1947、“因为耶和华听见了你的苦情”表示因为它正在服从。这从前面（1937节）关于“服并苦待自己”的论述清楚可知，大意是：“服并苦待自己”表示服从内在人的掌控权，那里论述了这种服从，并说明服从就在于自我强迫；还说明，自我强迫含有自由，也就是意愿和自发的元素在里面，并且自我强迫不同于被强迫。那里也说明，没有这种自由，也就是自发性或意愿，人绝无可能被改造并获得任何天堂的自我；还说明，试探期间的自由比试探之外的更多，尽管表面上看，情况似乎相反。事实上，那时，这自由会随着邪恶和虚假的攻击而更加强大，并被主强化，以便天堂的自我能被赋予此人。因此，当我们经历试探时，主与我们的同在更加亲密。那里进一步说明，主从不强迫任何人。凡被强迫思想真理并实行良善的人都不会被改造，反而更加思想虚假和意愿邪恶。所有强迫都有这种后果，我们可从生活中的经验教训清楚看出这一点，并从中知道两件事：第一，人的良心拒绝被强迫；第二，我们追求被禁止的事。此外，每个人都渴望从非自由走向自由，因为这是他的生命。
由此明显可知，主绝不悦纳凡不出于自由，也就是说，不出于自发或意愿所行的一切。因为当有人出于不自由敬拜主时，他就是出于不是自己的东西来敬拜。在这种情况下，是外在或外壳在行动，确切地说被迫行动；而内在要么不存在或消极被动，要么排斥、抵触，甚至大声反对它。当人正在重生时，他出于主所赋予他的自由强迫自己，并谦卑下来，甚至苦待他的理性，好叫这理性可以服从，他由此获得天堂的自我。以后这自我会被主逐渐完善，变得越来越自由，以至于变成对良善和源于该良善的真理的情感，并享有快乐。这情感和快乐里面就有诸如天使所体验的那种幸福。这就是主自己在约翰福音中所论到的自由：
真理会使你们自由。儿子若使你们自由，你们就真自由了。（约翰福音8:32，36）
那些没有良心的人完全不知道这自由的性质，因为他们认为自由在于随心所欲、毫无忌惮地思想和谈论虚假，并意愿和实行邪恶，而不是去控制、挫败这些欲望，更不用说苦待它们了。然而，这完全是自由的反面，如主在约翰福音所教导的：
凡犯罪的都是罪的奴隶。（约翰福音8:34）
这种奴隶般的自由是他们从与他们同在的地狱灵那里获得的，这些地狱灵把它注入他们。当地狱灵的生命占据他们时，这些灵人的爱和欲望也会占据他们；因为一种不洁和极其恶心的粪便样的快乐吹在他们身上，并且当他们可以说被激流冲走时，就自以为处在自由之中；但这是地狱的自由。地狱的自由和天堂的自由之间的区别在于，前者意味着死亡，并把他们拖下地狱；而后者，即天堂的自由，则恢复生机，并把他们提上天堂。
一切真正的内在敬拜都出于自由，无一出于强迫。敬拜若不出于自由，就不是内在敬拜，这一点从圣言，如从祭祀明显看出来，即：甘心祭、还愿祭、平安祭、感恩祭；它们都被称为供物和祭品（民数记15:3等；申命记12:6；16:10-11；23:23-24等提到）。诗篇：
我要把甘心祭献给你；耶和华啊，我要称赞你的名，这名本为美好。（诗篇54:8）
这一点从摩西五经提到的百姓为制造帐幕和圣衣而送来的供物或捐赠物明显看出来：
你对以色列人说，叫他们为我收下提献物，凡甘心乐意的人，你们就可以收下我的提献物。（出埃及记25:2）
又：
凡心里乐意的，可以拿耶和华的供物来。（出埃及记35:5）
此外，（如前所述，出于自由）使理性人谦卑下来，或苦待它也由在神圣的日子，灵魂所经历的苦待（affliction）来代表，如摩西五经所吩咐的：
这要作你们永远的定例：每逢七月，就是这月的初十，你们要苦待自己的灵魂。（利未记16:29）
又：
七月十日是赎罪日，你们要有圣会，并要苦待自己的灵魂。当这日，凡不苦待自己的灵魂，必从他民中被剪除。（利未记23:27，29）
这就是为何没有酵母的无酵饼被称为困苦饼（breadofaffliction；申命记16:2-3）。诗篇如此论及“苦待”：
耶和华啊，谁能寄居你的帐棚？谁能住在你的圣山？就是行走正直、作事公义的人；他发誓苦待自己，也不更改。（诗篇15:1-2，4）
“苦待”是指控制并征服从外在人中升上来进入理性人的邪恶和虚假，这一点从前面的阐述清楚看出来。因此，“苦待”并不意味着把自己拖入贫困和痛苦，或放弃一切肉体的享受，因为这样做并不能驯服或征服邪恶。而且这样做有时甚至会唤醒另一种邪恶，即：因这种放弃而渴望获得功德，或说因这种放弃而产生的功德感；此外，这是对人的自由的一种攻击，自由是唯一能播种信之良善和真理的土地。“苦待”也表示试探（参看1846节）。
Potts(1905-1910) 1947
1947. Because Jehovah hath hearkened to thine affliction. That this signifies while it was submitting itself, is evident from what was said above (n. 1937), in that to "humble and afflict oneself" denotes to submit to the sovereign control of the internal man, which submission was there treated of, and it is shown that this is to compel oneself; also that in compelling oneself there is freedom, that is, what is spontaneous and voluntary, by which compelling oneself is distinguished from being compelled. It was also shown that without this freedom, that is, spontaneity or willingness, man cannot possibly be reformed and receive any heavenly Own; and further that there is more of freedom in temptations than out of them, although the contrary appears to be the case, for the freedom is then stronger in proportion to the assaults of evils and falsities, and is strengthened by the Lord in order that a heavenly Own may be conferred upon the man; and for this reason the Lord is more present with us while we are in temptations. It was shown further that the Lord never compels anyone; for he who is compelled to think what is true and do what is good is not reformed, but thinks falsity and wills evil all the more. All compulsion has this effect, as we may see from the records and examples of life, for from them we know these two things: that consciences do not suffer themselves to be compelled, and that we strive after what is forbidden. Moreover everyone desires to pass from non-freedom into freedom, for this belongs to man's life. [2] Hence it is evident that anything which is not from freedom, that is, which is not from what is spontaneous or voluntary, is not acceptable to the Lord; for when anyone worships the Lord from what is not free, he worships from nothing that is his own, and in this case it is the external which moves, that is, which is moved, from being compelled, while the