The Bible

 

Genesis 6

Study

   

1 Da nu Menneskene begyndte at blive talrige på Jorden og der fødtes dem Døtre,

2 fik Gudssønnerne Øje på Menneskedøtrenes Skønhed, og de tog: så mange af dem, som de lystede, til Hustruer.

3 Da sagde HE EN: "Min Ånd: skal ikke for evigt blive i Menneskene, eftersom de jo dog er Kød; deres Dage skal være 120 År."

4 I hine Dage, da Gudssønnerne gik ind til Menneskedøtrene og disse fødte dem Børn men også senere hen i Tiden - levede Kæmperne på Jorden. Det er Heltene, hvis y når tilbage til Fortids Dage.

5 Men HE EN så, at Menneskenes, Ondskab tog til på Jorden, og at deres Hjerters Higen og Tragten kun var ond Dagen lang.

6 Da angrede HE EN, at han havde gjort Menneskene på Jorden, og det. skar ham i Hjertet.

7 Og HE EN sagde: "Jeg vil udslette Menneskene, som jeg har skabt, af Jordens Flade, både Mennesker, Kvæg, Kryb og Himmelens, Fugle, thi jeg angrer, at jeg gjorde dem!"

8 Men Noa fandt Nåde for HE ENs Øjne

9 Dette er Noas Slægtebog. Noa var en retfærdig, ustraffelig Mand blandt sine samtidige; Noa vandrede med Gud.

10 Noa avlede tre Sønner: Sem, Kam og Jafet.

11 Men Jorden fordærvedes for Guds Øjne, og Jorden blev fuld af Uret;

12 og Gud så til Jorden, og se, den var fordærvet, thi alt Kød havde fordærvet sin VejJorden.

13 Da sagde Gud til Noa: "Jeg har besluttet at gøre Ende på alt Kød, fordi Jorden ved deres Skyld et fuld af Uret; derfor vil jeg nu udrydde dem af Jorden.

14 Men du skal gøre dig en Ark af Gofertræ og indrette den med um ved um og overstryge den med Beg både indvendig og udvendig;

15 og således skal du bygge Arken: Den skal være 300 Alen lang, 50 Alen bred og 30 Alen høj;

16 du skal anbringe Taget på Arken, og det skal ikke rage længer ud end een Alen fra oven; på Arkens Side skal du sætte Døren, og du skal indrette den med et nederste, et mellemste og et øverste Stokværk.

17 Se, jeg bringer nu Vandfloden over Jorden for at udrydde alt Kød under Himmelen, som har Livsånde; alt, hvad der er på Jorden, skal forgå.

18 Men jeg vil oprette min Pagt med dig. Du skal gå ind i Arken med dine Sønner, din Hustru og dine Sønnekoner:

19 og af alle Dyr, af alt Kød skal du bringe et Par af hver Slags ind i Arken for at holde dem i Live hos dig. Han og Hundyr skal det være,

20 af Fuglene efter deres Arter, af Kvæget efter dets Arter og af alt Jordens Kryb efter dets Arter; Par for Par skal de gå ind til dig for at holdes i Live.

21 Og du skal indsamle et Forråd af alle Slags Levnedsmidler, for at det kan tjene dig og dem til Føde."

22 Og Noa gjorde ganske som Gud havde pålagt ham; således gjorde han.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) #34

Study this Passage

  
/ 60  
  

34. V. THE FIFTH STATE OF THIS CHURCH WAS THE SEPARATION OF THE GOOD FROM THE EVIL, WHICH WAS THE LAST JUDGMENT ON ALL WHO WERE OF THAT CHURCH. This state is described by the "flood," in which all the wicked who remained perished; and by "Noah and his sons," by whom are meant all the good who were saved. The end of the Most Ancient Church, represented by Adam, is described in the sixth chapter of Genesis by these words:

When Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was multiplied in the world, and moreover every imagination of his heart only evil every day, it repented Jehovah that He had made man on the earth: therefore Jehovah said, I will blot out man whom I have created from off the faces of the earth: only Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah (Gen. 6:5-8).

But the Last Judgment upon them is described by the flood. It is described by a "flood" for the reason that "waters" in the Word signify truths, and in an opposite sense falsities. Truths are signified by the waters of a fountain, the waters of a river, the waters of rain, and by the waters of the washings in time past, and the waters of baptism at this day: such correspondence arises from the circumstance that truths purify man's soul from uncleanness, as waters do his body; hence they are called "living waters." But in the opposite sense falsities are signified by "waters"; but by impure waters, such as those of marshes, evil-smelling cisterns, urine, and deadly waters; in general, by all hurtful and death-producing waters, therefore, also, by waters from an inundation of which man dies, consequently the Noachian flood.

[2] That falsities in the mass are described by inundations, may be evident from the following passages:

Jehovah is causing to come up upon them the waters of the river (Euphrates), strong and many; it shall pass through Judah, it shall inundate, it shall pass over, it shall reach even to the neck (Isa. 8:7-8).

By the "waters of the river" Euphrates, are signified reasonings from falsities, because by Assyria, whose river it was, reasoning is signified.

The spirit of Jehovah, like an inundating stream, shall divide in two even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity (Isa. 30:28):

by an inundating river, here, in like manner, is signified reasoning from falsities.

Behold waters are rising up out of the north, which are like an inundating stream, and it shall inundate the land and the fulness thereof (Jer. 47:2):

here the Philistines are treated of, by whom are meant those who are not in charity, and hence not in truths; the falsities of these are signified by "waters coming up from the north," and the devastation of the Church in consequence thereof, by "an inundating stream that shall inundate the land and its fulness"; "the land" is the Church, and its "fulness" all things pertaining to it.

Say unto those who daub what is unfit, There shall be an inundating rain, in which hail-stones shall fall upon you (Ezek. 13:11, 13):

the "daubing of what is unfit" is the confirmation of falsity, and hail-stones are falsities.

In an overflowing inundation He shall make the place thereof a consummation, and thick darkness shall pursue His enemies (Nahum 1:8):

by "the inundation" which shall consummate, is signified the falsification of truth, and by "thick darkness," truths themselves in the night.

Ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell have we made a vision; when the scourge of inundation shall pass over, it shall not come unto us; we have made a lie our trust, and in falsity we will hide ourselves (Isa. 28:15).

Here "inundation" manifestly denotes destruction by falsities; for it is said that they placed confidence in "a lie," and would hide themselves in "falsity."

[3] After the sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself; then the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, so that the end thereof shall be with an inundation even to desolations (Dan. 9:26);

speaking of the Christian Church that was to come, in which the worship of the Lord would perish; which is meant by "Messiah being cut off, but not for Himself"; that it would perish by falsifications, is meant by "the end thereof being with an inundation even to desolations"; "desolation" denoting the falsification. Hence it is, that, after the Lord spoke of the abomination of desolation foretold by Daniel the prophet, and of the "consummation of the age" thereby, He said

That His coming would be as in the days when the flood came, and took them all away (Matt. 24:15, 39).

That by the drowning of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Red Sea (Exod. 14), is meant, in the spiritual sense, destruction by falsities, has been shown in the ARCANA CAELESTIA, in the explanation of that chapter.

  
/ 60  
  

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