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| 1 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, |
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| 2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, and thou shalt not have sons nor daughters in this place. |
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| 3 For thus saith Jehovah concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bear them, and concerning their fathers that beget them in this land: |
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| 4 They shall die of painful deaths; they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground, and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine, and their carcases shall be food for the fowl of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth. |
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| 5 For thus saith Jehovah: Enter not into the house of wailing, neither go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith Jehovah, the loving-kindness and the tender mercies. |
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| 6 Both great and small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried; and none shall lament for them, or cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. |
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| 7 Nor shall they break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall they give them the cup of consolations to drink for their father or for their mother. |
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| 8 And thou shalt not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them, to eat and to drink. |
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| 9 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. |
Out of this place – Scattered and persecuted among all nations. B216
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| 10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt declare unto this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? and what is our iniquity? and what is our sin which we have committed against Jehovah our God? |
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| 11 then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; |
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| 12 and you, ye have done still worse than your fathers; and there ye are walking every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, not to hearken unto me: |
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| 13 and I will cast you forth out of this land, into a land that ye know not, ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night: because I will shew you no favour. |
Will I cast – In chastening, correcting, forgiving, restoring and promising to bless and fully reinstate them to his favor, God illustrates his great love and mercy toward the whole world. R1373:4
Out of this land – This was to be their punishment, to be driven out of their own land and to receive no favor from God. R599:3, R4782:2
Into a land – Europe. R1378:6
Nor your fathers – Their fathers had been in Egypt and Babylon, but never in Europe. R1378:6
This prophecy positively marks Israel's present dispersion among all nations. B217
Serve other gods – Other rulers, elohim, mighty ones. B216; R421:3, R599:3, R1378:6, R1410:3
Not shew you favour – The Jews have been shown no favor since their rejection of Christ. B216; OV75:5; R1364:6
They will not forever remain cast off, but shall be regathered and blessed. R1378:6
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| 14 Therefore, behold, days are coming, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, As Jehovah liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; |
The days come – Favor would return again in some form to the Jew in 1878. R357:1, R1364:6
No more be said – The hand of providence is about to work out such a deliverance as Israel never knew before. R1405:6, R1652:2, R1063:2*
The land of Egypt – The deliverance from Egypt was a great and marvelous sign of God's favor to them; but their deliverance soon to be consummated will quite eclipse it. R599:3, R608:4, R384:6
That deliverance was but a type of the one to come. R1652:4
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| 15 but, As Jehovah liveth, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them. For I will bring them again into their land, which I gave unto their fathers. |
Land of the north – Russia, where nearly half of the Hebrew race resides. B217; D553; R599:3, R608:4; OV76:1
From all the lands – Their later blessing would be their regathering out of all nations, and is being accomplished in our day. R4782:2, R1374:1
Bring them again – We have strong testimonies of God through the prophets that he will gather them again. OV76:1
The hope of the world's peace being cemented by the Jews occupying the lands of their fathers. R83:6*
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| 16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith Jehovah, and they shall fish them; and afterwards will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them, from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. |
For many fishers – The Zionist movement. R3855:1-3, R1288:2*
Teachers. C215
Shall hunt them – Persecution by revolutionaries, forceable expulsion. R3855:2, R1288:4*
From every mountain – Kingdom. A318
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| 17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways; they are not concealed from my face, neither is their iniquity hidden from before mine eyes. |
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| 18 But first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have profaned my land with the carcases of their detestable things, and with their abominations have they filled mine inheritance. |
And first – Before the time of favor will come. B218; R599:4
Recompense – Some of the recompense with favor, and some without favor. SM399:2; CR104:5
Their sin double – Mishneh, a second portion, a repetition; implying a casting off from all favor for as long a period as they had enjoyed favor, namely, 1845 years, from AD33 to 1878, when the Berlin Congress of Nations was held, which greatly ameliorated the conditions of the Jews. B218; CR104:4; R599:4, R1202:1; HG53:4
The double's being accomplished is the reason for the great awakening among the Jews and for the Zionist movement. R5920:6
"Even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee." (Zech. 9:12) "She hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." (Isa. 40:2) B225, B227
The double of Israel's experiences would reach full accomplishment in 1915. R4623:1
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| 19 Jehovah, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of distress, unto thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and they shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited falsehood and vanity; and in these things there is no profit. |
Gentiles – As well as the Jews. A59
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| 20 Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no-gods? |
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| 21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Jehovah. |
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