Isifundo SeBhayibheli seSonto eliSha lobuKhretsu

IBhayibheli

 

Isaiah 1

Funda

1 THE vision of Isaias the son of Amos I which he saw concerning Juda and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda

2 Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have despised me.

3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood.

4 Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards.

5 For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad.

6 From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil.

7 Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies.

8 And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste.

9 Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha.

10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.

11 To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats.

12 When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts?

13 Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination tome. The new moons, and the sabbaths, and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked.

14 My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them.

15 And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.

16 Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes: cease to do perversely,

17 Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow.

18 And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.

19 if you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land.

20 But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

21 How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? justice dwelt in it, but now murderers.

22 Thy silver is turned into dress: thy wine is mingled with water.

23 Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, the run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow's cometh not in to them.

24 Therefore saith the Lord the God of hosts, the mighty one of Israel: Ah! I will comfort myself over my adversaries: and I will be revenged of my enemies.

25 And I will turn my hand to thee, and I will clean purge away thy dress, and I will take away all thy tin.

26 And I will restore thy judges se they were before, and thy counsellors as of old. After this thou shalt be called the city of the just, a faithful city.

27 Sion shall be redeemed in judgment, and they shall bring her back in justice.

28 And he shall destroy the wicked, and the sinners together: and they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed.

29 For they shall be confounded for the idols, to which they have sacrificed: and you shall be ashamed of the gardens which you have chosen.

30 When you shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, and as a garden without water.

31 And your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, and your work as a spark: and both shall burn together, and there shall be none to quench it.

Okususelwe Emisebenzini kaSwedenborg

 

True Christian Religion #536

Funda lesi Sigaba

  
Yiya esigabeni / 853  
  

536. Yet all who do good for religious reasons, not only Christians, but also the heathen, are acceptable to the Lord and after death are adopted by Him. For the Lord said:

I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and [you took me in; I was naked and] 1 you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me. And He said, To the extent that you have done this to one of the least of my brothers, you have done it to me. Come, you blessed ones, and possess as your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, Matthew 25:31-41.

I will add here something new: after death all of those who do good for religious reasons reject the teaching of the present-day church about three Divine persons from eternity, as well as their faith directed to each of the three in turn. Instead they turn to the Lord God the Saviour and with pleasure they take in the teachings of the new church.

[2] The remainder, however, who have not practised charity for religious reasons are hearts of adamant, so hard they are. These people start by approaching three Gods, then the Father alone, and end by approaching none. They look upon the Lord God the Saviour as merely the son of Mary born of sleeping with Joseph, not as the Son of God; and then they shake off all the kinds of good and truth the new church possesses, Soon afterwards they join the ranks of the spirits of the dragon, and are driven away with them into desert regions or into caves situated at the outermost limits of the so-called Christian world. After some time, because they are separated from the new heaven, they rush into crimes and are therefore sent down to hell.

[3] Such is the fate of those who have not done charitable deeds for religious reasons, believing that no one can do good of himself without seeking merit. So they leave these deeds undone and join the flock of goats, who are damned and cast into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, because they have not done as the sheep did (Matthew 25:41ff). They are not said in that passage to have done evil, but not to have done good. Those who do good, but without religious reasons, do evil, for

No one can serve two masters; either he would hate one and love the other, or hold to the first and neglect the second, Matthew 6:24.

The Lord says through Isaiah:

Wash yourselves, cleanse yourselves, remove the wickedness of your deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good. Then though your sins were as scarlet, they will become white as snow; though they were red like purple, they will be like wool, Isaiah 1:16-18.

He said to Jeremiah:

Stand in the gate of Jehovah's house, and there proclaim this word. Thus spoke Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, Make your ways good and your works also. Put not your trust in lying words, saying, This is Jehovah's Temple, Jehovah's Temple (that is, the church). Will you after stealing, murdering, and swearing falsely, then come and stand in my presence in this house, on which my name is written, and say, We were carried away, when you do all those abominations? Has this house become a robbers' cave? Behold, even I have seen it, this is the word of Jehovah, Jeremiah 7:2-4, 9-11.

Imibhalo yaphansi:

1. These words are omitted in the Latin, but are found where the same passage is quoted in 643, 2.

  
Yiya esigabeni / 853  
  

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

©2024 New Christian Bible Study Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed from newchristianbiblestudy.org