The Bible

 

Postanak 21

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1 Jahve se sjeti Sare kako je rekao i učini joj kako je obećao:

2 Sara zače i rodi Abrahamu sina u njegovoj starosti - u vrijeme koje je Bog označio.

3 Abraham nadjene ime Izak svome sinu što mu ga Sara rodi.

4 I poslije osam dana obreza Abraham svoga sina Izaka, kako mu je Bog naredio.

5 Abrahamu bijaše stotinu godina kad mu se rodio sin Izak.

6 Sara reče: "Dade mi Bog da se nasmijem, i tko god to čuje nasmijat će mi se."

7 Još doda: "Tko bi ikad rekao Abrahamu: djecu će ti Sara dojiti! Ipak sina mu rodih u starosti".

8 Dijete je raslo i bilo od sise odbijeno. A u dan u koji Izak bijaše od sise odbijen Abraham priredi veliku gozbu.

9 Jednom opazi Sara gdje se sin koga je Egipćanka Hagara Abrahamu rodila igra s njezinim sinom Izakom,

10 pa reče Abrahamu: "Otjeraj tu sluškinju i njezina sina, jer sin sluškinje ne smije biti baštinik s mojim sinom - s Izakom!"

11 To je Abrahamu bilo nemilo, jer je i Jišmael bio njegov sin.

12 Ali Bog reče Abrahamu: "Nemoj se uznemirivati zbog dječaka i zbog svoje sluškinje; sve što ti kaže Sara poslušaj, jer će Izakovo potomstvo tebi ovjekovječiti ime.

13 I od sina tvoje sluškinje podići ću velik narod, jer je tvoj potomak."

14 Rano ujutro Abraham uze kruha i mješinicu vode pa dade Hagari; stavi to na njezina ramena, zajedno s dječakom, te je otpusti. Vrludala je amo-tamo po pustinji Beer Šebe.

15 Potrošivši vodu iz mješinice, ostavi dijete pod jednim grmom,

16 a sama ode i sjede nasuprot, daleko koliko luk može dobaciti. Govorila je u sebi: "Neću da vidim kako dijete umire." Sjedeći tako, udari u jecanje.

17 Bog ču plač dječaka te anđeo Božji zovne s neba Hagaru i reče joj: "Što ti je, Hagaro? Ne boj se! Jer je Bog čuo plač dječaka u njegovoj nevolji.

18 Na noge! Digni dječaka i utješi ga, jer od njega ću podići velik narod."

19 Tada joj Bog otvori oči pa ona opazi studenac. Ode i napuni vodom mješinicu pa napoji dječaka.

20 Bog je bio s dječakom te je rastao i odrastao. Živio je u pustinji te postao vješt u strijeljanju iz luka.

21 Dom mu bijaše u pustinji Paranu; a njegova mu majka dobavi ženu iz zemlje egipatske.

22 U to vrijeme Abimelek - koga je pratio Fikol, zapovjednik njegove vojske - reče Abrahamu: "Bog je s tobom u svemu što radiš.

23 Stoga mi se ovdje i sada zakuni Bogom da nećeš varati ni mene ni moju rodbinu i prijatelje nego da ćeš se prema meni i prema zemlji u kojoj sad boraviš ponašati pošteno, kao što sam se ja prema tebi ponio."

24 "Kunem se", odgovori Abraham.

25 Onda Abraham prekori Abimeleka zbog zdenca vode što su ga Abimelekove sluge bile prisvojile.

26 A Abimelek reče: "Ne znam tko je to učinio; ni ti me nisi o tome obavijestio, niti sam ja o tome čuo, osim danas."

27 Abraham uzme ovaca i goveda pa ih dade Abimeleku te njih dvojica sklope savez.

28 Potom Abraham razluči napose sedam janjaca od stada.

29 Nato Abimelek zapita Abrahama: "Što znači ovih sedam janjaca koje si na stranu stavio?"

30 A on odgovori: "Primi ovih sedam janjaca iz moje ruke da mi bude dokazom da sam ja iskopao ovaj zdenac."

31 Zato se ono mjesto nazvalo Beer Šeba; jer se njih dvojica ondje zakleše.

32 Pošto su sklopili savez kod Beer Šebe, Abimelek i zapovjednik njegove vojske Fikol odu i vrate se u zemlju Filistejaca.