internal is null, or resistant, or is even contradictory to it. While man is being regenerated, he, from the freedom with which he is gifted by the Lord, exercises self-compulsion, and humbles and even afflicts his rational, in order that it may submit itself, and thereby he receives a heavenly Own, which is afterwards gradually perfected by the Lord, and is made more and more free, so that it becomes the affection of good and thence of truth, and has delight, and in both the freedom and the delight there is happiness like that of angels. This freedom is what the Lord speaks of in John:
The truth shall make* you free; if the Son makes you free, you shall be* free indeed (John 8:32, 36). [3] The nature of this freedom is utterly unknown to those who do not possess conscience, for they make freedom consist in doing as they please and in the license of thinking and speaking what is false, of willing and doing what is evil, and of not compelling and humbling, still less of afflicting such desires; when yet the very reverse is the case, as the Lord also teaches in the same gospel:
Everyone that committeth sin is the servant of sin (John 8:34). This slavish freedom they receive from the infernal spirits who are with them and who infuse it, and when they are in the life of these spirits they are also in their loves and cupidities, and an impure and excrementitious delight breathes upon them, and when they are being as it were carried away by the torrent, they suppose themselves to be in freedom, but it is infernal freedom. The difference between this infernal freedom and heavenly freedom is that the one is that of death, and drags them down to hell, while the other, or heavenly freedom, is of life and uplifts them to heaven. [4] That all true internal worship comes from freedom, and none from compulsion, and that if worship is not from freedom it is not internal worship, is evident from the Word, as from the sacrifices that were freewill offerings or vows, or offerings of peace or of thanksgiving; which were called "gifts" and "offerings" (concerning which see Num. 15:3, etc.; Deut. 12:6; 16:10-11; 23:23-24). So in David:
With a free-will offering will I sacrifice unto Thee; I will confess to Thy name, O Jehovah, for it is good (Ps. 54:6). So again from the contribution or collection which they were to make for the Tabernacle, and for the garments of holiness, spoken of in Moses:
Speak unto the sons of Israel, and let them take for Me an offering; from every man whom his heart impels willingly ye shall take My offering (Exod. 25:2). And again:
Whosoever is of a willing heart let him bring it, Jehovah's offering (Exod. 35:5). [5] Moreover the humiliation of the rational man, or its affliction (from freedom, as before said), was also represented by the affliction of souls on days of solemnity, as mentioned in Moses:
It shall be a statute of eternity unto you; in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, ye shall afflict your souls (Lev. 16:29). And again:
On the tenth of the seventh month, this is the day of expiations; there shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls; every soul that shall not have afflicted itself in that same day, shall be cut off from his peoples (Lev. 23:27, 29). It was for this reason that the unleavened bread, in which there was nothing fermented, is called the "bread of affliction" (Deut. 16:2-3). [6] "Affliction" is thus spoken of in David:
