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Genesis 3

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1 And the serpent was more· cunning ·than any wild·​·animal of the field which Jehovah God had made; and he said to the woman, Yea, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said to the serpent, Of the fruit of the tree of the garden we may eat;

3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

4 And the serpent said to the woman: Dying you shall· not ·die.

5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil.

6 And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was appealing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make· one ·intelligent, and she took from its fruit and did eat, and she gave also to her man with her, and he did eat.

7 And the eyes of the two of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made girdles for themselves.

8 And they heard the voice of Jehovah God going to itself in the garden in the wind of the day; and man and his wife hid·​·themselves from the face of Jehovah God in the midst of the tree of the garden.

9 And Jehovah God called to man, and said to him, Where art thou?

10 And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I feared, for I was naked; and I hid·​·myself.

11 And He said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee not to eat?

12 And man said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with·​·me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate.

13 And Jehovah God said to the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.

14 And Jehovah God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed more·​·than every beast, and more·​·than every wild·​·animal of the field; on thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; He shall injure* thy head, and thou shalt injure His heel.

16 And to the woman He said, Multiplying I will multiply thy grief and thy conception; in grief thou shalt bring·​·forth sons, and thy desire* shall be to thy man, and he shall rule over thee.

17 And to man He said, Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten from the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat from it; cursed is the ground on account of thee; in great grief shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

18 And the thorn and the thistle it shall make grow for thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

19 By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread, until thou return to the ground; for out·​·of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return.

20 And man called the name of his wife Eve*, for she was the mother of all the living*.

21 And Jehovah God made for man and for his wife tunics of skin, and clothed them.

22 And Jehovah God said, Behold, man was as one of us*, knowing good and evil; and now lest he put·​·forth his hand, and take also of the tree of lives, and eat, and live to eternity

23 and Jehovah God sent· him ·out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

24 And He drove·​·out man; and He caused cherubim to abide from the east toward the garden of Eden, and the flame of the sword turning itself, to keep the way of the tree of lives.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 2219

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2219. 'They looked towards the face of Sodom' means the state of the human race. This is clear from the meaning of 'looking towards the face', here 'towards the face of Sodom'. In the Word 'the face' means all man's interiors - evil as well as good - for the reason that these shine out of the face, as shown in Volume One, in 358. Here therefore, because 'the face' is used in reference to Sodom, it is interior evils, which are those of self-love, that are meant; for interior evils in general are meant by 'Sodom', as will be evident from what follows in the next paragraph. The reason the worst evils of all originate in self-love is that self-love is destructive of human society, as shown above in 2045, and destructive of heavenly society, 2057. And since the perversity of the human race is recognized from that love, here 'the face of Sodom' means the state of the human race.

[2] In addition to this, it has been shown in various places in Volume One what the nature of self-love is, namely a love completely contrary to the order into which man was created. Unlike beasts man was endowed with rationality, to the end that every individual person may will what is good and do what is good to any other, thus to everyone in particular as to all in general. Such is the order into which man was created, and therefore it is love to God and love towards the neighbour which were intended to constitute man's life, which life was to mark him off from animals. Such also is the order of heaven which, it was intended, would exist in man while he was living in the world. He would thus be in the Lord's kingdom, into which he would also pass when he had cast off the body that had served him on earth, and in that kingdom would rise up into a state constantly increasing in heavenly perfection.

[3] But self-love is the chief, indeed the one and only, thing that destroys these loves. Love of the world is not so destructive; for although this is indeed contrary to the spiritual things of faith, self-love is diametrically opposed to the celestial things of love. For someone who loves himself does not love any others but tries to destroy everyone who fails to pay respect to him. Nor does he will what is good and do what is good to anybody except to one who is an extension of himself or can be made to become such, like something into which his evil desires and false notions have been so to speak engrafted. From this it is evident that self-love is the source from which all forms of hatred, all forms of revenge and cruelty well up, and also all forms of disgraceful presence and of deceit - thus every abominable thing that is contrary to the order that belongs to human society and contrary to the order of heavenly society.

[4] Indeed self-love is so abominable that when the restraints placed upon it are lifted, that is, when it is given the opportunity to do whatever it pleases, then even with those who belong to the lowest sort, it rushes with such urgency that it desires not only to exercise dominion over those nearest to it and over those close by, but also over the universe and even over the Supreme Divine Being Himself. Man is not indeed aware of this because he is held back by restraints he knows little about. But to the extent these restraints, as has been stated, are removed he very rapidly does the same. This I have been given to know from much experience in the next life. Because these things lie concealed within self-love, people governed by self-love and not endowed with the restraints of conscience, more than all others hate the Lord, and thus hate all the truths of faith, since these are the very laws of order in the Lord's kingdom. Such people dislike these laws so much as to loathe them, and this also shows itself openly in the next life. This love is also the head of the serpent which the seed of the woman, that is, the Lord, treads down, regarding which see Volume One, in 257.

[5] But self-love does not always present itself outwardly in arrogance and pride, for sometimes such people are able to regard the neighbour with charity. Some people are born with this outwardly charitable disposition, while others acquire it during childhood years, but after this it is subdued, though the outward disposition does still remain. But those governed by self-love are such as despise others and regard them as nothing in comparison with themselves. Nor do they have any concern whatever for the common good unless this exists for their benefit, they themselves being so to speak the common good. This applies especially to those who hate and persecute everyone who does not show them favour or serve them, and as far as possible they rob such persons of possessions, honour, reputation, and even life. Let those who behave intentionally in these ways realize that with them pre-eminently self-love is present.

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