Bibliorum

 

1 Mosebok 8

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1 Da kom Gud Noah i hu og alle de ville dyr og alt feet som var med ham i arken; og Gud lot en vind fare over jorden, og vannet falt.

2 Og det store dyps kilder og himmelens sluser lukkedes, og regnet fra himmelen stanset.

3 Og vannet vek efterhånden tilbake fra jorden, og vannet begynte å ta av, da hundre og femti dager var gått.

4 Og i den syvende måned, på den syttende dag i måneden, blev arken stående på Ararat-fjellene.

5 Og vannet tok mere og mere av inntil den tiende måned; i den tiende måned, på den første dag i måneden, kom fjelltoppene til syne.

6 Og da firti dager var gått, åpnet Noah vinduet på arken som han hadde gjort,

7 og sendte ut en ravn; den fløi frem og tilbake, inntil vannet var tørket bort av jorden.

8 Så sendte han en due ut fra sig for å se om vannet var sunket bort fra jordens overflate.

9 Men duen fant ikke noget hvilested for sin fot, og den kom tilbake til ham i arken, for det stod vann over hele jorden. Da rakte han ut sin hånd og tok den inn til sig i arken.

10 Så bidde han ennu syv dager til og sendte så atter duen ut av arken.

11 Og duen kom til ham ved aftenstid, og se, den hadde et friskt oljeblad i nebbet; da skjønte Noah at vannet var sunket bort fra jorden.

12 Men han bidde ennu syv dager til; så sendte han duen ut, og da kom den ikke tilbake til ham mere.

13 I det seks hundre og første år, i den første måned, på den første dag i måneden, var vannet tørket bort fra jorden. Da tok Noah taket av arken; og han så ut, og se, jorden var tørr.

14 Og i den annen måned, på den syv og tyvende dag i måneden, var jorden aldeles tørr.

15 Da talte Gud til Noah og sa:

16 Gå ut av arken, du og din hustru og dine sønner og dine sønners hustruer med dig.

17 Alle de dyr som er hos dig, alt kjød, både fuglene og feet og alt krypet som rører sig på jorden, skal du føre ut med dig, og de skal vrimle på jorden og være fruktbare og bli mange på jorden.

18 Så gikk han ut, og hans sønner og hans hustru og hans sønners hustruer med ham.

19 Alle dyrene, alt krypet og alle fuglene, alt som rører sig på jorden, gikk ut av arken, hvert efter sitt slag.

20 Og Noah bygget Herren et alter, og han tok av alle de rene dyr og av alle de rene fugler og ofret brennoffer på alteret.

21 Og Herren kjente den velbehagelige duft. Og Herren sa i sitt hjerte: Jeg vil aldri mere forbanne jorden for menneskets skyld; for menneskehjertets tanker er onde fra ungdommen av; og jeg vil aldri mere drepe alt levende, som jeg nu har gjort.

22 Herefter skal, så lenge jorden står, sæd og høst, og frost og hete, og sommer og vinter, og dag og natt aldri høre op.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #847

Studere hoc loco

  
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847. And the waters receded from off the earth, going and returning. That this signifies fluctuations between what is true and what is false, is evident from what has been said: that the waters of the flood, or inundations, with respect to Noah, signified temptations; for as the subject is here the first state after temptation, the “waters receding, going and returning” can signify nothing else than fluctuation between truths and falsities. The nature of this fluctuation, however, cannot be known unless it is known what temptation is, for such as is the temptation, such is the fluctuation after it. When the temptation is celestial, then the fluctuation is between good and evil; when it is spiritual, the fluctuation is between what is true and what is false; and when it is natural, the fluctuation is between the things that belong to and those which are contrary to the cupidities.

[2] There are many kinds of temptations, which are in general the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural; and these ought never to be confounded. Celestial temptations can exist only with those who are in love to the Lord, and spiritual ones with those only who are in charity toward the neighbor. Natural temptations are altogether distinct from these, and indeed are not temptations, but merely anxieties arising from natural loves being assailed by misfortunes, diseases, or a depraved condition of the blood and other fluids of the body. From this brief account it may in some degree be known what temptation is, namely, anguish and anxiety occasioned by whatever opposes one’s loves. Thus with those who are in love to the Lord, whatever assails this love produces an inmost torture, which is celestial temptation; with those who are in love toward the neighbor, or charity, whatever assails this love occasions torment of conscience, and this is spiritual temptation.

[3] But with those who are natural, what they frequently call temptations and the pangs of conscience, are not temptations, but only anxieties arising from their loves being assailed, as when they foresee and are sensible of the loss of honor, of the good things of the world, of reputation, pleasures, bodily life, and the like; nevertheless these troubles are wont to be productive of some good. Temptations are moreover experienced by those who are in natural charity, and consequently by all kinds of heretics, Gentiles, and idolaters, arising from assaults on the life of their faith which they cherish. But these are distresses that merely emulate spiritual temptations.

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

Bibliorum

 

Genesis 8

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1 God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided.

2 The deep's fountains and the sky's windows were also stopped, and the rain from the sky was restrained.

3 The waters receded from the earth continually. After the end of one hundred fifty days the waters decreased.

4 The ship rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on Ararat's mountains.

5 The waters receded continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

6 It happened at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made,

7 and he sent forth a raven. It went back and forth, until the waters were dried up from the earth.

8 He sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground,

9 but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship; for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship.

10 He stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ship.

11 The dove came back to him at evening, and, behold, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth.

12 He stayed yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she didn't return to him any more.

13 It happened in the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ship, and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dried.

14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15 God spoke to Noah, saying,

16 "Go out of the ship, you, and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you.

17 Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth."

18 Noah went forth, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives with him.

19 Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, after their families, went out of the ship.

20 Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike everything living, as I have done.

22 While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."