The Bible

 

Genesis 6

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1 And after a time, when men were increasing on the earth, and had daughters,

2 The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took wives for themselves from those who were pleasing to them.

3 And the Lord said, My spirit will not be in man for ever, for he is only flesh; so the days of his life will be a hundred and twenty years.

4 There were men of great strength and size on the earth in those days; and after that, when the sons of God had connection with the daughters of men, they gave birth to children: these were the great men of old days, the men of great name.

5 And the Lord saw that the sin of man was great on the earth, and that all the thoughts of his heart were evil.

6 And the Lord had sorrow because he had made man on the earth, and grief was in his heart.

7 And the Lord said, I will take away man, whom I have made, from the face of the earth, even man and beast and that which goes on the earth and every bird of the air; for I have sorrow for having made them.

8 But Noah had grace in the eyes of God.

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was an upright man and without sin in his generation: he went in the ways of God.

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

11 And the earth was evil in God's eyes and full of violent ways.

12 And God, looking on the earth, saw that it was evil: for the way of all flesh had become evil on the earth.

13 And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come; the earth is full of their violent doings, and now I will put an end to them with the earth.

14 Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood with rooms in it, and make it safe from the water inside and out.

15 And this is the way you are to make it: it is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.

16 You are to put a window in the ark, a cubit from the roof, and a door in the side of it, and you are to make it with a lower and second and third floors.

17 For truly, I will send a great flow of waters over the earth, for the destruction from under the heaven of all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything on the earth will come to an end.

18 But with you I will make an agreement; and you will come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.

19 And you will take with you into the ark two of every sort of living thing, and keep them safe with you; they will be male and female.

20 Two of every sort of bird and cattle and of every sort of living thing which goes on the earth will you take with you to keep them from destruction.

21 And make a store of every sort of food for yourself and them.

22 And all these things Noah did; as God said, so he did.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #574

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574. 'Flesh' means that man became bodily-minded. This is clear from the meaning of 'flesh' in the Word, where it is used to mean the whole of mankind in general and the bodily-minded man in particular. It is used to mean the whole of mankind in Joel,

I will pour out My spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Joel 2:28.

'Flesh' stands for mankind, 'spirit' for the influx of truth and good from the Lord. In David,

O You that hearest prayer, to You will all flesh come. Psalms 65:2.

Here 'flesh' stands for the whole of mankind. In Jeremiah,

Cursed is that man (vir) who trusts in man (homo) and makes flesh his arm. Jeremiah 17:5.

'Flesh' stands for mankind, 'arm' for power.

In Ezekiel,

And all flesh will know. Ezekiel 20:48, 49.

[2] In Zechariah,

Be silent, all flesh, before Jehovah. Zechariah 2:13.

Again 'flesh' stands for the whole of mankind. 'Flesh' stands for the bodily-minded man in particular in Isaiah,

The Egyptian is man (homo), and not God; and his horses are flesh and not spirit. Isaiah 31:3.

'Flesh' here indicates that their factual knowledge is concerned with things of the body. 'Horses' here and elsewhere in the Word stands for the rational.

In the same prophet,

One will strike down on the right and will be hungry; and they will eat on the left, and they will not be satisfied. Every man will eat the flesh of his own arm. Isaiah 9:20.

Here 'flesh' stands for the things that are man's own, all of which are of a bodily nature.

In the same prophet,

He will fat up from the soul even to the flesh. Isaiah 10:18.

'Flesh' stands for bodily things.

In the same prophet,

The glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together. A voice says, Cry! And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass. Isaiah 40:5-6.

'Flesh' stands for the whole of mankind as being bodily-minded.

[3] In the same prophet,

In fire Jehovah will dispute, and by His sword with all flesh, and the slain 1 of Jehovah will be multiplied. Isaiah 66:16.

'Fire' stands for the punishment of evil desires, 'sword' for the punishment of falsities, and 'flesh' for the bodily things of man. In David,

God remembered that they were flesh, a spirit going away so that it did not turn back. Psalms 78:39.

This refers to the people in the wilderness who craved for flesh, that is, a bodily-minded people. Their craving for flesh represented their desire for bodily things alone, see Numbers 11:32-34.

Footnotes:

1. literally, the pierced

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