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Genesis 6

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1 And after a time, when men were increasing on the earth, and had daughters,

2 The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took wives for themselves from those who were pleasing to them.

3 And the Lord said, My spirit will not be in man for ever, for he is only flesh; so the days of his life will be a hundred and twenty years.

4 There were men of great strength and size on the earth in those days; and after that, when the sons of God had connection with the daughters of men, they gave birth to children: these were the great men of old days, the men of great name.

5 And the Lord saw that the sin of man was great on the earth, and that all the thoughts of his heart were evil.

6 And the Lord had sorrow because he had made man on the earth, and grief was in his heart.

7 And the Lord said, I will take away man, whom I have made, from the face of the earth, even man and beast and that which goes on the earth and every bird of the air; for I have sorrow for having made them.

8 But Noah had grace in the eyes of God.

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was an upright man and without sin in his generation: he went in the ways of God.

10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 And the earth was evil in God's eyes and full of violent ways.

12 And God, looking on the earth, saw that it was evil: for the way of all flesh had become evil on the earth.

13 And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come; the earth is full of their violent doings, and now I will put an end to them with the earth.

14 Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood with rooms in it, and make it safe from the water inside and out.

15 And this is the way you are to make it: it is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.

16 You are to put a window in the ark, a cubit from the roof, and a door in the side of it, and you are to make it with a lower and second and third floors.

17 For truly, I will send a great flow of waters over the earth, for the destruction from under the heaven of all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything on the earth will come to an end.

18 But with you I will make an agreement; and you will come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.

19 And you will take with you into the ark two of every sort of living thing, and keep them safe with you; they will be male and female.

20 Two of every sort of bird and cattle and of every sort of living thing which goes on the earth will you take with you to keep them from destruction.

21 And make a store of every sort of food for yourself and them.

22 And all these things Noah did; as God said, so he did.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #623

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623. It is clear from the Word that 'the earth' is said to be 'filled with violence' on account of their filthy desires, most of all on account of the desires constituting self-love, or extreme arrogance. It is called 'violence when people do violence to holy things by desecrating them, as those before the Flood did, who immersed doctrinal matters concerning faith in every possible kind of evil desire. As in Ezekiel,

I will turn My face 1 away from them, and they will profane My secret place. And let robbers come into it and they will profane it. Make the chain, for the land is full of the judgement of blood, and the city is full of violence. Ezekiel 7:22-24.

This describes who the violent are, and that they are such as mentioned. In the same prophet,

They will eat their bread in anxiety, and drink their waters in desolation, that her land may be devastated of the fullness that is in it, on account of the violence of all who dwell in it. Ezekiel 12:19.

'The bread which they will eat in anxiety' means celestial things, the waters which they will drink in desolation' the spiritual things, which they did violence to, that is, profaned.

[2] In Isaiah,

Their webs will not become clothing, nor will they be covered in their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Isaiah 59:6.

Here 'webs' and 'clothing' have reference to the things of the understanding or thought, while 'iniquity' and 'violence' have reference to those of the will or actions. In Jonah,

Let every one turn from his evil way, and from the violence which is in his hands. Jonah 3:8.

Here 'evil way' has reference to falsities constituting the understanding, and 'violence' to evils constituting the will. In Jeremiah,

There will come in a year, rumour and violence in the land. Jeremiah 51:46.

'Rumour' stands for things of the understanding, 'violence' for those of the will. In Isaiah,

He did no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Isaiah 53:9.

Here 'violence' concerns things of the will, 'deceit in his mouth' those of the understanding.

Fußnoten:

1. literally, faces

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