Jehovah, who shall sojourn in Thy tent? who shall dwell in the mountain of Thy holiness? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness; he that sweareth to afflict himself, and changeth not (Ps. 15:1-2, 4). That "affliction" denotes the mastering and subjugation of the evils and falsities that rise up from the external man into the rational, may be seen from what has been said. Thus "affliction" does not mean that we should plunge ourselves into poverty and wretchedness, or that we should renounce all bodily delights, for in this way evil is not mastered and subjugated; and moreover some other evil may be aroused, namely, a sense of merit on account of the renunciation; and besides, man's freedom suffers, in which alone, as in ground, the good and truth of faith can be inseminated. (Concerning "affliction" as denoting also temptation, see above, n. 1846.) * Facit and estis; but faciet and eritis n. 9096. [Rotch ed.]
Elliott(1983-1999) 1947
1947. 'Because Jehovah has hearkened to your affliction' means since it was submitting itself. This is clear from what has been stated above in 1937 about 'humiliating oneself and flinging oneself down' as meaning submitting oneself beneath the controlling power of the internal man, which submission was discussed there and was shown to consist in self-compulsion. It was also shown that in self-compulsion there is freedom, that is, what is willing and spontaneous, and that this distinguishes self-compulsion from being compelled. It was also shown that without this freedom, or willingness and spontaneity, a person cannot possibly be reformed and receive any heavenly proprium; also that though the contrary seems to be the case, there is more freedom in times of temptation than there is outside of them. Indeed at such times freedom increases as assaults are made by evils and falsities and it is consolidated by the Lord in order that a heavenly proprium may be given to the person. For that reason also the Lord is closer in times of temptation. It was shown as well that the Lord in no way compels anybody. No one who is compelled to think that which is true and to do that which is good is reformed, but instead thinks all the more what is false and wills all the more what is evil. This is so with all compulsion, as may also become clear from all the experience and lessons of life, which when learned prove two things - first, that human consciences will not allow themselves to be coerced, and second, that we strive after the forbidden.
[2] Furthermore everyone who is not free desires to become so, for this is his life. From this it is evident that nothing is in any way pleasing to the Lord that is not done in freedom, that is, spontaneously or willingly. For when anyone worships the Lord under circumstances in which he is not free he worships Him with nothing of himself. In his case that which moves the external is the external, that is, it is moved under compulsion - the internal being non-existent, or else incompatible, and even contradictory. When a person is being regenerated he compels himself from the freedom the Lord imparts to him, and humbles, and indeed afflicts, his rational, so that it may submit itself, and in consequence he receives a heavenly proprium. This proprium is then gradually perfected by the Lord and it becomes more and more free, so that as a result it becomes the affection for good and for truth deriving from that good, and possesses delight. And in that affection and delight there is happiness such as the angels experience. This freedom is what the Lord Himself is referring to in John.
The truth makes you free. If the Son makes you free, you are truly free. John 8:32, 36.a
[3] What this freedom is, is totally unknown to those who do not have conscience, for they identify freedom with feelings of being at liberty and without restraint to think and utter what is false, and to will and do what is evil, and not to control and humble, still less to afflict, those feelings. Yet this is the complete reverse of freedom, as the Lord again teaches in the same place,
Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. John 8:34.
