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Genesis 11

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1 And all the earth was of one lip*, and their words one.

2 And it was when they journeyed from the east, that they found a vale in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

3 And they said, a man to his companion, Come, let us make bricks*, and let us fire them for a firing*. And they had brick for stone, and they had tar` for clay.

4 And they said, Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower, and its head in the heavens; and let us make for ourselves a name, lest perhaps* we be scattered on the faces of all the earth.

5 And Jehovah came·​·down to see the city and the tower which the sons of man were building.

6 And Jehovah said, Behold, the people are one, and all of them have one lip, and this is what they begin to do; and now there will not be held·​·back from them anything which they scheme to do.

7 Come, let us go·​·down, and there confuse their lip, that they hear not, a man the lip of his companion.

8 And Jehovah scattered them from thence on the faces of all the earth; and they stopped building the city.

9 Therefore He called the name of it Babel, for there did Jehovah confuse* the lip of all the earth; and from thence did Jehovah scatter them on the faces of all the earth.

10 These are the births of Shem: Shem was a son of a hundred years, and begot Arpachshad, two·​·years after the flood.

11 And Shem lived after he begot Arpachshad five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

12 And Arpachshad lived five and thirty years, and begot Shelach.

13 And Arpachshad lived after he begot Shelach three years and four hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

14 And Shelach lived thirty years, and begot Eber.

15 And Shelach lived after he begot Eber three years and four hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begot Peleg.

17 And Eber lived after he begot Peleg thirty years and four hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

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

20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begot Serug.

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

22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor.

23 And Serug lived after he begot Nahor two·​·hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begot Terah.

25 And Nahor lived after he begot Terah nineteen years and a hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 And these are the births of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begot Lot.

28 And Haran died upon the faces of Terah, his father*, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

29 And Abram and Nahor took to themselves wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.

30 And Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 And Terah took Abram his son; and Lot the son of Haran, the son of his son; and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son; and they went·​·out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came even to Haran, and dwelt there.

32 And the days of Terah were five years and two·​·hundred years; and Terah died in Haran.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Arcana Coelestia # 1295

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1295. That 'one man said to the next' means that this was started, that is, men started it, follows from the train of thought. This verse is dealing with the third state of the Church when falsities began to reign, in particular the falsities that arise from evil desires. There are two sources of falsities, the first being ignorance of the truth, the second evil desires. Falsity that arises from ignorance of the truth is not so harmful as falsity arising from evil desires, for the falsity of ignorance is the outcome either of having been so taught since early childhood, or of having been so preoccupied with various pursuits that one has never looked into whether something is true, or of not having been competent enough to judge what is true and what is false. Falsities that are the product of such ignorance do little harm provided that the person has not confirmed himself much in them, and so has not, on the instigation of some evil desire or other, persuaded himself to the point of defending those falsities. If he has he so intensifies the cloud of ignorance and converts it into darkness that he is incapable of seeing the truth.

[2] But falsity from evil desires comes into being when the origin of falsity is evil desire, that is, self-love and love of the world, as when somebody takes some point of doctrine, preaches it to captivate and take control of people's minds, and explains or twists that point of doctrine to his own advantage, and confirms it both by reasonings based on facts, and from the literal sense of the Word. The worship that results from this is unholy, however holy it may appear outwardly. For inwardly it is not worship of the Lord but worship of self. Nor does such a person acknowledge any truth, except insofar as he can explain it to his own advantage. Such worship is what is meant by 'Babel'. But the situation is different with people who, though born and brought up in such worship, do not know that it is falsity, and lead charitable lives. Their ignorance has innocence within it, and their worship has the good flowing from charity within it. The unholiness of worship is attributable not so much to the actual worship as to the nature of the worshipper.

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