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Genesis 15

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1 Když pak ty věci pominuly, stalo se slovo Hospodinovo k Abramovi u vidění, řkoucí: Neboj se, Abrame; já budu pavéza tvá, a odplata tvá velmi veliká.

2 Jemužto řekl Abram: Panovníče Hospodine, což mi dáš, poněvadž já scházím bez dětí, a ten, jemuž zanechám domu svého, bude Damašský Eliezer?

3 Řekl ještě Abram: Aj, mně jsi nedal semene; a aj, schovanec můj bude mým dědicem.

4 A aj, slovo Hospodinovo k němu, řkuci: Nebudeť ten dědicem tvým, ale kterýž vyjde z života tvého, ten dědicem tvým bude.

5 I vyvedl jej ven a řekl: Vzhlédniž nyní k nebi, a sečti hvězdy, budeš-li je však moci sčísti? řekl mu ještě: Tak bude símě tvé.

6 I uvěřil Hospodinu, a počteno mu to za spravedlnost.

7 (Nebo byl řekl jemu: Já jsem Hospodin, kterýž jsem tě vyvedl z Ur Kaldejských, aťbych dal zemi tuto k dědičnému vládařství.

8 I řekl: Panovníče Hospodine, po čem poznám, že ji dědičně obdržím?

9 I odpověděl jemu: Vezmi mně jalovici tříletou, a kozu tříletou, a skopce tříletého, hrdličku také a holoubátko.

10 Kterýžto vzav ty všecky věci, zroztínal je na poly, a rozložil na dvě straně, jednu polovici proti druhé; ptáků pak nezroztínal.

11 Ptáci pak sedali na ta mrtvá těla, a Abram je sháněl.

12 I stalo se, když slunce zapadalo, že dřímota těžká připadla na Abrama; a aj, hrůza a tma veliká obklíčila jej).

13 Řekl tedy Bůh Abramovi: To zajisté věz, že pohostinu bude símě tvé v zemi cizí, a v službu je podrobí, a trápiti je budou za čtyři sta let.

14 Však národ, jemuž sloužiti budou, já souditi budu; a potom vyjdou s velikým zbožím.

15 Ty pak půjdeš k otcům svým v pokoji; a pohřben budeš v starosti dobré.

16 A čtvrté pokolení sem se navrátí; nebť ještě není doplněna nepravost Amorejských.

17 I stalo se, když zapadlo slunce, a tma bylo, a aj, ukázala se pec kouřící se, a pochodně ohnivá, kteráž šla mezi díly těmi.

18 V ten den učinil Hospodin smlouvu s Abramem, řka: Semeni tvému dám zemi tuto, od řeky Egyptské až do řeky té veliké, řeky Eufraten:

19 Cinejské, Cenezejské, Cethmonské,

20 A Hetejské, Ferezejské, a Refaimské,

21 Amorejské, i Kananejské také, a Gergezejské a Jebuzejské.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1860

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1860. And there was thick darkness. That this signifies when hatred was in the place of charity, is evident from the signification of “thick darkness.” In the Word “darkness” signifies falsities, and “thick darkness” evils (as shown just below). There is “darkness” when falsity is in the place of truth; and there is “thick darkness” when evil is in the place of good, or what is precisely the same, when hatred is in the place of charity. When hatred is in the place of charity, the thick darkness is so great that the man is quite unaware that it is evil, still less that it is so great an evil as in the other life to thrust him down to hell, for they who are in hatred perceive a kind of delight and as it were a kind of life in it, and this delight and life themselves cause him scarcely to know but that it is good, for whatever favors a man’s pleasure and cupidity, because it favors his love, he feels as good, and this to such a degree that when he is told that it is infernal he can scarcely believe it, still less when he is told that such delight and life are in the other life turned into an excrementitious and cadaverous stench. And still less does he believe that he is becoming a devil and a horrible image of hell; for hell consists of nothing but hatreds and such diabolical forms.

[2] Yet anyone might know this who possesses any faculty for thinking, for if he should describe or represent, or if he could in any manner picture, hatred, he would do it no otherwise than by diabolical forms, such as those who are in hatred also become after death, and, wonderful to say, such men are capable of declaring that in the other life they shall come into heaven; some merely for saying that they have faith, when yet there are in heaven none but forms of charity, and what these are may be seen from experience (n. 553). Let all such therefore consider how these two forms, of hatred and of charity, can agree together in one place.

[3] That “darkness” signifies falsity, and “thick darkness” evil, may be seen from the following passages in the Word.

In Isaiah:

Behold, darkness covereth the earth, and thick darkness the peoples (Isaiah 60:2).

In Joel:

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Jehovah cometh, a day of darkness and thick darkness (Joel 2:1-2).

In Zephaniah:

That day is a day of wrath, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and thick darkness (Zeph. 1:15).

In Amos:

Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light, and thick darkness and no brightness in it? (Amos 5:20).

In these passages “the day of Jehovah” denotes the last time of the church, which is here treated of; “darkness” denotes falsities, “thick darkness” evils; both therefore are mentioned; otherwise it would be a repetition of the same thing, or an unmeaning amplification. But the word in the original language that in this verse is rendered “thick darkness” involves falsity as well as evil, that is, dense falsity from which is evil, and also dense evil from which is falsity.

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