The Bible

 

Genesis 9

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1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

2 And let the fear of you and the dread of you be upon every animal of the earth, and upon all fowl of the heavens: upon all that moveth [on] the ground; and upon all the fishes of the sea: into your hand are they delivered.

3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you: as the green herb I give you everything.

4 Only, the flesh with its life, its blood, ye shall not eat.

5 And indeed your blood, [the blood] of your lives, will I require: at the hand of every animal will I require it, and at the hand of Man, at the hand of each [the blood] of his brother, will I require the life of Man.

6 Whoso sheddeth Man's blood, by Man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God he hath made Man.

7 And ye, be fruitful and multiply: swarm on the earth, and multiply on it.

8 And God spoke to Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

10 and with every living soul which is with you, fowl as well as cattle, and all the animals of the earth with you, of all that has gone out of the ark -- every animal of the earth.

11 And I establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood, and henceforth there shall be no flood to destroy the earth.

12 And God said, This is the sign of the covenant that I set between me and you and every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations:

13 I set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

14 And it shall come to pass when I bring clouds over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud,

15 and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living soul of all flesh; and the waters shall not henceforth become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living soul of all flesh that is upon the earth.

17 And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

18 And the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth. And Ham is the father of Canaan.

19 These three are the sons of Noah; and from these was [the population of] the whole earth spread abroad.

20 And Noah began [to be] a husbandman, and planted a vineyard.

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he uncovered himself in his tent.

22 And Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren outside.

23 And Shem and Japheth took the upper garment and both laid [it] upon their shoulders, and went backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were turned away, that they saw not their father's nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and learned what his youngest son had done to him.

25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; Let him be a bondman of bondmen to his brethren.

26 And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem, And let Canaan be his bondman.

27 Let God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, And let Canaan be his bondman.

28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #289

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289. "And blessing!" This symbolically means, all these being in Him and from Him in those angels of the lower heavens.

A blessing means every good that a person has from the Lord, such as power and wealth, and everything that accompanies these, but especially every spiritual good, such as love and wisdom, charity and faith, and the accompanying joy and happiness, which have to do with eternal life. And because all of these come from the Lord, it follows that He has them in Him; for if He did not have them in Him, they could not be present in others from Him.

It is for this reason that in the Word the Lord is called blessed, and also a blessing, which is to say, blessing itself.

That Jehovah, or the Lord, is called blessed, is apparent from the following passages:

...the high priest asked (Jesus)..., "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" (Mark 14:61)

(Jesus said,) "you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" (Matthew 23:39, cf. Luke 13:35)

(Melchizedek) blessed (Abram) and said: ."..blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand." (Genesis 14:18-20)

Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem... (Genesis 9:26)

Blessed be Jehovah (who) has heard (my) voice... (Psalms 28:6)

Blessed be Jehovah, for He has shown me His marvelous clemency... (Psalms 31:21)

Blessed be Jehovah... from everlasting to everlasting! (Psalms 41:13)

So likewise Psalms 66:20; 68:19, 35; 72:18-19; 89:52; 119:12; 124:6; 135:21; 144:1, Luke 1:68.

It is owing to this that blessing is mentioned in this verse, as again in verse 12, and in chapter 7, 7:12. And in the book of Psalms:

Glory and honor You have placed upon Him, for You have made Him a blessing forever. (Psalms 21:5-6)

The subject is the Lord.

[2] It can be seen from this what blessing God means in the Word: that it is to attribute all blessing to Him, to pray for Him to bless, and to thank Him for blessing, as can be seen from the following passages:

(Zacharias's) mouth was opened... and he spoke, blessing God. (Luke 1:64, 68)

(Simeon) took (the infant Jesus) up in his arms and blessed God... (Luke 2:28, 30-31)

I will bless Jehovah who has given me counsel. (Psalms 16:7)

...bless (Jehovah's) name; proclaim His salvation from day to day. (Psalms 96:1-3)

Blessed be the Lord from day to day... Bless God in the congregations, the Lord, from the fountain of Israel. (Psalms 68:19, 26)

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.