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Genesis 4

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1 And man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and gave·​·birth·​·to Cain, and she said, I have gotten* a man, Jehovah*.

2 And she added to bring·​·forth* his brother, Abel; and Abel was a shepherd of the flock, and Cain was a tiller of the ground.

3 And it was at the end of days, and Cain brought of the fruit of the ground a gift·​·offering to Jehovah.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstborn from his flock, and from its fat. And Jehovah had·​·regard to Abel, and to his gift·​·offering;

5 and to Cain and to his gift·​·offering He had not regard, and Cain was very incensed, and his faces fell.

6 And Jehovah said to Cain, Why art thou incensed? and Why are thy faces fallen?

7 If thou doest·​·well, is there not an uplifting? And if thou doest· not ·well, sin coucheth at the entrance; and to thee is his* desire, and thou rulest over him.

8 And Cain talked to Abel his brother; and it was when they were in the field, that Cain rose·​·up against Abel his brother, and killed him.

9 And Jehovah said to Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not; am I the keeper of my brother?

10 And He said, What hast thou done? The voice of the bloods* of thy brother cries to Me from the ground.

11 And now art thou cursed from the ground, which has gaped·​·open with her mouth to take the bloods of thy brother from thy hand.

12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not add to give to thee its power; a vagabond and a fugitive shalt thou be in the earth.

13 And Cain said to Jehovah, My iniquity is greater than can be borne away*.

14 Behold, Thou hast driven· me ·out today from upon the faces of the ground; and from Thy faces shall I be hidden, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive in the earth; and it shall be that everyone who finds me shall kill me.

15 And Jehovah said to him, Therefore if anyone kills Cain, sevenfold he shall be avenged. And Jehovah set on Cain a sign to all who find him not to smite him.

16 And Cain went·​·out from the faces of Jehovah, and dwelt in the land of Nod, toward·​·the·​·east of Eden.

17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and gave·​·birth·​·to Enoch; and it came·​·to·​·pass that he was building a city, and called the name of the city according·​·to the name of his son, Enoch.

18 And to Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael; and Mehijael begot Methushael; and Methushael begot Lamech.

19 And Lamech took to him two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the second, Zillah.

20 And Adah gave·​·birth to Jabal; he was the father of the dweller in tents, and of livestock.

21 And the name of his brother was Jubal; he was the father of all who handle the harp and organ*.

22 And Zillah, she also gave·​·birth·​·to Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

23 And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, and give·​·ear·​·to what· I ·say, for I have killed a man for my wounding, and a child for my bruising.

24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

25 And man knew his wife yet again*, and she gave·​·birth·​·to a son, and she called his name Seth; for God has put another seed for me instead of Abel; for Cain killed him.

26 And to Seth, to him also there was·​·born a son; and he called his name Enosh; then began they to call upon the name of Jehovah.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 904

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904. That 'God spoke to Noah' means the Lord's presence with the member of the Church becomes clear from the internal sense of the Word. The Lord speaks to everybody, for whatever good and truth a person wills and thinks comes from the Lord. With everyone there are at least two evil spirits and two angels. The former activate his evils whereas the latter instill goods and truths. Every good or truth that angels instill is the Lord's; in this way the Lord is constantly speaking to man, though quite differently from one person to the next. To people who allow themselves to be carried away by evil spirits the Lord speaks as though He were not present, or so far away that He can hardly be said to be speaking. But to those who are being led by the Lord, the Lord speaks as one who is quite present. This becomes clear enough from the fact that nobody can possibly think of anything good and true except from the Lord.

[2] The Lord's presence is relative to the state of love towards the neighbour and of faith present in a person. It is in love towards the neighbour that the Lord is present, for He is present in all good, and not so much in so-called faith that is devoid of love. Faith devoid of love and charity is something severed or disjoined. Wherever conjunction exists there has to be a conjoining agency, which is exclusively love and charity. This may become clear to anyone from the fact that the Lord has compassion on everybody, loves everyone, and wishes to make everyone eternally happy. A person therefore who is devoid of the kind of love that leads him to have compassion on others, to love them, and to wish to make them happy, cannot be joined to the Lord because he is not at all like Him, and is in no sense the image of Him. Looking to the Lord by means of that which goes by the name of faith while hating the neighbour amounts not only to standing a long way off, but also to having between himself and the Lord a hell-like chasm into which the person would fall if he wished to go any nearer. For it is hatred towards the neighbour that constitutes that intervening hell-like chasm.

[3] The Lord is present with a person the moment he starts to love the neighbour. It is in love that the Lord is present, and to the extent that a person has love the Lord is present. And to the extent that the Lord is present He speaks to man. No one knows anything other than that he thinks from himself. Yet he possesses not one single idea of thought, not even the shred of an idea, from himself. Rather that which is evil and false he possesses through evil spirits from hell, and that which is good and true through angels from the Lord. Such is influx, the channel by which a person's life comes and by which consequently his soul interacts with the body. All these considerations make clear what 'God spoke to Noah' means. 'Saying to someone' means one thing, as in Genesis 1:29; 3:13-14, 17; 4:6, 9, 15; 6:13; 7:1, while 'speaking to someone' means another. Here speaking to Noah' means His being present, for the subject now is the regenerate person, who has had charity conferred on him.

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