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Genesis 13

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1 And Abram went·​·up out·​·of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, toward the south*.

2 And Abram was· very ·heavy in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

3 And he went according·​·to his journeys from the south and even·​·to Bethel, even·​·to the place where his tent was in the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

4 to the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning; and there Abram called on the name of Jehovah.

5 And Lot also, who went with Abram, had flock and herd, and tents.

6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together, for their acquisition was great, and they were· not ·able to dwell together.

7 And there was strife between the shepherds of the livestock of Abram and the shepherds of the livestock of Lot; and the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land.

8 And Abram said to Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray, between me and thee, and between my shepherds and thy shepherds, for we men are brothers.

9 Is not all the land before thee? Separate, I pray, from me; if to the left, then I will go·​·to·​·the·​·right; and if to the right, then I will go·​·to·​·the·​·left.

10 And Lot lifted his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that all of it was well watered, before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt coming·​·into Zoar.

11 And Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan; and Lot journeyed from* the east; and they were separated, a man from his brother.

12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched· his ·tent even·​·to Sodom.

13 And the men of Sodom were evil and sinners against Jehovah exceedingly.

14 And Jehovah said to Abram, after that Lot was separated from with him, Lift·​·up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward.

15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, even·​·to eternity.

16 And I will set thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man is·​·able to count the dust of the earth, also shall thy seed be counted.

17 Arise, walk through the land, to the length of her and to the breadth of her; for to thee will I give her.

18 And Abram pitched· his ·tent, and came, and dwelt in the oak·​·groves of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built there an altar to Jehovah.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 1557

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1557. 'Between Bethel and Ai' means the celestial and the worldly aspects of cognitions. This is clear from the meaning of 'Bethel' as the light of wisdom coming through cognitions, 1453, and from the meaning of 'Ai' as the light coming from worldly things, also dealt with in 1453. From what has been stated there the nature of the Lord's state at this time becomes clear, namely a childhood state - which is such that worldly things are present. In fact worldly things cannot be dispelled until truth and good are implanted in celestial things by means of cognitions, for a person cannot possibly tell celestial things from worldly until he comes to know and is aware of what the celestial is, and of what the worldly is. Cognitions turn a general and obscure idea into a clear and distinct one, and the clearer the idea is made by means of cognitions the more can worldly things be separated. That childhood state however is still holy because it is innocent.

[2] A state of ignorance or lack of knowledge in no way rules out holiness when there is innocence in it, for holiness dwells in ignorance that is innocent. With everybody apart from the Lord, holiness is unable to dwell anywhere else than in ignorance. If it does not dwell in this it is not holiness. Among the angels themselves, who possess a supreme light of intelligence and wisdom, holiness still dwells within ignorance, for they know and acknowledge that of themselves they know nothing and that whatever they do know comes from the Lord. They also know and acknowledge that all their knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom are as nothing in comparison with the Lord's infinite knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, thus that all of theirs is lack of knowledge. Anyone who does not acknowledge that there is an infinite number of things he does not know compared with what he does know cannot possess the holiness present with angels that goes with ignorance or lack of knowledge. This holiness that goes with ignorance does not consist in knowing less than others but in the acknowledgement that from oneself one does not know anything at all, and that the things one does not know are infinite in comparison with the things one does know. But above all it entails regarding factual knowledge and intellectual concepts as being of small importance compared with celestial things, that is, things constituting the understanding as being of small importance compared with those constituting life. In the Lord's case, because He was to join human things to Divine things He advanced according to order and now reached first of all that celestial state such as had been His when a boy, in which state worldly things also were present. By passing on from this into a state even more celestial, He at length came into the celestial state of infancy, in which state He fully joined the Human Essence to the Divine Essence.

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