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Genesis 6

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1 And it cometh to pass that mankind have begun to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters have been born to them,

2 and sons of God see the daughters of men that they [are] fair, and they take to themselves women of all whom they have chosen.

3 And Jehovah saith, `My Spirit doth not strive in man -- to the age; in their erring they [are] flesh:' and his days have been an hundred and twenty years.

4 The fallen ones were in the earth in those days, and even afterwards when sons of God come in unto daughters of men, and they have borne to them -- they [are] the heroes, who, from of old, [are] the men of name.

5 And Jehovah seeth that abundant [is] the wickedness of man in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil all the day;

6 and Jehovah repenteth that He hath made man in the earth, and He grieveth Himself -- unto His heart.

7 And Jehovah saith, `I wipe away man whom I have prepared from off the face of the ground, from man unto beast, unto creeping thing, and unto fowl of the heavens, for I have repented that I have made them.'

8 And Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah.

9 These [are] births of Noah: Noah [is] a righteous man; perfect he hath been among his generations; with God hath Noah walked habitually.

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

11 And the earth is corrupt before God, and the earth is filled [with] violence.

12 And God seeth the earth, and lo, it hath been corrupted, for all flesh hath corrupted its way on the earth.

13 And God said to Noah, `An end of all flesh hath come before Me, for the earth hath been full of violence from their presence; and lo, I am destroying them with the earth.

14 `Make for thyself an ark of gopher-wood; rooms dost thou make with the ark, and thou hast covered it within and without with cypress;

15 and this [is] that which thou dost with it: three hundred cubits [is] the length of the ark, fifty cubits its breadth, and thirty cubits its height;

16 a window dost thou make for the ark, and unto a cubit thou dost restrain it from above; and the opening of the ark thou dost put in its side, -- lower, second, and third [stories] dost thou make it.

17 `And I, lo, I am bringing in the deluge of waters on the earth to destroy all flesh, in which [is] a living spirit, from under the heavens; all that [is] in the earth doth expire.

18 `And I have established My covenant with thee, and thou hast come in unto the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy son's wives with thee;

19 and of all that liveth, of all flesh, two of every [sort] thou dost bring in unto the ark, to keep alive with thee; male and female are they.

20 Of the fowl after its kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every [sort] they come in unto thee, to keep alive.

21 `And thou, take to thyself of all food that is eaten; and thou hast gathered unto thyself, and it hath been to thee and to them for food.'

22 And Noah doth according to all that God hath commanded him; so hath he done.

   

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #681

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681. What celestial and spiritual food is can be seen best of all in the next life. The life of angels and spirits is not maintained by any food like that found in the world but 'by every word that goes out of the mouth of the Lord', as the Lord Himself teaches in Matthew 4:4. The situation is this: The Lord alone is the life of all. From Him comes every single thing that angels and spirits think, say, and do. This applies not only to angels and good spirits but also to evil spirits. The reason the latter speak and do things that are evil is that they receive and corrupt in this way all goods and truths that are the Lord's. For as is the form of the recipient so is the nature of reception and affection. This may be compared to different objects which receive the sun-light. According to their form and according to the arrangement and delimitation of their parts, some convert the rays of light received into unpleasant and hideous colours, while other objects convert them into pleasing and beautiful colours. In such a manner the whole of heaven and the whole of the world of spirits derive their life from everything that goes out of the Lord's mouth, and from this each individual has his life. Indeed this applies not only to heaven and the world of spirits but also to the whole human race. I realize that people are not going to believe it, but I can positively declare from years of uninterrupted personal experience that this is utterly true. Evil spirits in the world of spirits however refuse to believe that it is so, and consequently they have been shown it convincingly time and again until they have grudgingly confessed it to be true. If angels, spirits, and men were deprived of this food they would instantly breathe their last.

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