed (Luke 17:29, 30).
Those who were in Sodom and Gomorrah mean those who are in the falsities of evil from the love of self; and since the falsities of evil from that love destroyed them, it rained brimstone and fire, "brimstone" because of the lust of destroying the church by the falsities of evil, and "fire" because that lust burst forth from the love of self. That it should be thus "when the Son of man should be revealed," signifies that then, too, falsities of evil from the love of self will destroy the church. Such rain appears in the spiritual world when the evil who are in falsities from that love are cast down into hell.
[3] In Moses:
What shall your sons say, and the alien, when they shall see the plagues of that land, and its sicknesses. The whole land is brimstone and salt, and a conflagration; it is not sown, it doth not spring up, nor doth any herb grow upon it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim (Deuteronomy 29:22, 23).
These were the curses with which the sons of Israel were threatened if they did not keep the commandments and statutes, and if they worshiped other gods; and because the church is thus laid waste and destroyed by the falsities of evil and the evils of falsity it is said that "the whole land is then brimstone, and salt, and conflagration," the "land" signifying the church; and "it will not be sown, nor spring up, nor any herb grow upon it," signifies that no longer will any truth from good be received or brought forth.
[4] In Isaiah:
Topheth is prepared of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he shall go down into a deep and wide place; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it (Isaiah 30:33).
"Topheth" signifies the hell in which the direful and cruel love of destroying all the truths and goods of the church reigns, especially the cruel lust for destroying the goods of innocence; that this direful hell is from the falsities of evil is signified by "he shall go down into a deep and wide place;" the "king for whom it is prepared" signifies infernal falsity itself; "the pile thereof is fire and wood," signifies evils of every kind belonging to that love; and because that hell burns with a lust for destroying, it is said, "the breath of Jehovah like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it;" for there, as soon as they hear from anyone the truths of the church and perceive its goods, they are inflamed with a frenzy for destroying and extinguishing them.
[5] In Isaiah:
The day of Jehovah's vengeance, and the year of retribution for the controversy of Zion, and the brooks thereof shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone, and its land shall become burning pitch; it shall not be quenched night or day, the smoke thereof shall go up forever (Isaiah 34:8-10).
"The day of Jehovah's vengeance, and the year of retribution for the controversy of Zion" signifies the Lord's coming, and the Last Judgment then accomplished by Him; "the brooks shall be turned into pitch, and the dust into brimstone," signifies the hell into which those are cast, who are in the falsities of evil, and in the evils of falsity; the evil of infernal love and its punishment are signified by "the burning pitch shall not be quenched night or day;" and the direful falsity from that evil is signified by "the smoke shall go up forever."
[6] In Ezekiel:
And I will plead with Gog with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him an overflowing rain and hailstones, fire and brimstone (Ezekiel 38:22).
By "Gog" is meant those who place all worship in a holy and pious external, and not in what is internal, and yet the quality of external worship is the same as the quality of its internal. It is said, "Jehovah shall rain upon them an overflowing rain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone," which signifies falsities and evils destroying all the truths and goods of the church; "fire and brimstone" mean the evils of falsity and the falsities of evil, both of which are diabolical.
[7] In David:
Jehovah shall rain upon the wicked snares, fire, and brimstone; and a wind of storms shall be the portion of their cup (Psalms 11:6).
This signifies that the wicked will be destroyed by their own evils of falsity and their own falsities of evil, which will destroy with them all truths of the church; "snares, fire, and brimstone," mean the evils of falsity and the falsities of evil; "the wind of storms which shall be the portion of their cup," signifies the destruction of all truth. Evidently it is not meant that Jehovah will rain fire and brimstone upon the wicked, for it is also said that "He will rain snares" upon them; therefore "fire and brimstone" signify such things as totally destroy the truths and goods of the church.
[8] Likewise in Job:
Brimstone shall be scattered upon the habitation of the wicked one (Acts of the Apostles 18:15).
"Brimstone" means such falsity of evil as destroys everything of the church with man; this is falsity from the evil of the love of self, such as those were in who dwelt in Sodom and Gomorrah, respecting which is said:
That it overthrew not only the cities and inhabitants, but also the plain and that which springeth up in the field (Genesis 19:25);
"that which springeth up in the field" signifies the truths of the church springing up. "Fire and brimstone" have a like signification in the following passages in Revelation:
If anyone worship the beast and his image he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone (Revelation 14:9, 10).
The beast and the false prophet were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Revelation 19:20).
The devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are the beast and the false prophet (Revelation 20:10).
The murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8).
