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Genesis 9

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1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth on the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things:

4 But flesh with the life of it, which is its blood, shall ye not eat.

5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require: at the hand of every beast will I require it: and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.

6 Whoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

8 And God spoke to Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you, from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations.

13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

17 And God said to Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

18 And the sons of Noah that went forth from the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham was the father of Canaan.

19 These three were the sons of Noah: and from them was the whole earth overspread.

20 And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

21 And he drank the wine, and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father: and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him.

25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren.

26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 847

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847. That 'the waters receded from off the earth, going back and forth' means fluctuations between truth and falsity is clear from what has been stated, namely about 'the waters of the flood' or deluges, in reference to Noah, meaning temptations. And because the subject here is the first state following temptation, 'the waters receded, going back and forth' can mean nothing else than fluctuation between truths and falsities. But the nature of this fluctuation cannot be known unless one knows what temptation is, for the nature of a temptation determines that of the fluctuation following temptation. When temptation is celestial the fluctuation is between good and evil; when temptation is spiritual it is between truth and falsity; and when temptation is natural the fluctuation is between the things that belong to evil desires and things which are their opposite.

[2] The types of temptation are numerous. In general they are celestial, spiritual, and natural, which must not in any way be confused with one another. Celestial temptations can exist only with people who are moved by love to the Lord; spiritual temptations only with those who are moved by charity towards the neighbour; while natural temptations are utterly different again. Indeed the latter are not temptations at all but merely anxious cares resulting from attacks on people's natural loves caused by misfortune, sickness, and abnormal condition of the blood and fluids in the body. These few considerations make it to some extent possible to know what temptation is, that is to say, the distress and anxiety caused by things that clash with a person's loves. With people moved by love to the Lord, whatever attacks that love to the Lord produces inmost torment. This is celestial temptation. With those moved by love towards the neighbour, which is charity, whatever attacks this love leads to a tortured conscience. This is spiritual temptation.

[3] But in the case of people who are natural, those experiences which they so often call temptations, and the pricks of conscience, are not really temptations at all but merely anxious cares resulting from attacks on their loves - for example, when they foresee and feel that they are being deprived of honour, the good things of this world, reputation, pleasures, physical powers, and so on. Nevertheless these so-called temptations do normally achieve some good. Temptations are also experienced by people who are moved by natural charity, and so by all manner of heretics, by gentiles, and by idolaters. They are caused by the things which go against the way of life which their faith demands and which they hold dear. These however are anxious cares, which are mere imitations of spiritual temptations.

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