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Genesis 16

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1 And Sarai, the wife of Abram, did not give·​·birth for him; and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, and her name was Hagar.

2 And Sarai said to Abram, Behold, I pray, Jehovah has restrained me from giving·​·birth; go·​·in, I pray, to my handmaid; perhaps I shall be built up out·​·of her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

3 And Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, at the end of ten years of Abram dwelling in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram, her man, to him for a woman.

4 And he came·​·in to Hagar, and she conceived; and she saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was·​·vile in her eyes.

5 And Sarai said to Abram, May the injury done to me be upon thee; I gave my handmaid into thy bosom; and she saw that she conceived, and I am·​·vile in her eyes; Jehovah judge between me and thee.

6 And Abram said to Sarai, Behold thy handmaid is in thy hand, do to her that which is good in thine eyes; and Sarai afflicted her, and she ran·​·away from her face.

7 And the Angel of Jehovah found her by a fount of waters in the wilderness, by the fount in the way to Shur.

8 And He said, Hagar, handmaid of Sarai, whence comest thou? and whither goest thou? And she said, From the faces of Sarai, my mistress, I am running·​·away.

9 And the Angel of Jehovah said to her, Return to thy mistress, and afflict thyself under her hands.

10 And the Angel of Jehovah said to her, Multiplying, I will multiply thy seed, and it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11 And the Angel of Jehovah said to her, Behold, thou hast conceived, and shalt give·​·birth to a son, and thou shalt call his name Ishmael; for Jehovah has hearkened to thine affliction.

12 And he shall be a wild·​·ass man, his hand against all, and the hand of all against him and he shall reside against the faces of all his brothers.

13 And she called the name of Jehovah who was speaking to her, Thou God seest me; for she said, Have I also here seen after Him who sees me?

14 Therefore she called the fount*, Beer-lahai-roi*; behold it is between Kadesh and Bared.

15 And Hagar gave·​·birth·​·to a son for Abram; and Abram called the name of his son to whom Hagar gave·​·birth, Ishmael.

16 And Abram was a son of eighty years and six years, when Hagar gave·​·birth·​·to Ishmael for Abram.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 1940

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1940. That 'I will multiply your seed greatly' means the fruitfulness of the rational man when it submits itself to the controlling power of the interior man allied to good is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as love and faith, dealt with already in 1025, 1447, 1610. Here however 'multiplying seed' means the fruitfulness within the rational of the celestial things of love when the rational has submitted itself to truth that is interior or Divine. 'Being multiplied' has reference to truths but 'being fruitful' to goods, as is clear from what has been stated and shown already in 43, 55, 913, 983. But as the subject is the Lord, 'being multiplied' means being fruitful for the reason that all truth within His Rational became good and so Divine; and this is what is being referred to here. In man's case it is different - his rational is formed by the Lord from truth or the affection for truth. This affection is in him good from which he acts.

[2] As regards multiplication and fruitfulness within man's rational, this cannot be understood unless one knows about influx, regarding which the following may be said of it in general: Within everybody, as stated already, there is the internal man, the rational man, which is in the middle, and the external man. The internal man is the inmost part of him by virtue of which he is a human being and which makes him distinct and separate from animals, which do not possess that inmost part. The internal man is so to speak the door or entrance for the Lord, that is, for celestial and spiritual things that are the Lord's, to come into a person. What goes on there the individual cannot comprehend since it is entirely above his rational from which he thinks. To this inmost or internal man the rational which appears as the person's own is subordinate. Into this rational by way of that internal man flow heavenly things of love and faith from the Lord; and by way of this rational they flow on into the facts that belong to the external man. But how these things flowing in are received depends on the individual person's state.

[3] Unless the rational is submissive to goods and truths that are the Lord's this rational either stifles, or rejects, or perverts the things that flow in, the more so when they flow into facts in the memory that are derived from sensory evidence. These things when so received are meant by the seed that falls either on the pathway, or over stony ground, or among thorns, as the Lord teaches in Matthew 13:3-7; Mark 4:3-7; Luke 8:5-7. But when the rational is submissive and believes the Lord, that is, His Word, the rational is like the ground or good soil into which the seed falls and bears much fruit.

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