33 Abraham zasadi kod Beer Šebe tamarisku i ondje zazove ime Jahve - Boga Vječnoga.

34 Dugo je vremena Abraham proveo u zemlji filistejskoj kao pridošlica.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2689

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2689. 'And lifted up her voice and wept' means a further degree of grief. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'lifting up the voice and weeping' as the utmost extremity of grief, for weeping with a loud voice is nothing else. Described in this verse is a state of desolation of truth and of withdrawal from truths, as experienced by those who are becoming spiritual. What this state is like must be explained briefly: People who are not able to be reformed have no knowledge at all of what it is to grieve on account of being deprived of truths, for they imagine that no one can possibly become distressed for a reason such as that. The only circumstances, they believe, which can lead to such distress exist when someone is deprived of those good gifts to men that are of a bodily and worldly kind, such as health, position, reputation, wealth, and life. But those who are able to be reformed believe altogether differently. They are maintained by the Lord in the affection for good and in the thought of truth, and therefore come to be distressed when deprived of these.

[2] It is well known that all distress and grief are the result of a person's being deprived of the things for which he has affection, that is, which he loves. Those whose affection is solely for bodily and worldly things, that is, who love solely these, grieve when deprived of them, whereas those whose affection is for spiritual goods and truths, and who love these, grieve when deprived of them. The life in any person is nothing else than affection or love. From this one may see the nature of the state of those who are desolated as regards the goods and truths for which they have affection, that is, which they love; that is to say, one may see that their state of grief, being more interior, is more severe, and that in being deprived of good and truth it is not death of the body which they are bothered about but eternal death. It is their state which is described here.

[3] So that it may also be known which people can be maintained by the Lord in the affection for good and truth and so be reformed and become spiritual, and which ones cannot, this too must be explained briefly. In childhood everyone, when being for the first time endowed with goods and truths, is maintained by the Lord in the affirmative attitude that anything said or taught by parents and teachers is true. With those who are able to become spiritual this affirmative attitude is strengthened by means of facts and cognitions, for whatever they learn and is relevant introduces itself into the affirmative outlook and strengthens it, leading more and more towards affection for it. These are ones who become spiritual in accordance with the essence of the truth in which they have faith, and who are victorious in temptations. But it is quite different with those who are not able to become spiritual. Although in childhood an affirmative attitude exists with them, when they are older they allow doubts to enter in which thus destroy the affirmative attitude towards good and truth. And when they reach adult years they allow denials to enter in, and even the affection for what is false to enter in. If such people were led into temptations they would give in completely. Consequently they are kept free from them.

[4] But the real reason why they allow doubts and subsequently denials to enter in may be traced back to their life of evil. People who lead a life of evil cannot possibly do otherwise. The life in any person, as has been stated, is affection or love, and as is the nature of that affection or love so is the nature of his thought. The affection for evil and the thought of truth never join themselves together. In cases where they seem to join themselves, they do not in fact do so, for the thought of truth exists without the affection for it. With such people therefore truth is not truth, but merely a sound or something on the lips, from which the heart is far away. Even very wicked people can know such truth, better than anybody else sometimes. Some are also so strongly persuaded by truth of that kind that no one can see it as other than genuine. But it is not genuine truth if the life of good is absent. It is affection belonging to self-love or love of the world which causes that strong persuasion of it, which they also defend with a vehemence that is evidence of apparent zeal; indeed they go so far as to condemn people who do not receive it or believe it in a similar way. But this kind of truth varies from one person to another according to his basic way of thinking, the strength of that truth depending on the strength of his self-love or his love of the world. It is, it is true, born together with evil, but it does not join itself to evil, and therefore in the next life is rooted out. It is different in the case of those who lead a life of good; in them the truth itself finds its soil, and its ability to grow, and from the Lord its life.

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