Bible

 

Genezo 2

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1 Kaj estis finitaj la cxielo kaj la tero kaj cxiuj iliaj apartenajxoj.

2 Kaj Dio finis en la sepa tago Sian laboron, kiun Li faris, kaj Li ripozis en la sepa tago de la tuta laboro, kiun Li faris.

3 Kaj Dio benis la sepan tagon kaj sanktigis gxin, cxar en gxi Li ripozis de Sia tuta laboro, kiun Li faris kreante.

4 Tia estas la naskigxo de la cxielo kaj la tero, kiam ili estis kreitaj, kiam Dio la Eternulo faris la teron kaj la cxielon.

5 Kaj nenia kampa arbetajxo ankoraux estis sur la tero, kaj nenia kampa herbo ankoraux kreskis, cxar Dio la Eternulo ne pluvigis sur la teron, kaj ne ekzistis homo, por prilabori la teron.

6 Sed nebulo levigxadis de la tero kaj donadis malsekecon al la tuta suprajxo de la tero.

7 Kaj Dio la Eternulo kreis la homon el polvo de la tero, kaj Li enblovis en lian nazon spiron de vivo, kaj la homo farigxis viva animo.

8 Kaj Dio la Eternulo plantis gxardenon en Eden en la Oriento, kaj Li metis tien la homon, kiun Li kreis.

9 Kaj Dio la Eternulo elkreskigis el la tero cxiun arbon cxarman por la vido kaj bonan por la mangxo, kaj la arbon de vivo en la mezo de la gxardeno, kaj la arbon de sciado pri bono kaj malbono.

10 Kaj rivero eliras el Eden, por akvoprovizi la gxardenon, kaj de tie gxi dividigxas kaj farigxas kvar cxefpartoj.

11 La nomo de unu estas Pisxon; gxi estas tiu, kiu cxirkauxas la tutan landon HXavila, kie estas la oro.

12 Kaj la oro de tiu lando estas bona; tie trovigxas bedelio kaj la sxtono onikso.

13 Kaj la nomo de la dua rivero estas Gihxon; gxi estas tiu, kiu cxirkauxas la tutan landon Etiopujo.

14 Kaj la nomo de la tria rivero estas HXidekel; gxi estas tiu, kiu fluas antaux Asirio. Kaj la kvara rivero estas Euxfrato.

15 Kaj Dio la Eternulo prenis la homon kaj enlogxigis lin en la gxardeno Edena, por ke li prilaboradu gxin kaj gardu gxin.

16 Kaj Dio la Eternulo ordonis al la homo, dirante: De cxiu arbo de la gxardeno vi mangxu;

17 sed de la arbo de sciado pri bono kaj malbono vi ne mangxu, cxar en la tago, en kiu vi mangxos de gxi, vi mortos.

18 Kaj Dio la Eternulo diris: Ne estas bone, ke la homo estu sola; Mi kreos al li helpanton similan al li.

19 Kaj Dio la Eternulo kreis el la tero cxiujn bestojn de la kampo kaj cxiujn birdojn de la cxielo, kaj venigis ilin al la homo, por vidi, kiel li nomos ilin; kaj kiel la homo nomis cxiun vivan estajxon, tiel restis gxia nomo.

20 Kaj la homo donis nomojn al cxiuj brutoj kaj al la birdoj de la cxielo kaj al cxiuj bestoj de la kampo; sed por la homo ne trovigxis helpanto simila al li.

21 Kaj Dio la Eternulo faligis profundan dormon sur la homon, kaj cxi tiu endormigxis; kaj Li prenis unu el liaj ripoj kaj fermis la lokon per karno.

22 Kaj Dio la Eternulo konstruis el la ripo, kiun Li prenis de la homo, virinon, kaj Li venigis sxin al la homo.

23 Kaj la homo diris: Jen nun sxi estas osto el miaj ostoj kaj karno el mia karno; sxi estu nomata Virino, cxar el Viro sxi estas prenita.

24 Tial viro forlasos sian patron kaj sian patrinon, kaj aligxos al sia edzino, kaj ili estos unu karno.

25 Kaj ili ambaux estis nudaj, la homo kaj lia edzino, kaj ili ne hontis.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 8891

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8891. 'For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and the sea' means regenerating and vivifying the things in the internal man and in the external. This is clear from the meaning of 'six days' as states of conflict, dealt with just above in 8888, and - when used in reference to Jehovah, that is, the Lord - as His labour with a person before he is regenerated, 8510; from the meaning of 'heaven and earth' as the Church or Lord's kingdom in a person, 'heaven' being in his internal man and 'earth' in his external, dealt with in 82, 1411, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535, so that a person who has been regenerated is meant, that is, one who has acquired new life and accordingly been vivified; and from the meaning of 'the sea' as the sensory awareness adhering to the bodily level of a person's mind, dealt with in 8872.

[2] The present verse deals with the sanctifying of the seventh day or institution of the sabbath, describing it as follows,

In six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and sanctified it.

