The Bible

 

Genesis 9

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1 And God gave his blessing to Noah and his sons, and said, Be fertile, and have increase, and make the earth full.

2 And the fear of you will be strong in every beast of the earth and every bird of the air; everything which goes on the land, and all the fishes of the sea, are given into your hands.

3 Every living and moving thing will be food for you; I give them all to you as before I gave you all green things.

4 But flesh with the life-blood in it you may not take for food.

5 And for your blood, which is your life, will I take payment; from every beast I will take it, and from every man will I take payment for the blood of his brother-man.

6 Whoever takes a man's life, by man will his life be taken; because God made man in his image.

7 And now, be fertile and have increase; have offspring on the earth and become great in number.

8 And God said to Noah and to his sons,

9 Truly, I will make my agreement with you and with your seed after you,

10 And with every living thing with you, all birds and cattle and every beast of the earth which comes out of the ark with you.

11 And I will make my agreement with you; never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters; never again will the waters come over all the earth for its destruction.

12 And God said, This is the sign of the agreement which I make between me and you and every living thing with you, for all future generations:

13 I will put my bow in the cloud and it will be for a sign of the agreement between me and the earth.

14 And whenever I make a cloud come over the earth, the bow will be seen in the cloud,

15 And I will keep in mind the agreement between me and you and every living thing; and never again will there be a great flow of waters causing destruction to all flesh.

16 And the bow will be in the cloud, and looking on it, I will keep in mind the eternal agreement between God and every living thing on the earth.

17 And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the agreement which I have made between me and all flesh on the earth.

18 And the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham is the father of Canaan.

19 These three were the sons of Noah and from them all the earth was peopled.

20 In those days Noah became a farmer, and he made a vine-garden.

21 And he took of the wine of it and was overcome by drink; and he was uncovered in his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father unclothed, and gave news of it to his two brothers outside.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a robe, and putting it on their backs went in with their faces turned away, and put it over their father so that they might not see him unclothed.

24 And, awaking from his wine, Noah saw what his youngest son had done to him, and he said,

25 Cursed be Canaan; let him be a servant of servants to his brothers.

26 And he said, Praise to the Lord, the God of Shem; let Canaan be his servant.

27 May God make Japheth great, and let his living-place be in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.

28 And Noah went on living three hundred and fifty years after the great flow of waters;

29 all the years of his life were nine hundred and fifty: and he came to his end.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1010

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1010. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood in man. That this signifies extinguishing charity, and that “in man” is with man, is evident from the signification of “blood”—concerning which above—as being the holy of charity, and from its being said “man’s blood in man.” This means his internal life, which is not in him, but with him; for the life of the Lord is charity, which is not in man, because he is filthy and profane, but is with man. That “shedding blood” is inflicting violence on charity, is evident from passages in the Word, as from those adduced before n. 374, 376), where it was shown that violence inflicted upon charity is called “blood.” “Shedding blood” is in the literal sense killing, but in the internal sense it is bearing hatred against the neighbor, as the Lord teaches in Matthew:

Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment; but I say unto you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment (Matthew 5:21-22).

Here “being angry” signifies receding from charity (on which see n. 357), and consequently hatred.

[2] He who is in hatred, not only has no charity, but also inflicts violence on charity, that is, “sheds blood.” In hatred lies actual murder, as is manifest from this, that he who is in hatred desires nothing so much as that the one he hates should be killed; and if he were not withheld by outward restraints, he would kill him. For this reason the “killing of a brother and the shedding of his blood” is hatred; and since it is hatred, there is this in every idea of his against him. It is the same with profanation. He who profanes the Word, as has been said, not only holds truth in hatred, but also extinguishes, or kills it. This is manifest from those in the other life who have committed profanation; no matter how upright, wise, and devout they have appeared outwardly during their life in the body, in the other life they hold the Lord in deadly hatred, and also all the goods of love and truths of faith, for the reason that these are opposed to their inward hatred, robbery, and adultery, which they have veiled with a show of holiness, and while adulterating the goods of love and truths of faith to favor themselves.

[3] That “blood” means profanation, is evident not only from the passages adduced above n. 374), but also from the following in Moses:

What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it without the camp, and hath not brought it unto the door of the tent of meeting, to offer it as an oblation unto Jehovah before the tabernacle of Jehovah, blood shall be imputed unto that man, he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people (Leviticus 17:3-4).

Sacrificing in any other place than on the altar, which was near the tabernacle, represented profanation; for sacrificing was a holy thing, but profane if in the camp or outside the camp.

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