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Genesis 8

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1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;

2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;

3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.

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

5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:

7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.

14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,

16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:

19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #935

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935. 'And summer and winter' means the state of a regenerate person as regards things belonging to his new will, which by turns come and go as summer and winter do. This becomes clear from what has been stated about cold and heat. The changes taking place in people who have yet to be regenerated are likened to cold and heat, while those that take place in those who have been regenerated are likened to summer and winter. That the person who has yet to be regenerated is the subject of the former phrase while one who has been regenerated is the subject of this latter is clear from the consideration that with the former 'cold' is mentioned first and 'heat' second, while here 'summer' comes first and 'winter' second. The reason is that the person who is being regenerated starts from 'cold', that is, from the point of no faith and charity; but once he has been regenerated he starts from the point of charity.

[2] The fact that a regenerate person experiences alternations, that is to say, at one point no charity resides with him and at the next some charity, is perfectly clear for the reason that with everybody, even the regenerate, nothing but evil exists. Everything good with him is the Lord's alone. Because nothing but evil exists with him it is inevitable that he undergoes such changes, at one time living so to speak in 'summer', that is, in charity, and at another in 'winter', that is, in no charity. The result of such changes is that a person is being ever more perfected and so made ever more happy. Such changes take place with a regenerate person not only during his lifetime but also when he has entered the next life, for without changes like those of summer and winter as regards things of the will, and like those of day and night as regards things of the understanding, he is in no way perfected and made more happy. In the next life however people's changes are like those of summer and winter in temperate regions and like those of day and night in springtime.

[3] The Prophets too describe these states as summer and winter, and as day and night, as in Zechariah,

And it will be, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, part of them to the eastern sea and part of them to the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be. Zechariah 14:8.

This refers to the New Jerusalem, or the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth, that is, the state of His kingdom in both places, which is also called summer and winter. In David,

O God, Your is the day, Thine also is the night. You have prepared the light and the sun, You have fixed all the bounds of the earth, You have made summer and winter. Psalms 74:16-17.

These words embody like matters. Similarly in Jeremiah who says that the covenant for the day is not to be broken, nor the covenant for the night, so that day and night come at their appointed time, Jeremiah 33:20.

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