The Bible

 

Genesis 15

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1 After these things the word of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, thy exceeding great reward.

2 And Abram said, Lord Jehovah, what wilt thou give me? seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus.

3 And Abram said, Lo, to me thou hast given no seed, and behold, a son of my house will be mine heir.

4 And behold, the word of Jehovah [came] to him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that will come forth out of thy body shall be thine heir.

5 And he led him out, and said, Look now toward the heavens, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said to him, So shall thy seed be!

6 And he believed Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him [as] righteousness.

7 And he said to him, I am Jehovah who brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give thee this land to possess it.

8 And he said, Lord Jehovah, how shall I know that I shall possess it?

9 And he said to him, Take me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.

10 And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid the half of each opposite its fellow; but the birds he did not divide.

11 And the birds of prey came down on the carcases; and Abram scared them away.

12 And as the sun was just going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, a horror, a great darkness, fell upon him.

13 And he said to Abram, Know assuredly that thy seed will be a sojourner in a land [that is] not theirs, and they shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.

14 But also that nation which they shall serve I will judge; and afterwards they shall come out with great property.

15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

16 And [in the] fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

17 And it came to pass when the sun had gone down, and it was dark, that behold, there was a smoking furnace, and a flame of fire which passed between those pieces.

18 On the same day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates;

19 the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

20 and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaim,

21 and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1831

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1831. 'And he laid each part opposite the other' means a parallelism and correspondence as regards celestial things. This becomes clear from the fact that the parts on one side mean the Church and those on the other the Lord. And when these are set in their proper places opposite each other, nothing else is meant than parallelism and correspondence. And because the heifer, the she-goat, and the ram, which mean celestial things, as stated just above at verse 9, were cut in half as described and laid in their proper places, it is clear that there is a parallelism and correspondence as regards celestial things. As regards spiritual things however, which will be dealt with shortly, the situation is different. As often stated, celestial things are all those that have to do with love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. It is the Lord who imparts love and charity, the Church that receives; and that which unites is conscience, which has love and charity implanted within it. Consequently the space in between the parts means those things present in man which are called perception, internal dictate, and conscience. The things that exist above that perception, dictate, and conscience are the Lord's, those that are below reside in man. Thus because these things above and those below look towards one another, a parallelism is said to exist; and because they correspond to one another, as active and passive, a correspondence is said to exist.

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