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Genesis 9

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1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

2 And let the fear of you and the dread of you be upon every animal of the earth, and upon all fowl of the heavens: upon all that moveth [on] the ground; and upon all the fishes of the sea: into your hand are they delivered.

3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you: as the green herb I give you everything.

4 Only, the flesh with its life, its blood, ye shall not eat.

5 And indeed your blood, [the blood] of your lives, will I require: at the hand of every animal will I require it, and at the hand of Man, at the hand of each [the blood] of his brother, will I require the life of Man.

6 Whoso sheddeth Man's blood, by Man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God he hath made Man.

7 And ye, be fruitful and multiply: swarm on the earth, and multiply on it.

8 And God spoke to Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

10 and with every living soul which is with you, fowl as well as cattle, and all the animals of the earth with you, of all that has gone out of the ark -- every animal of the earth.

11 And I establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood, and henceforth there shall be no flood to destroy the earth.

12 And God said, This is the sign of the covenant that I set between me and you and every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations:

13 I set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

14 And it shall come to pass when I bring clouds over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud,

15 and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living soul of all flesh; and the waters shall not henceforth become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living soul of all flesh that is upon the earth.

17 And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

18 And the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth. And Ham is the father of Canaan.

19 These three are the sons of Noah; and from these was [the population of] the whole earth spread abroad.

20 And Noah began [to be] a husbandman, and planted a vineyard.

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he uncovered himself in his tent.

22 And Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren outside.

23 And Shem and Japheth took the upper garment and both laid [it] upon their shoulders, and went backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were turned away, that they saw not their father's nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and learned what his youngest son had done to him.

25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; Let him be a bondman of bondmen to his brethren.

26 And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem, And let Canaan be his bondman.

27 Let God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, And let Canaan be his bondman.

28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 1100

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1100. That 'Japheth' means a corresponding external Church has been discussed already; so also has what is meant by an external Church, namely that it is external worship, and so people who do not know what the internal man is and what belongs to the internal man, but who nevertheless lead charitable lives. With them the Lord is just as much present, for the Lord works by means of charity wherever charity exists. It is as with young children. Although these do not know what charity is, still less what faith is, the Lord is nevertheless far more present with them than with adults, especially when young children lead mutually charitable lives. He is in the same way present with simple people who have innocence, charity, and mercy within them. A person's knowing much counts for nothing if he does not live in accordance with what he knows, for the sole purpose of knowledge is that by means of it a person may become good. Once he has become good he possesses far more than someone who knows a vast amount and yet is not good, for what the latter seeks to find through many channels, the former possesses already. It is altogether different in the case of one who knows many truths and goods, and who at the same time has charity and conscience and is a member of the internal Church, which is 'Shem'. People who know little but have conscience are enlightened in the next life even to the point of their becoming angels whose wisdom and intelligence are beyond description. These people are meant by 'Japheth'.

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