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Genesis 41

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1 And it was, from the end of two·​·years of days, and Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river.

2 And behold, from the river there came·​·up seven cows, beautiful in appearance and nourished in flesh; and they pastured in the sedge.

3 And behold, seven other cows came·​·up after them out·​·of the river, evil of appearance and thin in flesh, and stood beside the cows upon the lip of the river.

4 And the cows, bad of appearance and thin in flesh, did eat up the seven cows, beautiful of appearance and nourished. And Pharaoh awoke.

5 And he slept and dreamed a second time, and behold, seven ears of grain came·​·up upon one reed, nourished and good.

6 And behold, seven ears thin and scorched by the east·​·wind grew after them.

7 And the thin ears swallowed·​·up the seven nourished and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

8 And it was, in the morning, and his spirit was disquieted; and he sent and called all the magicians of Egypt, and all her wise men; and Pharaoh told· them ·of his dream; and no·​·one interpreted these things to Pharaoh.

9 And spoke the prince of the cupbearers with Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my sins today.

10 Pharaoh was·​·enraged against his servants, and put me under guard in the house of the prince of the guards, me and the prince of the bakers;

11 and we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed a man according·​·to the interpretation of his dream.

12 And there was with us there a Hebrew lad, servant to the prince of the guards; and we recounted to him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to a man according·​·to his dream he did interpret.

13 And it was, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he returned to my position, and him he hanged.

14 And Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they hurried him* from the pit; and he trimmed his hair, and changed his raiment, and came to Pharaoh.

15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it; and I have heard concerning thee, saying, thou hearest a dream to interpret it.

16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, Not to me; God shall answer peace to Pharaoh.

17 And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, In my dream behold, I stood on the lip of the river;

18 and behold, from the river there came·​·up seven cows, nourished in flesh and beautiful of form; and they pastured in the sedge.

19 and behold, seven other cows came·​·up afterwards, poor and very bad in form, and slender in flesh; they were as I have not seen in all the land of Egypt for badness;

20 and the slender and bad cows did eat·​·up the first seven nourished cows;

21 and they came·​·in to their inward·​·parts, and it was not known that they had come·​·in to their inward·​·parts; and their appearance was bad, as in the beginning. And I awoke.

22 And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears came·​·up upon one reed, full and good;

23 and behold, seven ears, shriveled, thin, and scorched by the east·​·wind, grew up after them;

24 and the thin ears swallowed·​·up the seven good ears; and I say it to the magicians; and no·​·one tells it to me.

25 And Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh, it is one; what God is doing He has told to Pharaoh.

26 The seven good cows, they are seven years, and the seven good ears, they are seven years; the dream, it is one.

27 And the seven slender and evil cows that came·​·up after them, they are seven years, and the seven empty ears scorched with the east·​·wind shall be seven years of famine.

28 This is the word*, that I spoke to Pharaoh; what God does He has caused Pharaoh to see.

29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty in all the land of Egypt;

30 and there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume·​·all the land;

31 and the plenty shall not ·be known in the land from the faces of that famine after it, for it shall be very heavy.

32 And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh two·​·times, for the word is established by God, and God is hastening to do it.

33 And now let Pharaoh see a man with understanding and wisdom, and put him over the land of Egypt.

34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take the fifth of the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty.

35 And let them bring·​·together all the food of those good years that come, and pile·​·up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them guard it.

36 And the food shall be for a deposit for the land for the seven years of the famine that shall be in the land of Egypt; and the land shall not be cut·​·off in the famine.

37 And the word was·​·good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.

38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, Shall we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?

39 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has caused thee to know all this, there is no·​·one so with understanding and wisdom as thou.

40 Thou shalt be over my house, and upon thy mouth shall all my people kiss; only in the throne will I be·​·greater than thou.

41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have put thee over all the land of Egypt.

42 And Pharaoh removed his ring from upon his hand, and put it upon the hand of Joseph, and clothed him in garments of fine·​·linen, and set a necklace of gold upon his neck;

43 and he had him ride in the second chariot that he had; and they proclaimed before him, Abrech*; and he put him over all the land of Egypt.

44 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and besides thee shall no man lift·​·high his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneach; and he gave him Asenath the daughter of Potiphera priest of On for a woman; and Joseph went·​·out over the land of Egypt.

