The Bible

 

創世記 7

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1 耶和華挪亞:你和你的全家都要進入方舟;因為在這世代中,我見你在我面前是人。

2 凡潔淨的畜類,你要帶母;不潔淨的畜類,你要帶一公一母;

3 空中的飛也要帶母,可以留種,活在全上;

4 因為再過,我要降四十晝夜,把我所造的各種活物都從上除滅。

5 挪亞就遵著耶和華所吩咐的行了。

6 洪水氾濫在上的時候,挪亞整歲。

7 挪亞就同他的妻和兒子兒婦都進入方舟,躲避洪水。

8 潔淨的畜類和不潔淨的畜類,飛並地上一切的昆蟲,

9 是一對一對的,有公有母,到挪亞那裡進入方舟,正如所吩咐挪亞的。

10 過了那洪水氾濫在上。

11 當挪亞歲,二十七日那一天,大淵的泉源都裂開了上的窗戶也敞開了

12 四十晝夜降大雨在上。

13 正當那日,挪亞和他個兒子、含、雅弗,並挪亞的妻子個兒婦,都進入方舟。

14 他們和百,各從其類,一切牲畜,各從其類,爬在上的昆蟲,各從其類,一切禽,各從其類,都進入方舟。

15 凡有血、有氣息的活物,一對一對地到挪亞那裡,進入方舟。

16 凡有血進入方舟的,都是有公有母,正如所吩咐挪亞的。耶和華就把他在方舟裡頭。

17 洪水氾濫在四十,水往上長,把方舟從上漂起。

18 水勢浩大,在上大大往上長,方舟在水面上漂來漂去。

19 水勢在上極其浩大,都淹沒了。

20 勢比高過十五肘,嶺都淹沒了。

21 凡在上有血動物,就是飛牲畜、走,和爬在上的昆蟲,以及所有的人,都死了。

22 凡在旱地上、鼻孔有氣息的生靈都死了

23 上各類的活物,連人帶牲畜、昆蟲,以及空中的飛,都從上除滅了,只留下挪亞和那些與他同在方舟裡的。

24 水勢浩大,在上共一五十

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #705

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705. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Here the subject in particular is the Flood, which means not only the temptations that the member of the Church called Noah had to undergo before he could be regenerated, but also the desolation of those who were incapable of being regenerated. In the Word both temptations and desolations are compared to floods or deluges of waters, and are actually called such.

TEMPTATIONS

In Isaiah,

For a brief moment I forsook you, and with great compassion I will regather you. In a deluge of wrath I hid My face 1 from you for a moment, but with everlasting mercy I will have mercy on you, said Jehovah your Redeemer, for this is the waters of Noah to Me, to whom I swore that the waters of Noah should go no more over the earth. Thus have I sworn that I will not be angry with you and rebuke you. O afflicted one and storm-tossed, and receiving no comfort! Isaiah 54:7, 9, 11.

This refers to the Church that is to be regenerated, and to temptations which are called 'the waters of Noah'.

[2] Besides this the Lord Himself calls temptations 'a deluge', in Luke,

Jesus said, Every one who comes to Me, and hears My words and does them, is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep, and laid the foundations upon rock; and when a deluge came, a stream broke against that house but was not strong enough to move it because it had been founded upon the rock. Luke 6:47-48.

The fact that 'a deluge' here is used to mean temptations may be clear to anyone.

DESOLATIONS

In Isaiah,

The Lord is causing to rise up over them the waters of the river, mighty and many, the king of Asshur and all his glory; and it is rising over all its channels, and will go over all its banks, and it will go through Judah, it will deluge it and pass through and will reach even to the neck. Isaiah 8:7-8.

Here 'the king of Asshur' stands for the delusions, false assumptions, and reasonings based on these, which desolate a person and which desolated the people before the Flood.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, waters rising out of the north, they will be a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Jeremiah 47:2-3.

This refers to the Philistines who represent people who adopt false assumptions and from them engage in reasonings about spiritual matters, which reasonings overwhelm a person as they did the people before the Flood.

The reason why in the Word both temptations and desolations are compared to floods or deluges of waters, and are actually called such, is that there is a similarity between the two, it being evil spirits who flow in with their persuasions and false assumptions which dwell with them and who activate the things of a like nature in man. With someone who is being regenerated they are temptations, but with someone who is not they are desolations.

Footnotes:

1. literally, faces

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