The Bible

 

Postanak 7

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1 Onda Jahve reče Noi: "Uđi ti i sva tvoja obitelj u korablju, jer sam uvidio da si ti jedini preda mnom pravedan u ovom vremenu.

2 Uzmi sa sobom od svih čistih životinja po sedam parova: mužjaka i njegovu ženku.

3 Isto tako od ptica nebeskih po sedam parova - mužjaka i ženku - da im se sjeme sačuva na zemlji.

4 Jer ću do sedam dana pustiti dažd po zemlji četrdeset dana i četrdeset noći te ću istrijebiti s lica zemlje svako živo biće što sam ga načinio."

5 Noa učini sve kako mu je Jahve naredio.

6 Noi bijaše šest stotina godina kad je potop došao na zemlju.

7 I pred vodama potopnim uđu s Noom u korablju njegovi sinovi, njegova žena i žene sinova njegovih.

8 Od čistih životinja i od životinja koje nisu čiste, od ptica, od svega što zemljom puzi,

9 uđe po dvoje - mužjak i ženka - u korablju s Noom, kako je Bog naredio Noi.

10 A sedmoga dana zapljušte potopne vode po zemlji.

11 U dan onaj - šestote godine Noina života, mjeseca drugog, dana u mjesecu sedamnaestog - navale svi izvori bezdana, rastvore se ustave nebeske.

12 I udari dažd na zemlju da pljušti četrdeset dana i četrdeset noći.

13 Onog dana uđe u korablju Noa i njegovi sinovi: Šem, Ham i Jafet, Noina žena i tri žene Noinih sinova s njima;

14 oni, pa sve vrste životinja: stoka, gmizavci što po tlu gmižu, ptice i svakovrsna krilata stvorenja,

15 uđu u korablju s Noom, po dvoje od svih bića što u sebi imaju dah života.

16 Što uđe, sve bijaše par, mužjak i ženka od svih bića, kako je Bog naredio Noi. Onda Jahve zatvori za njim vrata.

17 Pljusak je na zemlju padao četrdeset dana; vode sveudilj rasle i korablju nosile: digla se visoko iznad zemlje.

18 Vode su nad zemljom bujale i visoko rasle, a korablja plovila površinom.

19 Vode su sve silnije navaljivale i rasle nad zemljom, tako te prekriše sva najviša brda pod nebom.

20 Petnaest lakata dizale se vode povrh potonulih brda.

21 Izgiboše sva bića što se po zemlji kreću: ptice, stoka, zvijeri, svi gmizavci i svi ljudi.

22 Sve što u svojim nosnicama imaše dah života - sve što bijaše na kopnu - izgibe.

23 Istrijebi se svako biće s površja zemaljskog: čovjek, životinje, gmizavci i ptice nebeske, sve se izbrisa sa zemlje. Samo Noa ostade i oni što bijahu s njim u korablji.

24 Stotinu pedeset dana vladahu vode zemljom.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #904

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904. That 'God spoke to Noah' means the Lord's presence with the member of the Church becomes clear from the internal sense of the Word. The Lord speaks to everybody, for whatever good and truth a person wills and thinks comes from the Lord. With everyone there are at least two evil spirits and two angels. The former activate his evils whereas the latter instill goods and truths. Every good or truth that angels instill is the Lord's; in this way the Lord is constantly speaking to man, though quite differently from one person to the next. To people who allow themselves to be carried away by evil spirits the Lord speaks as though He were not present, or so far away that He can hardly be said to be speaking. But to those who are being led by the Lord, the Lord speaks as one who is quite present. This becomes clear enough from the fact that nobody can possibly think of anything good and true except from the Lord.

[2] The Lord's presence is relative to the state of love towards the neighbour and of faith present in a person. It is in love towards the neighbour that the Lord is present, for He is present in all good, and not so much in so-called faith that is devoid of love. Faith devoid of love and charity is something severed or disjoined. Wherever conjunction exists there has to be a conjoining agency, which is exclusively love and charity. This may become clear to anyone from the fact that the Lord has compassion on everybody, loves everyone, and wishes to make everyone eternally happy. A person therefore who is devoid of the kind of love that leads him to have compassion on others, to love them, and to wish to make them happy, cannot be joined to the Lord because he is not at all like Him, and is in no sense the image of Him. Looking to the Lord by means of that which goes by the name of faith while hating the neighbour amounts not only to standing a long way off, but also to having between himself and the Lord a hell-like chasm into which the person would fall if he wished to go any nearer. For it is hatred towards the neighbour that constitutes that intervening hell-like chasm.

[3] The Lord is present with a person the moment he starts to love the neighbour. It is in love that the Lord is present, and to the extent that a person has love the Lord is present. And to the extent that the Lord is present He speaks to man. No one knows anything other than that he thinks from himself. Yet he possesses not one single idea of thought, not even the shred of an idea, from himself. Rather that which is evil and false he possesses through evil spirits from hell, and that which is good and true through angels from the Lord. Such is influx, the channel by which a person's life comes and by which consequently his soul interacts with the body. All these considerations make clear what 'God spoke to Noah' means. 'Saying to someone' means one thing, as in Genesis 1:29; 3:13-14, 17; 4:6, 9, 15; 6:13; 7:1, while 'speaking to someone' means another. Here speaking to Noah' means His being present, for the subject now is the regenerate person, who has had charity conferred on him.

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