People acquire this slave-like freedom from the hellish spirits who reside with them and who inject it into them. When the life of those hellish spirits takes possession of them so do the loves and desires of those same spirits; for an unclean and utterly disgusting delight blows upon them, and being carried away so to speak in a stream they imagine themselves to be in freedom; but it is hellish freedom. The difference between this hellish freedom and heavenly freedom is that the former spells death and drags them down into hell, while the latter, that is, heavenly freedom, promises life and lifts them up to heaven.
[4] That all true internal worship springs from freedom, not from compulsion, and that unless it springs from freedom it is not internal worship, is clear from the Word, from the sacrifices - free- will, votive, and peace or eucharistic- which were called offerings and oblations, mentioned in Num 15:3 and following verses; Deut 12:6; 16:10, 11; 23:23; and elsewhere. In David,
With a free-will offering I will sacrifice to You; I will confess Your name, O Jehovah, for it is good. Ps 54:6.
From the thruma,b or the collection which the people were to contribute towards the Tabernacle and sacred vestments, referred to in Moses,
Speak to the children of Israel and let them receive for Me a collection; from every man whose heart makes him willing you shall receive My collection. Exod 25:2.And elsewhere in Moses,
Everyone who is willing in heart shall bring it, Jehovah's collection. Exod 35:5.
[5] The humbling of the rational man, or affliction of it - as stated, from freedom - was also represented by the affliction souls underwent during festivals, referred to in Moses,
It shall be a statute to you for ever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls. Lev 16:29.
And elsewhere in Moses,
On the tenth day of the seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall afflict your souls. Every soul who does not afflict himself on that very day shall be cut off from his peoples. Lev 23:27, 29.
It is for this reason that unleavened bread in which no fermentation has taken place is called the bread of affliction in Deut 16:2, 3.Affliction is referred to in David in the following way,
O Jehovah, who will sojourn in Your tent? Who will dwell on Your holy mountain? He who walks blameless and performs righteousness, who swears to the affliction of himself and changes not. Ps 15:1, 2, 4.
[6] That 'affliction' is the taming and subduing of evils and falsities rising up from the external man into the rational man may become clear from what has been stated. Thus it is not any reduction of oneself to poverty and misery - not a renunciation of bodily enjoyments - that is meant by affliction. No taming and subduing of evil can result from doing that; indeed it may give rise to an additional evil, namely the desire to receive merit for such a renunciation; and what is more, man's freedom suffers, in which alone, as its ground, the good and truth of faith is able to be sown. Affliction also means temptation; see what has been said already in 1846.
Latin(1748-1756) 1947
1947. `Quia audivit Jehovah ad afflictionem tuam': quod significet cum se submitteret, constat ex illis quae supra n. 1937 dicta sunt, quod `humiliare se et affligere' sit submittere se potestati interni hominis, de qua submissione etiam actum est, et ibi ostensum, quod sit se cogere, tum quod in cogere se sit liberum, hoc est, spontaneum et voluntarium, quo se cogere distinguitur a cogi; ostensum quoque quod absque hoc libero seu spontaneo aut voluntario, nusquam homo possit reformari et aliquod proprium caeleste accipere; tum etiam, quod in tentationibus plus liberi sit, tametsi contrarium apparet, quam extra tentationes, tunc enim liberum fortius fit secundum impugnationes a malis et falsis, et corroboratur a Domino ut proprium caeleste ei donetur, quare etiam in tentationibus Dominus praesentior est; ut et quod Dominus nusquam aliquem cogat; qui cogitur ad cogitandum verum et faciendum bonum, non reformatur, sed tunc adhuc magis cogitat falsum et vult malum; omnis coactio hoc secum habet, quod etiam constare potest a vitae actis et documentis, per quae cognita sunt haec bina quod conscientiae non patiantur se cogi et