46 And Joseph was a son of thirty years when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went·​·out from before Pharaoh, and passed into all the land of Egypt.

47 And the land made a gathering* by handfuls in the seven years of plenty.

48 And he brought·​·together all the food of the seven years that were in the land of Egypt, and put the food in cities; the food of the field of the city, that which was all around her, he put in the midst of her.

49 And Joseph piled·​·up grain as the sand of the sea, multiplying it exceedingly, until he stopped numbering, for it had no number.

50 And to Joseph was·​·born* two sons before the year of famine came, to whom Asenath the daughter of Potiphera priest of On gave·​·birth for him.

51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh; For God has made me forget all my labor, and all the house of my father.

52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim; For God has made· me ·fruitful in the land of my affliction.

53 And the seven years of plenty, which was in the land of Egypt, were completed.

54 And the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said; and there was famine in all the lands; and in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

55 And all the land of Egypt was·​·hungry, and the people cried to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all Egypt, Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.

56 And the famine was on all the faces of the land; and Joseph opened all that was in them*, and rationed to Egypt; and the famine held·​·firm in the land of Egypt.

57 And all the land came to Egypt to purchase, to Joseph; for the famine held·​·firm in all the land.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #5131

Studere hoc loco

  
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5131. 'When it is well with you' means when a correspondence exists. This is clear from the meaning - when the subject is the rebirth or regeneration of the exterior natural or sensory power - of 'being well with you' as a correspondence that exists, for until that power corresponds things are not well with it. What correspondence is may be seen at the ends of chapters. There is a correspondence of sensory impressions with natural ideas, a correspondence of natural ideas with spiritual realities, a correspondence of spiritual realities with celestial entities, and finally a correspondence of celestial entities with the Lord's Divine. Thus a sequence of correspondences exists extending from the Divine down to the last and lowest degree of the natural.

[2] Since it is difficult for anyone to have any conception of the nature of correspondences if he has not previously given any thought to them, a brief statement must therefore be made about them. It is well known from philosophy that the end is prior to the cause, and the cause prior to the effect. To enable end, cause, and effect to follow one another and act as one, the effect must correspond to the cause, and the cause must correspond to the end. Nevertheless the end does not manifest itself as the cause, nor does the cause manifest itself as the effect. Rather, to enable the cause to exist the end must act on the level where the cause belongs, calling on assistant means to help it - the end - to bring the cause into existence; and to enable the effect to exist the cause likewise must act on the level where the effect belongs, by calling on assistant means to help it - the cause - to bring the effect into existence. These assistant means are ones that correspond; and because they correspond, the end can exist within the cause and bring the cause into operation, and the cause can exist within the effect and bring the effect into operation. Consequently the end uses the cause to bring the effect into operation. But it is different when no correspondence exists. In this case the end does not have a cause in which it may exist, let alone any effect in which it may do so. Instead the end undergoes change and variation within the cause, and finally within the effect, according to the form which the assistant means create.

[3] All things without exception within the human being, indeed all things without exception in the natural creation, follow one another as end, cause, and effect. When these correspond to one another in this way they act as one, for in this case the end is the all in all of the cause, and through the cause is the all in all of the effect. Take for example heavenly love, when this is the end, the will is the cause, and action is the effect. If the three exist in correspondence with one another - that love flowing into the will, and the will into action - they then act as one, so much so through their correspondence with one another that the action is seen as the love. Or take for another example faith grounded in charity. When this is the end, thought is the cause, and conversation is the effect. If the three exist in correspondence with one another - if faith grounded in charity is flowing into a person's thought, and this into his conversation - they then act as one, so much so that through their correspondence with one another his conversation is seen as if it were the end. But to enable the cause to exist, which is will or thought, the end, which is love or faith, must call on assistant means within the rational mind which must correspond. For without the corresponding assistant means the end, which is love and faith, has nothing to receive it, even though it flows in from the Lord through heaven. From this it is evident that both the interior and the exterior aspects of the human being, that is, his rational concepts, natural ideas, and sensory impressions, must be brought into a state of correspondence so that the Divine can flow in and be received by a person, consequently so that he may be born again, prior to which all is not well with him. From all this one may see that 'when it is well with you' here means [when] a correspondence exists.

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