When people's thinking does not extend beyond the sense of the letter they cannot do other than suppose that the creation described in the first and second chapters of Genesis is the creation of the universe, and that there were six days within which heaven, earth, the sea, and all that is in them were created, and at length the human being in God's likeness. Yet is there anyone pondering on the details who fails to see that the creation of the universe is not what is meant there? For there are things in those chapters which common sense tells anyone are not literally true, for example, that days existed before the sun and moon, that light and darkness did so, and that plants and trees sprang up, when in fact it is through those [great] lights that light is given, light and darkness are divided, and so days come into being.

[3] Further on after these details, others of a similar nature follow which scarcely anyone who thinks more deeply will consider to have been literally possible, such as these: The woman was built out of the man's rib; two trees were placed in paradise, the fruit of one of which they were forbidden to eat; a serpent spoke from one of them to the wife of man (homo), who had been the wisest of mortal beings; what it said - what came out of the serpent's mouth - deceived them both; and the whole human race, numbering so very many thousands of thousands, was therefore condemned to hell. As soon as they are contemplated these and similar details there inevitably seem nonsensical to those who entertain any doubt about the holiness of the Word; and they lead to a denial of the Divine there. However it should be realized that every detail there down to the smallest is Divine; they all contain arcana which are clearly visible to angels in heaven, as in broad daylight. The reason why this should be so is that angels do not see the literal meaning of the Word but what lies within it, that is, spiritual and celestial realities, and Divine ones within these. When the first chapter of Genesis is read they perceive no other creation than the new creation of a human being, which is called regeneration. This is what is described there, 'paradise' being the wisdom of a person created anew. 'The two trees in the middle of it' are the two mental powers of that person, which are a will desiring good, meant by 'the tree of life', and an understanding seeing truth, meant by 'the tree of knowledge'. And the reason why they were forbidden to eat from this tree was that a person who has been regenerated or created anew ought no longer to be led by an understanding that sees truth but by a will desiring good, or else his newness of life is destroyed. Regarding these matters, see 202, 337, 2454, 2715, 3246, 3652, 4448, 5895 (end), 5897 (end), 7877, 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8690, 8701, 8722. Consequently Adam or Man and Eve his wife there are used to mean a new Church, and 'eating from the tree of knowledge' to mean the decline of that Church from good into truth, consequently from love to the Lord and towards the neighbour into faith without such love. And this came about through reasoning arising from self-intelligence, that reasoning being meant by 'the serpent', see 195-197, 6398, 6399, 6949, 7293.

[4] From all this it is evident that the historical narratives regarding creation, and regarding the first human being and paradise, are the descriptions of fictitious historical events, containing heavenly and Divine realities within them. Making up such stories was in keeping with the accepted custom in the ancient Churches; and the custom also spread from them to many outside the Church, who in a similar way produced descriptions of fictitious historical events, wrapping up arcana within them, as is evident from writers belonging to most ancient times. For the ancient Churches were well acquainted with what such things as exist in the world meant in heaven. Nor were great exploits of sufficient importance for them to write about, only the things of heaven. Things of heaven occupied their minds because they thought on a more internal level than people do at the present day and so were in contact with angels; and for this reason they gained a delight out of putting together such stories. But they were led by the Lord to images which would be held sacred in Churches. Out of these they composed stories in which everything had a correspondence

[5] All this shows what 'heaven and earth' is used to mean in the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis - the internal Church and the external Church. The fact that they are meant by 'heaven and earth' is also clear from places in the Prophets which speak of a new heaven and a new earth, by which a new Church is to be understood, see 82, 1411, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535.

From all this it is now evident that 'in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and the sea' means regenerating and vivifying the things in the internal man and in the external man.

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

Bible

 

Exodus 18

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1 Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, how that Yahweh had brought Israel out of Egypt.

2 Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, received Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away,

3 and her two sons. The name of one son was Gershom, for Moses said, "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land".

4 The name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, "My father's God was my help and delivered me from Pharaoh's sword."

5 Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the Mountain of God.

6 He said to Moses, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, have come to you with your wife, and her two sons with her."

7 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed and kissed him. They asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent.

8 Moses told his father-in-law all that Yahweh had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardships that had come on them on the way, and how Yahweh delivered them.

9 Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which Yahweh had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

10 Jethro said, "Blessed be Yahweh, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

11 Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all gods because of the thing in which they dealt arrogantly against them."

12 Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. Aaron came with all of the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.

13 It happened on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from the morning to the evening.

14 When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, "What is this thing that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning to evening?"

15 Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to inquire of God.

16 When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws."

17 Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing that you do is not good.

18 You will surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with you; for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to perform it yourself alone.

19 Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You represent the people before God, and bring the causes to God.

20 You shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and shall show them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do.

21 Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

22 Let them judge the people at all times. It shall be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves. So shall it be easier for you, and they shall share the load with you.

23 If you will do this thing, and God commands you so, then you will be able to endure, and all of these people also will go to their place in peace."

24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said.

25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

26 They judged the people at all times. They brought the hard causes to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

27 Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land.