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Genesis 6

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1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born unto them,

2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose.

3 And Jehovah said, My spirit shall not strive with man for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.

4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.

5 And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 And it repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

7 And Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah.

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, [and] perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God.

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

11 And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

15 And this is how thou shalt make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

16 A light shalt thou make to the ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

17 And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon this earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is in the earth shall die.

18 But I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

20 Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #10441

Studere hoc loco

  
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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).

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