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Genesis 3

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1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, "Has God really said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'"

2 The woman said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat,

3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

4 The serpent said to the woman, "You won't surely die,

5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.

7 The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8 They heard the voice of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.

9 Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

10 The man said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."

11 God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

12 The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."

13 Yahweh God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

14 Yahweh God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel."

16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

17 To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

18 Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.

19 By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

20 The man called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

21 Yahweh God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.

22 Yahweh God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever..."

23 Therefore Yahweh God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed Cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

   

De obras de Swedenborg

 

Divine Providence #311

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311. Given this description of our own prudence and of people who believe in it, we can see the nature of the prudence that is not our own and of the people who believe in it. That is, the prudence that is not our own is the prudence people have who do not convince themselves that they are the source of their intelligence and wisdom. They say, "How can people be the source of their own wisdom? How can they do what is good with their own strength?" and when they say it they see within themselves that it is true. Inwardly, they think and believe that other people share this belief, especially educated people, because they do not see how anyone can only think more superficially.

[2] Since they are not subject to illusions because of any rationalizations of appearances, they both know and feel that murder, adultery, theft, and perjury are sins, and they therefore abstain from them. They know and feel that malice is not wisdom and that shrewdness is not intelligence. When they hear clever arguments based on illusions, they shake their heads and laugh to themselves. This is because there is no veil between their inner and outer processes, or between the spiritual and the earthly levels of their minds the way there is in sense-centered people. As a result, they are open to an inflow from heaven that enables them to see things like this more deeply.

[3] They talk more simply and candidly than others and see wisdom as a matter of life rather than of conversation. They are relatively like lambs and doves, while people devoted to their own prudence are like wolves and foxes. Or again, they are like people who live in a house and see the sky through their windows, while people devoted to their own prudence are like people who live in a basement and see nothing through their windows but what is underground. Or again, they are like people standing on a mountain watching people devoted to their own prudence wandering around in the valleys and in the forests.

[4] This shows that a prudence that is not our own is a prudence that comes from the Lord. Outwardly, it looks like our own prudence, but it is totally different inwardly. Inwardly, the prudence that is not our own looks human in the spiritual world, while our own prudence looks like a statue that seems to be alive, solely because people with this prudence still have rationality and freedom, or the ability to discern and to intend and therefore to talk and act. These abilities enable them to pretend to be human. The reason they are statues like this is that what is evil and false is not alive. Only what is good and true is alive; and since they know this rationally--otherwise they would not put on the pretense--they have some lifelike humanity in their statues.

[5] Can anyone fail to realize that our real quality is our inner quality, and that therefore a real person is one whose inner quality is what he or she wants people to see outwardly, and that a statue is someone who is human only outwardly and not inwardly? Think the way you talk--in favor of God, in favor of religion, in favor of justice and honesty--and you will be human. Then divine providence will be your prudence, and you will see in others that their own prudence is insanity.

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