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Genesis 8

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1 And God kept Noah in mind, and all the living things and the cattle which were with him in the ark: and God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters went down.

2 And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were shut, and the rain from heaven was stopped.

3 And the waters went slowly back from the earth, and at the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters were lower.

4 And on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

5 And still the waters went on falling, till on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen.

6 Then, after forty days, through the open window of the ark which he had made,

7 Noah sent out a raven, which went this way and that till the waters were gone from the earth.

8 And he sent out a dove, to see if the waters had gone from the face of the earth;

9 But the dove saw no resting-place for her foot, and came back to the ark, for the waters were still over all the earth; and he put out his hand, and took her into the ark.

10 And after waiting another seven days, he sent the dove out again;

11 And the dove came back at evening, and in her mouth was an olive-leaf broken off: so Noah was certain that the waters had gone down on the earth.

12 And after seven days more, he sent the dove out again, but she did not come back to him.

13 And in the six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters were dry on the earth: and Noah took the cover off the ark and saw that the face of the earth was dry.

14 And on the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was dry.

15 And God said to Noah,

16 Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives.

17 Take out with you every living thing which is with you, birds and cattle and everything which goes on the earth, so that they may have offspring and be fertile and be increased on the earth.

18 And Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives;

19 And every beast and bird and every living thing of every sort which goes on the earth, went out of the ark.

20 And Noah made an altar to the Lord, and from every clean beast and bird he made burned offerings on the altar.

21 And when the sweet smell came up to the Lord, he said in his heart, I will not again put a curse on the earth because of man, for the thoughts of man's heart are evil from his earliest days; never again will I send destruction on all living things as I have done.

22 While the earth goes on, seed time and the getting in of the grain, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will not come to an end.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #987

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987. Upon every beast of the earth. That this signifies over the cupidities of the lower mind, is evident from the signification of “beasts” in the Word, where they signify either affections or cupidities, affections of good being signified by gentle, useful, and clean beasts; and affections of evil, or cupidities, by those that are fierce, useless, and unclean (concerning which see above, n. 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 776). Here, as cupidities are signified, they are called “beasts of the earth” not beasts of the field. With regard to the rule of the regenerate man over cupidities, it is to be known that those are in the greatest error, and are by no means the regenerate, who believe that they can of themselves rule over evils. For man is nothing but evil; he is a mass of evils; all his will being merely evil; which is what is said in the preceding chapter (Genesis 8:21): that “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” It has been shown me by living experience that a man and a spirit, even an angel, in himself regarded, that is, as to all that is his own, is but vilest excrement; and that left to himself he breathes nothing but hatred, revenge, cruelty, and most foul adultery.

[2] These things are his own; these are his will; as must also be evident to everyone if he reflects, merely from this, that man when born is, among all wild animals and beasts, the vilest creature living. And when he grows up and becomes his own master, if not hindered by outward bonds of the law, and bonds which he imposes on himself for the purpose of gaining great honor and wealth, he would rush into every crime, and not rest until he had subjugated all in the universe, and raked together the wealth of all in the universe; nor would he spare any but those who submitted to be his humble servants. Such is the nature of every man, although those are unaware of it who are powerless and to whom such attempts are impossible, and also those who are in the bonds above mentioned. But let the possibility and power be given, and the bonds be relaxed, and they would rush on to the extent of their ability. Wild animals never show such a nature. They are born into a certain order of their nature. Those which are fierce and rapacious inflict injury on other creatures, but only in self-defense; and their devouring other animals is to allay their hunger, and when this is allayed they do harm to none. But it is altogether different with man. From all this it is evident what is the nature of man’s Own and will.

[3] Since man is such mere evil and excrement, it is evident that he can never of himself rule over evil. It is an utter contradiction for evil to be able to rule over evil, and not only over evil, but also over hell; for every man is in communication through evil spirits with hell, and thereby the evil in him is excited. From all this everyone may know, and he who has a sound mind may conclude, that the Lord alone rules over evil in man and over hell with him. In order that the evil in man may be subjugated, that is, hell, which strives every moment to rush in upon him and destroy him forever, man is regenerated by the Lord and endowed with a new will, which is conscience, through which the Lord alone performs all good. These are points of faith: that man is nothing but evil; and that all good is from the Lord. They are therefore not only known by man, but also acknowledged and believed; and if he does not so acknowledge and believe in the life of the body, it is shown him to the life in the life to come.

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