quod nitamur in vetitum; [2] quisque etiam a non libero in liberum cupit, nam hoc est vitae ejus; inde patet quod nusquam Domino gratum sit aliquid quod non ex libero, hoc est, ex spontaneo {1}aut voluntario; nam cum quis ex non libero colit Dominum, ex nullo suo colit; est externum quod se movet, hoc est, quod ex coacto movetur, interno vel nullo, vel repugnante, immo contradicente: cum regeneratur homo, (c)a libero quo donatur a Domino, cogit se, humiliat, immo affligit rationale ut se submittat, (m)et inde accipit proprium caeleste, {2}quod proprium dein a Domino per gradus perficitur, et fit magis et magis liberum, sic ut fiat affectio boni et inde veri, et ei jucunditas, et in illa et hac felicitas, qualis angelorum(n); hoc liberum est de quo Ipse Dominus ita apud Johannem, Veritas (t)vos liberos {3}facit...si Filius vos liberos {3}facit, vere liberi {3}estis, viii 32, 36. [3] Quid liberum hoc, prorsus nesciunt qui conscientiam non habent, liberum enim ponunt in lubitu {4}et licentia cogitandi loquendique falsum ac volendi faciendique malum, et haec non cogere, et humiliare, minus affligere, cum tamen prorsus contrarium est, ut quoque Dominus docet apud eundem, Omnis faciens peccatum, servus est peccati, viii 34. Liberum hoc servum accipiunt a spiritibus infernalibus qui apud eos, qui infundunt illud, in quorum vita cum sunt, etiam in eorundem amoribus et cupiditatibus sunt, {5}aspirante jucundo imputo et excrementitio, quorum cum quasi torrente auferuntur, in libero se putant esse, sed est liberum infernale: differentia inter liberum hoc infernale et inter liberum caeleste, est quod illud sit mortis et detrahat eos ad infernum, hoc autem seu liberum caeleste, sit vitae et elevet eos ad caelum. [4] Quod omnis cultus verus internus non ex coacto sed ex libero fiat, et nisi ex libero non sit cultus internus, constat (c)ex Verbo; ex sacrificiis spontaneis, {6} votivis, pacificis seu eucharisticis, quae munera et oblationes dicta, de quibus Num. xv 3 seq.; Deut. xii (x)6; xvi 10, 11; xxiii 24 [A.V. 23] et alibi: apud Davidem, In voluntario sacrificabo Tibi, confitebor nomini Tuo Jehovah, quia bonum, Ps. liv 8 [A.V. 6];ex {7}thruma seu collecta quam facerent ad tabernaculum, et ad vestes sanctitatis, de qua apud Mosen, Loquere ad filios Israelis, et accipiant mihi collectam a cum omni viro, quem sponte impulit cor ejus accipietis collectam meam, Exod. xxv 2;
et alibi, Omnis spontaneus corde adducet eam, collectam Jehovae, Exod. xxxv 5. [5] Humiliatio autem rationalis hominis seu ejus afflictio, ex libero, ut dictum, repraesentata quoque fuit per afflictionem animarum in diebus festis, de qua apud Mosen, Erit vobis in statutum aeternitatis, in mense septimo, in decimo mensis, affligetis animas vestras, Lev. xvi 29;
et alibi, In decimo mensis septimi, is dies expiationum ille, convocatio sancta erit vobis, et affligetis animas vestras,...omnis anima, quae {8}se non afflixerit in ipso die hoc, {9}exscindetur e populis suis, Lev. xxiii 27, 29;
inde azymum in quo non fermentatum, dicitur panis afflictionis, Deut. (x)xvi 2,3; de afflictione ita apud Davidem, Jehovah, quis peregrinabitur in tentorio Tuo, quis habitabit in monte sanctitatis Tuae? Ambulans integer, et operans justitiam,...qui jurat ad affligendum se, non mutat, Psalm xv 1, 2, 4. [6] Quod `afflictio' sit domatio et subjugatio malorum et falsorum assurgentium ab externo homine in ejus rationalem, ex illis quae dicta sunt, constare potest; ita non est aliqua detrusio sui in paupertatem et miserias, seu abdicatio jucunditatum corporis, inde non domatur et subjugatur malum; quandoque etiam aliud malum inde exsuscitatur, nempe meritum propter abdicationem, praeter quod liberum hominis patiatur, in quo, ut in humo, unice bonum et verum fidei inseminari potest. De afflictione quod etiam sit tentatio, videatur prius n. 1846. @1 seu.$ @2 hoc.$ @3 so A, but in 9096 S. has faciet fecerit and eritis.$ @4 seu.$ @5 quorum cum quasi torrente auferuntur, aspirante eorum jucundo impuro et excrementitio, in libero putant se esse.$ @6 i seu voluntariis.$ @7 Hebrew (terumah) `offering.' Sch. has here ut accipiant mihi Thrumam (collectam) a cum omni viro; but in Ex. xxxv Therumah (sublationem) and Therumam Jehovae.$ @8 non afflixerit se.$ @9 i et.$