The Bible

 

Genesis 1

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1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was waste and without form; and it was dark on the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God, looking on the light, saw that it was good: and God made a division between the light and the dark,

5 Naming the light, Day, and the dark, Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first Day.

6 And God said, Let there be a solid arch stretching over the waters, parting the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the arch for a division between the waters which were under the arch and those which were over it: and it was so.

8 And God gave the arch the name of Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven come together in one place, and let the dry land be seen: and it was so.

10 And God gave the dry land the name of Earth; and the waters together in their place were named Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let grass come up on the earth, and plants producing seed, and fruit-trees giving fruit, in which is their seed, after their sort: and it was so.

12 And grass came up on the earth, and every plant producing seed of its sort, and every tree producing fruit, in which is its seed, of its sort: and God saw that it was good.

13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the arch of heaven, for a division between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for marking the changes of the year, and for days and for years:

15 And let them be for lights in the arch of heaven to give light on the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made the two great lights: the greater light to be the ruler of the day, and the smaller light to be the ruler of the night: and he made the stars.

17 And God put them in the arch of heaven, to give light on the earth;

18 To have rule over the day and the night, and for a division between the light and the dark: and God saw that it was good.

19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters be full of living things, and let birds be in flight over the earth under the arch of heaven.

21 And God made great sea-beasts, and every sort of living and moving thing with which the waters were full, and every sort of winged bird: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God gave them his blessing, saying, Be fertile and have increase, making all the waters of the seas full, and let the birds be increased in the earth.

23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth give birth to all sorts of living things, cattle and all things moving on the earth, and beasts of the earth after their sort: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after its sort, and the cattle after their sort, and everything moving on the face of the earth after its sort: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.

27 And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.

28 And God gave them his blessing and said to them, Be fertile and have increase, and make the earth full and be masters of it; be rulers over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing moving on the earth.

29 And God said, See, I have given you every plant producing seed, on the face of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit producing seed: they will be for your food:

30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and every living thing moving on the face of the earth I have given every green plant for food: and it was so.

31 And God saw everything which he had made and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #50

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50. The Most Ancient Church understood by the “image of the Lord” more than can be expressed. Man is altogether ignorant that he is governed of the Lord through angels and spirits, and that with everyone there are at least two spirits, and two angels. By spirits man has communication with the world of spirits, and by angels with heaven. Without communication by means of spirits with the world of spirits, and by means of angels with heaven, and thus through heaven with the Lord, man could not live at all; his life entirely depends on this conjunction, so that if the spirits and angels were to withdraw, he would instantly perish.

[2] While man is unregenerate he is governed quite otherwise than when regenerated. While unregenerate there are evil spirits with him, who so domineer over him that the angels, though present, are scarcely able to do anything more than merely guide him so that he may not plunge into the lowest evil, and bend him to some good-in fact bend him to good by means of his own cupidities, and to truth by means of the fallacies of the senses. He then has communication with the world of spirits through the spirits who are with him, but not so much with heaven, because evil spirits rule, and the angels only avert their rule.

[3] But when the man is regenerate, the angels rule, and inspire him with all goods and truths, and with fear and horror of evils and falsities. The angels indeed lead, but only as ministers, for it is the Lord alone who governs man through angels and spirits. And as this is done through the ministry of angels, it is here first said, in the plural number, “Let us make man in our image;” and yet because the Lord alone governs and disposes, it is said in the following verse, in the singular number, “God created him in His own image.” This the Lord also plainly declares in Isaiah:

Thus saith Jehovah thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb, I Jehovah make all things, stretching forth the heavens alone, spreading abroad the earth by Myself (Isaiah 44:24).

The angels moreover themselves confess that there is no power in them, but that they act from the Lord alone.

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