The Bible

 

Genesis 8

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1 And God remembered Noah, and all the animals, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

2 And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed, and the pour of rain from heaven was stopped.

3 And the waters retired from the earth, continually retiring; and in the course of a hundred and fifty days the waters abated.

4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

5 And the waters abated continually until the tenth month: in the tenth [month], on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.

7 And he sent out the raven, which went forth going to and fro, until the waters were dried from the earth.

8 And he sent out the dove from him, to see if the waters had become low on the ground.

9 But the dove found no resting-place for the sole of her foot, and returned to him into the ark; for the waters were on the whole earth; and he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ark.

10 And he waited yet other seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.

11 And the dove came to him at eventide; and behold, in her beak was an olive-leaf plucked off; and Noah knew that the waters had become low on the earth.

12 And he waited yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove; but she returned no more to him.

13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first [month], on the first of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried.

14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15 And God spoke to Noah, saying,

16 Go out of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

17 Bring forth with thee every animal which is with thee, of all flesh, fowl as well as cattle, and all the creeping things which creep on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth, and may be fruitful and multiply on the earth.

18 And Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him.

19 All the animals, all the creeping things, and all the fowl -- everything that moves on the earth, after their kinds, went out of the ark.

20 And Noah built an altar to Jehovah; and took of every clean animal, and of all clean fowl, and offered up burnt-offerings on the altar.

21 And Jehovah smelled the sweet odour. And Jehovah said in his heart, I will no more henceforth curse the ground on account of Man, for the thought of Man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will no more smite every living thing, as I have done.

22 Henceforth, all the days of the earth, seed [time] and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #916

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916. 'Every wild animal and every creeping thing means his goods, 'wild animal' goods belonging to the internal man, 'creeping things' goods belonging to the external, while 'every bird, and everything creeping over the earth' means truths, 'bird' truths belonging to the internal man, creeping thing over the earth' truths belonging to the external. This becomes clear from what has been stated and shown in the previous verse about 'wild animals', 'birds', and 'creeping things that creep'. That verse mentions 'creeping thing that creeps', for the two phrases -'creeping thing' and 'that which creeps' - meant both the good and the truth belonging to the external man. Since this verse forms a conclusion to what goes before it, these attributes of the Church, namely its truths and goods, are added. These also indicate the character of the Church, namely that it was a spiritual one, and that having become spiritual it was a Church where charity or good was the chief thing. This is why 'wild animal and creeping thing' are here mentioned first, and 'bird' and 'that which creeps' after that.

[2] It is called a spiritual Church when its actions spring from charity, that is, from the good of charity, but never when it claims to have faith independently of charity. In that case it is not even a Church. For what does faith teach but that which charity teaches? And what other purpose does the teaching of faith have but that what it teaches may be practised? Merely knowing and thinking what it teaches is ineffectual. It is only the practice of what it teaches that is effectual. Consequently the spiritual Church starts to be a Church, or what amounts to the same, the member of the Church starts to be a Church, when its actions spring from charity, the substance of what faith teaches. What is the purpose of a commandment? Not merely that a person may know but that he may live according to what is commanded. And when he does so he has the Lord's kingdom within him, for the Lord's kingdom consists solely in mutual love and resulting happiness.

[3] People who separate faith from charity and place salvation in faith apart from the good works of charity are 'Cainites' who slay brother Abel, that is, charity. They are like birds hovering around a corpse, for that kind of faith is like a bird, and a person devoid of charity like a corpse. And as is very well known in the Christian world they also acquire a false (spuria) conscience to the effect that they may live as the devil does, may hate and harass the neighbour, may go on committing adultery all through life, and nevertheless be saved. What can sound sweeter to a person's ears and more persuasive than the suggestion that he is able to be saved even though he lives like an utter brute? Even gentiles perceive that this is a falsehood, many of whom on seeing the way Christians live find their teaching abhorrent. This is clear also from the fact that nowhere else is the way people live more despicable than in the Christian world.

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