The Bible

 

Genesis 9

Study

   

1 Derpå velsignede Gud Noa og hans Sønner og sagde til dem: Bliv frugtbare og mangfoldige og opfyld Jorden!

2 Frygt for eder og ædsel for eder skal være over alle Jordens vildtlevende Dyr og alle Himmelens Fugle og i alt, hvad Jorden vrimler med, og i alle Havets Fisk; i eders Hånd er de givet!

3 Alt, hvad der rører sig og lever, skal tjene eder til Føde; ligesom de grønne Urter giver jeg eder det alt sammen.

4 Dog Kød med Sjælen, det er Blodet, må I ikke spise!

5 Men for eders eget Blod kræver jeg Hævn; af ethvert Dyr kræver jeg Hævn for det, og af Menneskene indbyrdes kræver jeg Hævn for Menneskenes Liv.

6 Om nogen udøser Menneskers Blod, ved Mennesker skal hans Blod udøses, thi i sit Billede gjorde Gud Menneskene.

7 Men I skal blive frugtbare og mangfoldige! Opfyld Jorden og gør eder til Herre over den!"

8 Derpå sagde Gud til Noa og hans Sønner:

9 "Se, jeg opretter min Pagt med eder og eders Efterkommere efter eder

10 og med hvert levende Væsen, som er hos eder, Fuglene, Kvæget og alle Jordens vildtlevende Dyr, alt, hvad der gik ud af Arken, alle Jordens Dyr;

11 jeg opretter min Pagt med eder og lover, at aldrig mere skal alt Kød udryddes af Flodens Vande, og aldrig mere skal der komme en Vandflod for at ødelægge Jorden!"

12 Fremdeles sagde Gud: "Dette er Tegnet på den Pagt, jeg til evige Tider opretter mellem mig og eder og hvert levende Væsen, som er hos eder:

13 Min Bue sætter jeg i Skyen, og den skal være Pagtstegn mellem mig og Jorden!

14 Når jeg trækker Skyer sammen over Jorden, og Buen da viser sig i Skyerne,

15 vil jeg komme den Pagt i Hu, som består mellem mig og eder og hvert levende Væsen, det er alt Kød, og Vandet skal ikke mere blive til en Vandflod, som ødelægger alt Kød.

16 Når Buen da står i Skyerne, vil jeg se hen til den og ihukomme den evige Pagt mellem Gud og hvert levende Væsen, det er alt KødJorden."

17 Og Gud sagde til Noa: "Det er Tegnet på den Pagt, jeg opretter imellem mig og alt KødJorden!"

18 Noas Sønner, der gik ud af Arken, var Sem, Kam og Jafet; Kam var Fader til Kana'an;

19 det var Noas tre Sønner, og fra dem stammer hele Jordens Befolkning.

20 Noa var Agerdyrker og den første, der plantede en Vingård.

21 Da han nu drak af Vinen, blev han beruset og blottede sig inde i, sit Telt.

22 Da så Kana'ans Fader Kam sin Faders Blusel og gik ud og fortalte sine Brødre det;

23 men Sem og Jafet tog Kappen, lagde den på deres Skuldre og gik baglæns ind og tildækkede deres Faders Blusel med bortvendte Ansigter, så de ikke så deres Faders Blusel.

24 Da Noa vågnede af sin us og fik at vide, hvad hans yngste Søn havde gjort ved ham,

25 sagde han: "Forbandet være Kana'an, Trælles Træl blive han for sine Brødre!"

26 Fremdeles sagde han: "Lovet være HE EN, Sems Gud, og Kana'an blive hans Træl!

27 Gud skaffe Jafet Plads, at han må bo i Sems Telte; og Kana'an blive hans Træl!"

28 Noa levede 350 År efter Vandfloden;

29 således blev Noas fulde Levetid 950 År, og derpå døde han.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #737

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

737. Noah was a son of six hundred years. That this signifies his first state of temptation, is evident, because here and as far as to Ber in the eleventh chapter, numbers and periods of years and names mean nothing else than actual things; just as do also the ages and all the names in the fifth chapter. That “six hundred years” here signify the first state of temptation, is evident from the dominant numbers in six hundred, which are ten, and six, twice multiplied into themselves. A greater or less number from the same factors changes nothing. As regards the number “ten” it has been shown already (at chapter 6,verse 3) that it signifies remains; and that “six” here signifies labor and combat is evident from many passages in the Word. For the case is this: In what has gone before the subject is the preparation of the man called “Noah” for temptation-that he was furnished by the Lord with truths of the understanding and goods of the will. These truths and goods are remains, which are not brought out so as to be recognized until the man is being regenerated. In the case of those who are being regenerated through temptations, the remains in a man are for the angels that are with him, who draw out from them the things wherewith they defend the man against the evil spirits who excite the falsities in him, and thus assail him. As the remains are signified by “ten” and the combats by “six” for this reason the years are said to be “six hundred” in which the dominant numbers are ten, and six, and signify a state of temptation.

[2] As regards the number “six” in particular that it signifies combat is evident from the first chapter of Genesis, where the six days are described in which man was regenerated, before he became celestial, and in which there was continual combat, but on the seventh day, rest. It is for this reason that there are six days of labor and the seventh is the sabbath, which signifies rest. And hence it is that a Hebrew servant served six years, and the seventh year was free (Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12; Jeremiah 34:14); also that six years they sowed the land and gathered in the fruits thereof, but the seventh year omitted to sow it (Exodus 23:10-12), and dealt in like manner with the vineyard; and that in the seventh year was “a sabbath of sabbath unto the land, a sabbath of Jehovah” (Leviticus 25:3-4). As “six” signifies labor and combat, it also signifies the dispersion of falsities, as in Ezekiel: Behold six men came from the way of the upper gate which looketh toward the north, and everyone had his weapon of dispersion in his hand (Ezekiel 9:2);

and again, against Gog:

I will make thee to turn again, and will make thee a sixth, and will cause thee to come up from the sides of the north (Ezekiel 39:2).

Here “six” and “to reduce to a sixth” denote dispersion; the “north” falsities; “Gog” those who derive matters of doctrine from things external, whereby they destroy internal worship.

In Job:

In six troubles He shall deliver thee, yea, in the seventh there shall no evil touch thee (Job 5:19),

meaning the combat of temptations.

[3] But “six” occurs in the Word where it does not signify labor, combat, or the dispersion of falsities, but the holy of faith, because of its relation to “twelve” which signifies faith and all things of faith in one complex; and to “three” which signifies the holy; whence is derived the genuine signification of the number “six;” as in Ezekiel 40:5, where the reed of the man, with which he measured the holy city of Israel, was “six cubits;” and in other places. The reason of this derivation is that the holy of faith is in the combats of temptation, and that the six days of labor and combat look to the holy seventh day.

  
/ 10837  
  

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