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Genesis 8

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1 And God remembered Noaḥ, and every wild·​·animal, and every beast that was with him in the ark; and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

2 And the fountains of the abyss, and the floodgates of the heavens were shut·​·up, and the shower from the heavens was held·​·back.

3 And the waters returned from on the earth, going and returning; and from the end of fifty and a hundred days the waters decreased.

4 And the ark rested* in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

5 And the waters were going and decreasing until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the heads of the mountains were seen.

6 And it was, at the end of forty days, that Noaḥ opened the window of the ark which he had made;

7 and he sent·​·out a raven, and it went·​·out, going·​·out and returning, until the waters were dried·​·up from on the earth.

8 And he sent·​·out the dove from him, to see if the waters were diminished* from upon the faces of the ground.

9 And the dove found not rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were on the faces of all the land; and he put·​·forth his hand and took her, and brought· her ·in to him into the ark.

10 And he waited* still another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark;

11 and the dove came to him at evening time; and behold in her mouth was an olive leaf torn·​·off; and Noaḥ knew that the waters were diminished from on the earth.

12 And he waited·​·with·​·hope yet another seven days, and sent the dove, and she returned not again to to him any·​·more.

13 And it was, in the six hundred and first year, in the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters were dried·​·up from on the earth; and Noaḥ removed the covering of the ark, and saw, and behold, the faces of the ground were·​·dry.

14 In the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried·​·up.

15 And God spoke to Noaḥ, saying,

16 Go·​·out from the ark, thou and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.

17 Every wild·​·animal that is with thee of all flesh, as·​·to fowl, and as·​·to beast, and as·​·to every creeping thing that creeps on the land, bring·​·out with thee; and they will crawl forth into the land, and be·​·fruitful, and multiply on the land.

18 And Noaḥ went·​·out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him.

19 Every wild·​·animal, every creeping thing, and every fowl, all that creeps upon the earth, according·​·to their families, went·​·out from the ark.

20 And Noaḥ built an altar to Jehovah; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered·​·up burnt·​·offerings on the altar.

21 And Jehovah smelled a restful smell; and Jehovah said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any·​·more on account of man; for what the heart of man forms is evil from his youth; and I will not add to smite any·​·more all that is living, as I have done.

22 As·​·long·​·as all the days of the earth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.

   


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

Komentář

 

Wife

  

The Hebrew of the Old Testament has six different common words which are generally translated as "wife," which largely overlap but have different nuances. Swedenborg uses two different Latin words, which largely overlap but have different nuances. Meanwhile, "wife" is often paired with "man" or "husband," which are also catch-all translations for a basket of Hebrew and Latin terms. So it's hard to pin down one universal meaning for "wife"; context and subject matter have a large effect.

In general, though, marriage in the Bible represents the union we all seek between our hearts and our minds. If we know what is right and pursue it faithfully, the Lord will ultimately help us love doing what is good, and the two aspects of ourselves will be unified. On a higher level, marriage represents the union we can have with the Lord, both individually and collectively as a church. As an intrinsic part of the marriage, the wife plays a key role in that meaning. But that meaning is different depending on what is being described.

If the marriage is describing a person who is spiritual in nature – "spiritual" being the second degree of heavenly life, in which people are led by intellect and knowledge with the desire for good following – the wife represents the desire for good, the affections that drive the person. If the marriage is describing someone who is celestial in nature – "celestial" being the highest degree of heavenly life, in which people are led from love, with the intellect and ideas following – the wife represents the true ideas held by the person or church. If the marriage is describing the union between the Lord and the church, the wife represents the church.

In a way, these are symbolic meanings that actually have little to do with gender. When "wife" describes a church, obviously that church can include both male and female people. When "wife" describes an aspect of a person, that person can obviously be either male or female.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 915, 1468, 1904 [1-2], 3246 [3-4], 3398, 4823 [2])