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Genesis 11

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1 And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech.

2 And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it.

3 And each one said to his neighbour: Come, let us make brick, and bake them of stones, and slime instead of mortar.

4 And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven: and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building.

6 And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, till they accomplish them in deed.

7 Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there may not understand one another's speech.

8 And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands, and they ceased to build the city.

9 And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, because there the language of the whole earth was confounded: and from thence the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all countries.

10 These are the generations of Sem: Sem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood.

11 And Sem lived after he begot Arphaxad, five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

12 And Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Sale.

13 And Arphaxad lived after he begot Sale, three hundred and three years; and begot sons and daughters.

14 Sale also lived thirty years, and begot Heber.

15 And Sale lived after he begot Heber, four hundred and three years; and begot sons and daughters.

16 And Heber lived thirty-four years, and begot Phaleg.

17 And Heber lived after he begot Phaleg, four hundred and thirty years: and begot sons and daughters.

18 Phaleg also lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

19 And Phaleg lived after he begot Reu, two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Sarug.

21 And Reu lived after he begot Sarug, two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

22 And Sarug lived thirty years, and begot Nachor.

23 And Sarug lived after he begot Nachor, two hundred years: and begot sons and daughters.

24 And Nachor lived nine and twenty years, and begot Thare.

25 And Nachor lived after he begot Thare, a hundred and nineteen years: and begot sons and daughters.

26 And Thare lived seventy years, and begot Abram, and Nachor, and Aran.

27 And these are the generations of Thare: Thare begot Abram, Nachor, and Aran. And Aran begot Lot.

28 And Aran died before Thare his father, in the land of his nativity in Ur of the Chaldees.

29 And Abram and Nachor married wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai: and the name of Nachor's wife, Melcha, the daughter of Aran, father of Melcha, and father of Jescha.

30 And Sarai was barren, and had no children.

31 And Thare took Abram, his son, and Lot the son of Aran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, the wife of Abram his son, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Chanaan: and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there.

32 And the days of Thare were tow hundred and five years, and he died in Haran.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 1292

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1292. That 'they found a valley in the land of Shinar' means that worship became more unclean and unholy is clear from the meaning of 'a valley' and from the meaning of 'the land of Shinar'. As regards the meaning of 'a valley', in the Word 'mountains' means love or charity because these are the highest points, or what amounts to the same, inmost features of worship, as shown already in 795. Consequently 'a valley' means that which is below the mountains, that is, the lower, or what amounts to the same, exterior aspect of worship. 'The land of Shinar' however means external worship which has unholiness within it, as shown already in 1183. Thus in this verse the statement that 'they found a valley in the land of Shinar' means that worship became more unclean and unholy.

[2] Verse one dealt with the Church having one lip and its words being one that is, one doctrine in general and in particular. This verse however deals with the decline of the Church - 'they travelled from the east' that is, they began to depart from charity. For to the extent that the Church, or a member of the Church, departs from charity, its worship departs from what is holy, or its worship approaches what is unclean and unholy. The reason 'they found a valley in the land of Shinar' means the decline of the Church, that is, of worship, into unholiness is that a valley is a low-lying area between mountains, which, as has been stated, mean the holy things of love or of charity within worship. This also becomes clear from the meaning of 'a valley' in the Word where in the original language several expressions for valley occur which mean, when used in that sense, things present in worship that are less or more unholy.

[3] That 'valleys' means such things is clear in Isaiah,

The burden of the valley of vision; for the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth has a day of tumult and of trampling and of confusion in the valley of vision. Isaiah 22:1, 5.

'The valley of vision' stands for delusions and for reasonings by which worship is rendered false and at length profaned. In Jeremiah,

How do you say, I have not been defiled, I have not walked after the baals? Look at your way in the valley. Jeremiah 2:23.

'The valley' stands for unclean worship. In the same prophet, They have built the high places of Topheth, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Therefore, behold, the days are coming when it will no more be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter. Jeremiah 7:31, 34; 19:6.

'The valley of Hinnom' stands for hell, also for the profanation of truth and good.

[4] In Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys Behold, I, even I, am bringing a sword places. Ezekiel 6:3.

In the same prophet,

I will give to Gog a place there for burial in Israel, the valley of those that pass over towards the east of the sea. And they will call it the valley of the multitude of Gog. Ezekiel 39:11, 15.

This refers to worship in external things, 'the valley' standing for such worship. But when worship has not yet become unholy to that extent, it is described by the word for a valley used here in Genesis 11:2, as in Isaiah,

I will open rivers on the sloping heights, and I will place springs in the midst of valleys; I will make the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into streams of water. Isaiah 41:18.

This refers to people who are in ignorance, that is, without cognitions of faith and charity, and who yet have charity. 'valley' here stands for those people, as does 'valley' in Ezekiel 37:1.

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