Die Bibel

 

Genesis 6

Lernen

   

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 #10441

studieren Sie diesen Abschnitt

  
/ 10837  
  

10441. And repent Thee of the evil to thy people. That this signifies mercy for them, is evident from the signification of “repenting,” when said of Jehovah, as being to be merciful. That “to repent” denotes to be merciful is because Jehovah never repents, for He foresees and provides all things from eternity. Repentance is applicable only to him who does not know the future, and who, when the thing comes to pass, finds that he has erred. Yet it is so said in the Word concerning Jehovah, because the sense of the letter is taken from such things as appear with man, because it is for the very simple, and for little children, who at first go no further. Both the simple and little children are in the most external things, with which they begin, and in which afterward their interiors terminate. Wherefore the Word in the letter is to be understood differently by those who have become wiser.

[2] In this respect the Word resembles man, whose interiors terminate in flesh and bones, which contain them, insomuch that man could not subsist unless these served as a basis or support, for he would have no ultimate in which interior things might terminate, and on which they might rest. The case is similar with the Word. It must have an ultimate in which interior things may terminate; and this ultimate is the sense of the letter; while its interiors are the heavenly things which are of the internal sense. From this it is now plain why from the appearance presented to man it is said that “Jehovah repents,” when yet He does not repent.

[3] That “repenting” is said of Jehovah is evident from many passages in the Word, as from the following, in Jeremiah:

If [that nation] do evil in My eyes, that it obey not My voice, I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them (Jeremiah 18:10).

It may be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, and it repent Me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them because of the wickedness of their works (Jeremiah 26:3).

When Mine anger is consummated, and I make My wrath to rest upon them, it shall repent Me (Ezekiel 5:13).

Jehovah repented, and said, It shall not be (Amos 7:3, 6).

Jehovah shall judge His people, and shall repent Him for His servants (Deuteronomy 32:36).

The king of Nineveh said, Who knoweth whether God will not turn back and repent, that He may turn back from the heat of His anger, that we perish not? And they turned from their evil way; therefore it repented God of the evil which He had said He would do to them, that He did it not (Jonah 3:9-10).

It repented Jehovah that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart (Genesis 6:6).

It repenteth Me that I have made Saul to be king; for he hath turned away from following Me (1 Samuel 15:11, 35).

[4] In these passages Jehovah is said to have “repented,” when yet it cannot be that He repents, because He knows all things before He does them; from which it is evident that by “repenting” is signified mercy. That Jehovah never repents is also evident from the Word, as in Moses:

Jehovah is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent. Hath He said, and shall He not do? or hath He spoken, and shall He not establish it? (Numbers 23:19).

The unconquered One of Israel doth not lie, nor repent; for He is not a man that He should repent (1 Samuel 15:29).

That “repenting,” when said of Jehovah, denotes mercy, is plain in Joel:

Jehovah is gracious and merciful, long suffering, and great in compassion, who is wont to repent of the evil (Joel 2:13).

God is gracious and merciful, and great in kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil (Jonah 4:2).

  
/ 10837  
  

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