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| 1 At that time, saith Jehovah, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves; |
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| 2 and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth. |
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| 3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith Jehovah of hosts. |
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| 4 Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? shall one turn away, and not return? |
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| 5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. |
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| 6 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repenteth him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turneth to his course, as a horse that rusheth headlong in the battle. |
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| 7 Yes, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the law of Jehovah. |
Not the judgment – Arrangement, dealings. C157; R230:5
Of the LORD – That this harvest day of full, complete separation of wheat from chaff and tares must come; in this they show less discernment than the migratory fowls. C157
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| 8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of Jehovah is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes hath wrought falsely. |
How do ye say – How can you say, when you cannot discern the harvest time and the change of dispensation then due. C157
Is in vain – Because the Word of the Lord by his prophets and apostles is made void and set aside without attention. The creeds formed in the Dark Ages are the lightless lanterns of them that walk in darkness. C157
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| 9 The wise men are put to shame, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of Jehovah; and what manner of wisdom is in them? |
The wise men – Those learned in the wisdom of this world. C157
They are dismayed – Disheartened by the failure of their cherished human schemes. C157
And taken – Caught. C157
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| 10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall possess them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. |
Will I give their wives – Their churches. C157
And their fields – Of labor. C157
To them – To the conquerors. C157
For every one – Of them. C157
To covetousness – "They are greedy dogs, which can never have enough." (Isa. 56:11) C157
From the prophet – Orator. C157
Unto the priest – Minister. C157
Dealeth falsely – Practiseth falsehood: "For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves." (Isa. 28:15) C157
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| 11 And they have scarcely healed the hurt of the daughter of my people, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. |
Healed the hurt – The sore. C157
In the days of Luther and the Reformation, when the daughters might have been radically healed. R498:5
Of the daughter – Nominal Zion, Babylon. C157
There is no peace – Her whole system is diseased and needs thorough cleansing with the medicine of God's Word, the truth. C157
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| 12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith Jehovah. |
Were they – They should have been. C157
Abomination – Their abominable work. C157
Shall they – The teachers. C157
Their visitation – Or inspection, in the harvest. C157
Shall be cast down – They shall stumble. C157
"But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." (1 Thess. 5:4) C215
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| 13 I will utterly consume them, saith Jehovah: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig-tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. |
Consume them – Make an end of them. C157
There shall be – There shall be left. C158
Shall fade – Shall wither. C158
And the things – All divine favors and privileges. C158
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| 14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for Jehovah our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Jehovah. |
The defenced cities – Governments. C158
Water of gall – Bitter poison-water, the poison of bitter error, the "doctrine of devils" mingled with the pure water of life, the truth of God's Word. C158
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| 15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and, behold, dismay! |
We looked for peace – Anticipating that our bitter poison-water doctrines would convert the world and bring about the Millennium. C158
And behold trouble – The disease of nominal Zion will grow rapidly worse as the Israelites indeed withdraw. C158
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| 16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembleth; for they are come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those that dwell therein. |
Of his horses – Doctrines. C316
The city – Babylon, Christendom. D527
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| 17 For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, saith Jehovah. |
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| 18 Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! my heart is faint within me. |
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| 19 Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: Is not Jehovah in Zion? is not her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with foreign vanities? |
The LORD in Zion – Nominal Zion, Babylon, is spewed out of his mouth. C157[C157]; R498:4[R498]
Provoked me to anger – Love can be justly provoked to anger. R5978:6, R5603:2
His anger is righteous indignation against sin. R5603:1, R5978:6
God's indignation was kindled against his chosen people. R5603:2
Strange vanities – Infidelity sits in the pews, declaims from the pulpits, rules in the assemblies; and, together with Agnosticism and Evolution, these strike against the very foundation doctrines of Christianity--the fall of man and his redemption through Christ. R1690:5
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| 20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. |
The harvest is past – We did not do the Lord's will. R4079:5*
They realize they have failed to make their calling and election sure to a place in the kingdom class. R2837:3
Nominal Zion might have been healed once, but now it is too late to reform the sects. R731:4
Summer is ended – "Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter" with the tribulation class (Matt. 24:20). Escape from Babylon before the winter time of her trouble comes upon her. D578
We are not saved – A class who would realize that the Bride has been taken and that they are left; at the fall of Babylon. (Rev. 19) Q229:2
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| 21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay hath taken hold on me. |
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| 22 Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? |
No balm in Gilead – None of the human remedies proposed will cure the malady of human depravity. D469
Consolation of wounded spirits on the battlefield of life. R5803:1
Babylon might have been healed once, but now, like her prototype Israel, she is given up--left desolate. R731:4
No physician there – There is no remedy, these systems must die. The disorder comes from within. Though the canker is carefully concealed, the bad odor and distress are noticeable. R498:5
With the harvest ended those then in Zion will have lost the "especial" salvation, the prize of being made the heavenly Zion. R230:5
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