The Bible

 

Genesis 14

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1 Dengang Amrafel var Konge i Sinear, Arjok i Ellasar, Kedorlaomer i Elam og Tidal i Gojim.

2 lå de i Krig med Kong Bera af Sodoma, Kong Birsja af Gomorra, Kong Sjin'ab af Adma, Kong Sjem'eher af Zebojim og Kongen i Bela, det et Zoar.

3 Alle disse havde slået sig sammen og var rykket frem til Siddims Dal, det er Salthavet.

4 I tolv År havde de stået under Kedorlaomer, men i det trettende faldt de fra;

5 og i det fjortende År kom Kedorlaomer og de Konger, som fulgte ham. Først slog de efaiterne i Asjtarot Karnajim, Zuziterne i Ham, Emiterne i Sjave Kirjatajim

6 og Horiterne i Seirs Bjerge hen ad El-Paran til ved Ørkenens and;

7 så vendte de om og drog til Misjpatkilden, det er Hadesj, og slog Amalekiterne i hele deres Område og ligeså de Amoriter, der boede i Hazazon Tamar.

8 Da drog Sodomas, Gomorras, Admas, Zebojims og Belas, det er Zoats, Konger ud og indlod sig i Siddims Dal i Kamp

9 med Kong Kedorlaomer af Elam, Kong Tid'al af Gojim, Kong Amrafel af Sinear og Kong Arjok af Ellasar, fire Konger mod fem.

10 Men Siddims Dal var fuld af Jordbeggruber; og da Sodomas og Gomorras Konger blev slået på Flugt, styrtede de i dem, medens de, der blev tilbage, flyede op i Bjergene.

11 Så tog Fjenden alt Godset i Sodoma og Gomorra og alle Levnedsmidlerne og drog bort;

12 ligeledes tog de, da de drog bort, Abrams Brodersøn Lot og alt hans Gods med sig; thi han boede i Sodoma.

13 Men en Flygtning kom og meldte det til Hebræeren Abram, der boede ved den Lund, som tilhørte Amoriten Mamre, en Broder til Esjkol og Aner, der ligesom han var Abrams Pagtsfæller.

14 Da nu Abram hørte, at hans Frænde var taget til Fange, mønstrede han sine Husfolk, de hjemmefødte Trælle, 318 Mand, og satte efter Fjenden til Dan;

15 der faldt han og hans Trælle over dem om Natten, slog dem på Flugt og forfulgte dem op til Hoba norden for Damaskus.

16 Derefter bragte han alt Godset tilbage; også sin Frænde Lot og hans Gods førte han tilbage og ligeledes Kvinderne og Folket.

17 Da han nu kom tilbage fra Sejren over Kedorlaomer og de Konger, der fulgte ham, gik Sodomas Konge ham i Møde i Sjavedalen, det er Kongedalen.

18 Men Salems Konge Melkizedek, Gud den Allerhøjestes Præst, bragte Brød og Vin

19 og velsignede ham med de Ord: "Priset være Abram for Gud den Allerhøjeste, Himmelens og Jordens Skaber,

20 og priset være Gud den Allerhøjeste, der gav dine Fjender i din Hånd!" Og Abram gav ham Tiende af alt.

21 Sodomas Konge sagde derpå til Abram: "Giv mig Menneskene og behold selv Godset!"

22 Men Abram svarede Sodomas Konge: "Til HE EN, Gud den Allerhøjeste, Himmelens og Jordens Skaber, løfter jeg min Hånd på,

23 at jeg ikke vil tage så meget som en Tråd eller en Sandalrem eller overhovedet noget som helst af din Ejendom; du skal ikke sige, at du har gjort Abram rig!

24 Jeg vil intet have, kun hvad de unge Mænd har fortæret, og mine Ledsagere, Aner, Esjkol og Mamres Del, lad dem få deres Del!"

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1702

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1702. That “Abram the Hebrew” is the interior man to which the internal or Divine man was adjoined, may be seen from the signification of “Abram the Hebrew,” or from the surnaming of Abram, in that he is here called “the Hebrew.” In what goes before, and in what follows, where Abram is spoken of, he is not called the Hebrew; he is so called in this passage only; and therefore some distinct thing in the Lord is represented and signified by “Abram the Hebrew.” What is represented and signified may be seen from the internal sense, namely, that it is the interior man adjoined to the internal or Divine man, as may likewise be seen from the series of things in the internal sense. The Hebrews are named in the Word when anything of servitude is signified, whatever it may be; as may be seen from what follows. The interior man is such that it serves the internal or Divine man; and for this reason the interior man is here called “Abram the Hebrew.”

[2] What the interior man is, scarcely anyone knows, and it must therefore be briefly stated. The interior man is intermediate between the internal and the external man. By the interior man the internal man communicates with the external; without this medium, no communication at all is possible. The celestial is distinct from the natural, and still more from the corporeal, and unless there is a medium by which there is communication, the celestial cannot operate at all into the natural, and still less into the corporeal. It is the interior man which is called the rational man; and this man, because it is intermediate, communicates with the internal man, where there is good itself and truth itself; and it also communicates with the exterior man, where there are evil and falsity. By means of the communication with the internal man, a man can think of celestial and spiritual things, or can look upward, which beasts cannot do. By means of the communication with the exterior man, a man can think of worldly and corporeal things, or can look downward; in this differing little from the beasts, which have in like manner an idea of earthly things. In a word, the interior or middle man is the rational man himself, who is spiritual or celestial when he looks upward, but animal when he looks downward.

[3] It is well known that a man can know that he speaks in one way while thinking in another, and that he does one thing while willing another; and that there exist simulation and deceit; also that there is reason, or the rational; and that this is something interior, because it can dissent; and also that with one who is to be regenerated there is something interior which combats with that which is exterior. This that is interior, and that thinks and wills differently from the exterior, and that combats, is the interior man. In this interior man there is conscience with the spiritual man, and perception with the celestial. This interior man, conjoined with the Divine internal man that was in the Lord, is what is here called “Abram the Hebrew.”

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