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| 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, |
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| 2 And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto the land of Israel: An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. |
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| 3 Now is the end upon thee; and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will bring upon thee all thine abominations. |
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| 4 And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity; but I will bring thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. |
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| 5 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: An evil, an only evil! behold, it is come. |
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| 6 The end is come, the end is come; it awaketh against thee: behold, it cometh. |
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| 7 The doom is come unto thee, inhabitant of the land; the time is come, the day is near, --tumult, and not the joyous cry from the mountains. |
Of the mountains – Kingdoms. A318
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| 8 Now will I soon pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger against thee; and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will bring upon thee all thine abominations. |
Recompense – We are already entering the great Day of Recompense. R3619:2
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| 9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will render unto thee according to thy ways, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that it is I, Jehovah, that smite. |
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| 10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the doom is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride is full blown. |
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| 11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: nothing of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth, nor of the magnificence in the midst of them. |
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| 12 The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for fierce anger is upon all the multitude thereof. |
The seller mourn – For trouble will be on the entire multitude and there will be no security of property. A315
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| 13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, even though he were yet alive amongst the living: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof; it shall not be revoked; and none shall through his iniquity assure his life. |
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| 14 They have blown the trumpet and made all ready, but none goeth to the battle; for my fierce anger is upon all the multitude thereof. |
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| 15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die by the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him. |
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| 16 And they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one for his iniquity. |
Like doves – Symbols of peace and purity. E212
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| 17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall melt into water. |
Shall be feeble – Helpless to turn aside the trouble. A315
Of little avail will be the protection which any government can provide, when the judgments of the Lord and the fruits of their folly are precipitated upon them all. D149
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| 18 And they shall gird on sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. |
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| 19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an impurity: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah's wrath; they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their belly; for it hath been the stumbling-block of their iniquity. |
They shall cast – The animosities of the masses will be exercised with violence against the rich. R1690:3, R2904:3
The rich will suffer most. D273
Their silver – The demonetization of silver seems to be referred to. OV339:1; SM691:1; D472
In the streets – Miller Bartella offered the mob, in vain, his fortune for his life--a picture throwing lurid light upon the situation. R2384:2
Financial institutions, including insurance companies and beneficial societies, will go down; and "treasures" in them will prove utterly worthless. D45
Treat it as a commodity and not as money. OV339:1
Shall be removed – "As though it were unclean." (Margin) D45
Become scarce and eventually be completely withdrawn by the people; hiding it as though it were an unclean thing, as the Hebrew text implies. SM691:1; OV339:1
Silver and their gold – And bank notes and bonds. F554; D329
Neither silver nor gold will be available. OV339:1
Not be able to deliver – Procuring neither protection, comforts nor luxuries. F554
The character of the trouble will be one in which the animosities of the masses will be exercised with violence against the rich. R1690:3
Day of the wrath – This is the predicted time of distress of nations with perplexity. (Luke 21:25) D149
They shall not satisfy – With their wealth. D45
Because it – The idolatry of money. B139
Is the stumblingblock – The spirit of acquisitiveness which lies at the foundation of all the trouble is to be found in every land, but nowhere more so than in so--called "Christendom." R2904:4
Those who worship idols of gold, silver, stocks or bonds, will receive severe chastisement before being granted a share in the coming blessings. SM482:1
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| 20 And he set in majesty his beautiful ornament; but they made therein the images of their abominations and of their detestable things: therefore have I made it an impurity unto them. |
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| 21 And I will give it into the hands of strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it. |
The strangers – Others, beyond the revolting hosts of Christendom, will also form a part of the Lord's great army. D549
Anarchists outrivaling heathendom in barbarity; or, possibly, uprisings of the peoples of India, China and Africa against Christendom. D550
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| 22 And I will turn my face from them; and they shall profane my secret place; and the violent shall enter into it, and profane it. |
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| 23 Make the chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. |
Make a chain – Bind, unite them together, let them make common cause. D550
The city – Christendom. D550
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| 24 Therefore will I bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses; and I will make the pride of the strong to cease; and their sanctuaries shall be profaned. |
Worst of the heathen – Probably those in Christendom without God and without Christian sentiments or hopes. D550
Their holy places – Their honored or sacred places, their religious institutions, etc. D550
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| 25 Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, but there shall be none. |
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| 26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; and they shall seek a vision from a prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. |
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| 27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with dismay, and the hands of the people of the land shall tremble: I will do unto them according to their way, and with their judgments will I judge them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. |
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