Die Bibel

 

Genesis 3

Lernen

   

1 Men Slangen var træskere end alle Markens andre Dyr, som Gud HE EN havde gjort og den sagde til Kvinden: "Mon Gud virkelig ham sagt: I må ikke spise af noget Træ i Haven?"

2 Kvinden svarede: "Vi har Lov at spise af Frugten på Havens Træer;

3 kun af Frugten fra Træet midt i Haven, sagde Gud, må I ikke spise, ja, I må ikke røre derved, thi så skal I !"

4 Da sagde Slangen til Kvinden: "I skal ingenlunde ;

5 men Gud ved, at når I spiser deraf, åbnes eders Øjne, så I blive som Gud til at kende godt og ondt!"

6 Kvinden blev nu var, at Træet var godt at spise af, en Lyst for Øjnene og godt at få Forstand af; og hun tog af dets Frugt og spiste og gav også sin Mand, der stod hos hende, og han spiste.

7 Da åbnedes begges Øjne, og de kendte, at de var nøgne. Derfor syede de Figenblade sammen og bandt dem om sig.

8 Da Dagen blev sval, hørte de Gud HE EN vandre i Haven, og Adam og hans Hustru skjulte sig for ham inde mellem Havens Træer.

9 Da kaldte Gud HE EN på Adam og råbte: "Hvor er du?"

10 Han svarede: "Jeg hørte dig i Haven og blev angst, fordi jeg var nøgen, og så skjulte jeg mig!"

11 Da sagde han: "Hvem fortalte dig, at du var nøgen. Mon du har spist af det Træ, jeg sagde, du ikke måtte spise af?"

12 Adam svarede: "Kvinden, som du satte ved min Side, gav mig af Træet, og så spiste jeg."

13 Da sagde Gud HE EN til Kvinde: "Hvad har du gjort!" Kvinden svarede: "Slangen forførte mig, og så spiste jeg."

14 Da sagde Gud HE EN til Slangen: "Fordi du har gjort dette, være du forbandet blandt al Kvæget og blandt alle Markens Dyr! På din Bug skal du krybe, og Støv skal du æde alle dit Livs Dage!

15 Jeg sætter Fjendskab mellem dig og Kvinden, mellem din Sæd og hendes Sæd; den skal knuse dit Hoved, og du skal hugge den i Hælen!"

16 Til Kvinden sagde han: "Jeg vil meget mangfoldiggøre dit Svangerskabs Møje; med Smerte skal du føde Børn; men til din Mand skal din Attrå være, og han skal herske over dig!"

17 Og til Adam sagde han: "Fordi du lyttede til din Hustrus Tale og spiste af Træet, som jeg sagde, du ikke måtte spise af, skal Jorden være forbandet for din Skyld; med Møje skal du skaffe dig Føde af den alle dit Livs Dage;

18 Torn og Tidsel skal den bære dig, og Markens Urter skal være din Føde;

19 i dit Ansigts Sved skal du spise dit Brød, indtil du vender tilbage til Jorden; thi af den er du taget; ja, Støv er du, og til Støv skal du vende tilbage!"

20 Men Adam kaldte sin Hustru Eva, thi hun blev Moder til alt levende.

21 Derpå gjorde Gud HE EN Skindkjortlet til Adam og hans Hustru og klædte dem dermed.

22 Men Gud HE EN sagde: "Se, Mennesket er blevet som EN af os til at kende godt og ondt. Nu skal han ikke række Hånden ud og tage også af Livets Træ og spise og leve evindelig!"

23 Så forviste Gud HE EN ham fra Edens Have, for at han skulde dyrke Jorden, som han var taget af;

24 og han drev Mennesket ud, og østen for Edens Have satte han Keruberne med det glimtende Flammesværd til at vogte Vejen til Livets Træ.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) #29

  
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29. III. THE THIRD STATE OF THIS CHURCH, WHICH IS ITS DECLINE AND EVENING, AND IS CALLED VASTATION, is described in the third chapter of Genesis, by these words:

The serpent became more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. He said to the woman, Wherefore also hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And when the woman said unto the serpent, Of the fruit of the tree we may eat; only of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die-the serpent said, Ye shall not die; for God doth know, that, in the day wherein ye shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil. The woman, therefore, saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and to be desired to give understanding; therefore she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave to her man (vir) with her, and he did eat (Gen. 3:1-6).

That a decline from light to the shade of evening, that is, a falling away from wisdom and integrity, consequently a state of vastation of this Church, is described by these words, is because, owing to having been made a "likeness of God" (by which is signified that, to all appearance he, like God, thinks those things which are of wisdom, and wills those things which are of love, from himself, - see above, n. 26), he believed the serpent's words, that if he should eat of that tree he would become as God, and thus also be God, in knowing good and evil. By this "tree" is signified the natural man separated from the spiritual, which, when left to itself, believes nothing else.

[2] Every man has a natural mind and a spiritual mind, distinct from each other like two stories of one house connected by stairs; in the upper story of which dwell the master and mistress with their children, but in the lower the men-servants and maid-servants, with other menials. From birth even to early youth, the spiritual mind in man is shut; but after that first age the spiritual mind is step by step opened; for there is given to every man from birth the capacity, and afterwards the ability, of preparing for himself steps by which he may ascend and speak with the master and mistress, and then descend and execute their commands: this power is conferred upon him through the gift of free-determination in spiritual things. Nevertheless, no one can ascend to the upper story, by which is meant the spiritual mind, except he eat of the trees of life in the garden of God; for, by eating of these man is enlightened and restored, and, receives faith; and through the nourishment of their fruits he attains the assurance that all good is from the Lord, who is the Tree of Life, and not the least of it from man; and yet, that, by abiding together and working together, hence by the Lord's being in him and he in the Lord, he will do good of himself, but still, in the faith and assurance that it is not from himself but from the Lord.

[3] If a man believe otherwise, he produces a semblance of good, inwardly in which there is evil, because merit; and this is eating of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil, among which dwells the serpent, in the dreadful persuasion that he is as God, or else that there is no God, but that Nature is what is called God, and that he is compounded of its elements. Furthermore: those eat of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil who love themselves and the world above all things; but those eat of the trees of life who love God above all things and the neighbour as themselves. Those also eat of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil who put forth regulations for the Church from self-intelligence, and afterwards confirm them by the Word; but, on the other hand, those eat of the trees of life who procure for themselves regulations for the Church by means of the Word, and afterwards confirm them by intelligence. Those, again, who teach truths from the Word, and live wickedly, eat of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil; but those eat of the trees of life who live well and teach from the Word. Speaking generally, all eat of the trees of the knowledge of good and evil who deny the Divinity of the Lord and the holiness of the Word, inasmuch as the Lord is the Tree of Life and the Word, from whom the Church is a "garden eastward in Eden."

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