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

 

Arcana Coelestia #1096

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1096. That 'blessed be Jehovah, [God] of Shem' means every good imparted to those who worship the Lord from things that are internal becomes clear from the meaning of 'blessed'. Blessing entails every good - celestial and spiritual, and natural as well. All these are meant in the internal sense by blessing, while in the external sense it means all worldly, bodily, and earthly good. But if the latter are to be a blessing, it is vital that they derive from internal blessing, for this alone is real blessing since it is eternal and is joined with all happiness. It is the Essential Being (Esse) of all blessings. For what has Being apart from that which is eternal? Everything else that has being is non-eternal. In early times it was customary to say 'Blessed be Jehovah', by which people meant that every blessing, that is, all good, flows from Him. It was also a way of expressing thanks for the Lord's blessing or having blessed them, as in David, Psalms 28:6; 71:21; 41:13; 66:20; 68:19, 35; 72:18-19; 89:52; 119:12; 124:6; 135:21; 144:1, and in other places besides these.

[2] The expression 'blessed be Jehovah God' is used because Shem, or the internal Church, is the subject. That Church is called an internal Church by virtue of charity. It is in charity that the Lord is present, Who is therefore called 'Jehovah God' here. But He is not called this in the external Church, for although the Lord is present there, that presence is not the same as with the member of the internal Church. The member of the external Church still believes that he himself is the source of the good deeds of charity which he performs. Consequently when the subject is the member of the external Church the Lord is called God, as He is in the next verse in reference to Japheth - 'God enlarge Japheth'. That every good imparted to those who worship the Lord from things that are internal is meant becomes clear also from the order of things. The order is this: From the Lord comes everything celestial, from the celestial comes everything spiritual, from the spiritual comes everything natural. Such is the order by which all things are brought into being, and therefore is the order belonging to influx.

[3] That which is celestial is love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. Where there is no love, the chain is broken and the Lord not present For He flows in solely by way of that which is celestial, that is, by way of love. When that which is celestial does not exist, that which is spiritual cannot either, for everything spiritual comes from the Lord by way of the celestial. That which is spiritual is faith. Consequently faith does not exist unless it comes from the Lord by way of charity or love. And the same applies to the natural. It is according to this same order that all goods flow in. From this it follows that every good is imparted to those who worship the Lord from things that are internal, that is, from charity. But to those who do not do so from charity no good is imparted, but only an imitation of good which is in itself evil, as the delight accompanying hatred and adultery, which regarded in itself is an absolutely foul delight, into which it is also converted in the next life.

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