The Bible

 

Genesis 8

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1 Da ihukom Gud Noa og alle de vilde Dyr og Kvæget, som var hos ham i Arken; og Gud lod en Storm fare hen over Jorden, så at Vandet begyndte at falde;

2 Verdensdybets Kilder og Himmelens Sluser lukkedes, egnen fra Himmelen standsede,

3 og Vandet veg lidt efter lidt bort fra Jorden, og Vandet tog af efter de 150 Dages Forløb.

4 På den syttende Dag i den syvende Måned sad Arken fast på Ararats Bjerge,

5 og Vandet vedblev at synke indtil den tiende Måned, og på den første Dag i denne Måned dukkede Bjergenes Toppe frem.

6 Da der var gået fyrretyve Dage: åbnede Noa den Luge, han havde lavet på Arken,

7 og sendte en avn ud; den fløj frem og tilbage, indtil Vandet var tørret bort fra Jorden.

8 Da sendte han en Due ud for at se, om Vandet var sunket fra Jordens Overflade;

9 men Duen fandt intet Sted at sætte sin Fod og vendte tilbage til ham i Arken, fordi der endnu var Vand over hele Jorden; og han rakte Hånden ud og tog den ind i Arken til sig.

10 Derpå biede han yderligere syv Dage og sendte så atter Duen ud fra Arken;

11 ved Aftenstid kom Duen tilbage til ham, og se, den havde et friskt Olieblad i Næbbet. Da skønnede Noa, at Vandet var svundet bort fra Jorden.

12 Derpå biede han syv Dage til, og da han så sendte Duen ud, kom den ikke mere tilbage til ham.

13 I Noas 601ste Leveår på den første Dag i den første Måned var Vandet tørret bort fra Jorden. Da tog Noa Dækket af Arken, og da han så sig om, se, da var Jordens Overflade tør.

14 På den syv og tyvende Dag i den anden Måned var Jorden tør.

15 Da sagde Gud til Noa:

16 "Gå ud af Arken med din Hustru, dine Sønner og dine Sønnekoner

17 og for alle Dyr, der er hos dig, alt Kød, Fugle, Kvæg og alt Kryb, der kryber på Jorden, ud med dig, at de kan vrimle på Jorden og blive frugtbare og mangfoldige på Jorden!"

18 Da gik Noa ud med sine Sønner, sin Hustru og sine Sønnekoner;

19 og alle de vildtlevende Dyr, alt Kvæget, alle Fuglene og alt Krybet, der kryber på Jorden, efter deres Slægter, gik ud af Arken.

20 Derpå byggede Noa HE EN et Alter og tog nogle af alle de rene Dyr og Fugle og ofrede Brændofre på Alteret.

21 Og da HE EN indåndede den liflige Duft, sagde han til sig selv: "Jeg vil aldrig mere forbande Jorden for Menneskenes Skyld, thi Menneskehjertets Higen er ond fra Ungdommen af, og jeg vil aldrig mere tilintetgøre alt, hvad der lever, således som jeg nu har gjort!

22 Herefter skal, så længe Jorden står, Sæd og Høst, Kulde og Hede, Sommer og Vinter, Dag og Nat ikke ophøre!"

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #870

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870. That 'a dove' means the truths and goods of faith residing with a person who is to be regenerated is clear from the meaning of 'a dove' in the Word, especially from the dove that alighted on Jesus when He was baptized, as mentioned in Matthew,

When Jesus was baptized He went up immediately out of the water, and behold, the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Himself. Matthew 3:16-17; and in John 1:32, Luke 3:21-22; Mark 1:10-11.

Here 'a dove' meant nothing else than the holiness of faith, and the 'baptism' itself meant regeneration. It also meant therefore the truth and good of faith residing with the new Church that was to arise, which truth and good people receive through being regenerated by the Lord.

[2] Similar things were represented and embodied in the young doves or the turtle doves - mentioned in Leviticus 1:14-end; 5:7-10; 12:6; 14:21-22; 15:14-15, 29-30; Numbers 6:10-11; Luke 2:22-24 - which they used to offer as sacrifices and as burnt offerings in the Jewish Church, as becomes clear from each of the references just given. Anyone may grasp that they had such a meaning merely from the fact that they could not have been anything else than things of a representative nature. Otherwise they would be pointless, and in no sense Divine, for the external side of the Church is lifeless, but is made alive by the internal, as is the internal by the Lord.

[3] That 'a dove' in general means the intellectual concepts of faith is also clear in the Prophets, as in Hosea,

Ephraim will be like a stupid dove with no heart; they called Egypt, they went away to Assyria. Hosea 7:11.

In the same prophet, speaking of Ephraim,

They will tremble like a bird out of Egypt and a dove from the land of Assyria. Hosea 11:11.

Here 'Ephraim' stands for one who has intelligence, 'Egypt' for him who has knowledge, 'Assyria' for him who is rational, and 'a dove' stands for what belongs to the intellectual concepts of faith, the subject there being the regeneration of the spiritual Church. In David,

O Jehovah, deliver not the soul of [Your] turtle dove to the wild animal. Psalms 74:19.

'Wild animal' stands for people without any charity, 'the soul of a turtle dove' for the life of faith. See what has been stated and shown already in 40, 776, about birds meaning intellectual things. Harmless, beautiful, clean, and useful birds in particular mean intellectual truths and goods; but harmful, ugly, unclean, and useless ones, such as the raven, which is here used as the opposite of the dove, mean their opposites, namely falsities.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #40

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40. 'Creeping things which the waters bring forth' means facts which belong to the external man, while 'birds' generally means rational concepts and also intellectual concepts, of which the latter belong to the internal man. That creeping things from the waters, or fish, mean facts is clear in Isaiah,

I came, and there was no man. By My rebuke I will dry up the sea, I will make the rivers a desert. Their fish will stink because there is no water and will die of thirst. I will clothe the heavens with darkness. Isaiah 50:2-3.

[2] This is plainer still in Ezekiel where the Lord describes the new temple, or new Church in general, and the member of the Church, or person who has been regenerated, for every regenerate person is a temple of the Lord,

The Lord Jehovih 1 said to me, Those waters which will go out to the boundary eastwards will come towards the sea, having been directed into the sea, and the waters will be fresh. And it will be that every living creature which swarms will live, wherever the water of the rivers reaches, and there will be very many fish, for these waters are going there and will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes. And it will be that fishermen from En-gedi to En-eglaim will stand beside it, with nets spread out. Its fish according to their kinds will be very many, like the fish of the great sea. Ezekiel 47:8-10.

'Fishermen from En-gedi to En-eglaim with their nets stretched out' means people who are to teach the natural man about the truths of faith.

[3] In the Prophets 'birds' invariably means rational concepts and intellectual concepts, as in Isaiah,

Calling a bird of prey from the east, a man of My counsel from a distant land. Isaiah 46:11.

In Jeremiah,

I looked, and behold there was no man, and all the birds of the air 2 had fled. Jeremiah 4:25.

In Ezekiel,

I will plant the sprig of a lofty cedar, and it will bring forth a branch, and bear fruit, and it will become a noble cedar, and under it will dwell every bird of every sort, 3 in the shade of its branches they will dwell. Ezekiel 17:23.

And in Hosea, when the subject is a new Church, or regenerate person,

And I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air, 2 and with things moving on the ground. Hosea 2:18.

Anyone may see that because the Lord 'is making a new covenant' with them, 'wild animal' is not used to mean a wild animal, nor 'bird' to mean a bird.

Footnotes:

1. The Latin has Jehovah; for the form Jehovih see 1793

2. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)

3. literally, of every wing

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