The Bible

 

Exodus 20

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1 And the Lord spoke all these words:

2 I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth.

5 Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me:

6 And shewing mercy unto thousands to them that love me, and keep my commandments.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.

8 Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works.

10 But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates.

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.

12 Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be longlived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee.

13 Thou shalt not kill.

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

15 Thou shalt not steal.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house: neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

18 And all the people saw the voices and the flames, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mount smoking: and being terrified and struck with fear, they stood afar off,

19 Saying to Moses: Speak thou to us, and we will hear: let not the Lord Speak to us, lest we die.

20 And Moses said to the people: Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that the dread of him might be in you, and you should not sin.

21 And the people stood afar off. But Moses went to the dark cloud wherein God was.

22 And the Lord said to Moses: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.

23 You shall not make gods of silver, nor shall you make to yourselves gods of gold.

24 You shall make an altar of earth unto me, and you shall offer upon it your holocausts and peace offerings, your sheep and oxen, in every place where the memory of my name shall be: I will come to thee, and will bless thee.

25 And if thou make an altar of stone unto me, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones: for if thou lift up a tool upon it, it shall be defiled.

26 Thou shalt not go up by steps unto my altar, lest thy nakedness be discovered.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8877

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8877. 'On the third and on the fourth [generations]' means in a long sequence, and joined together. This is clear from the meaning of 'three' as what is complete from start to finish, dealt with in 2788, 4495, 7715, thus a long sequence, so that 'the third [generation on sons' is falsities in a long sequence (for the meaning of 'sons' as falsities, see immediately above in 8876); and from the meaning of 'four', like two, as joined together, dealt with in 1686, 5194, 8423, so that 'the third and the fourth [generations of] sons' are falsities joined together in a long sequence. This explanation of 'the third and the fourth [generations of] sons' must inevitably seem to be nonsensical or foreign to the meaning of the Word; but it should be remembered that in the internal sense numbers do not mean numbers but real things, see 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4264

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4264. 'Thirty milking camels and their colts; forty young cows and ten young bulls; twenty she-asses and ten foals' means things that are subservient, general and specific. This is clear from the meaning of 'camels and their colts', also of 'young cows and young bulls' as well as of 'she-asses and their foals' as things which belong to the natural man. These things have been referred to several times already - 'camels' in 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145; 'young bulls' in 1824, 1825, 2180, 2781, 2830; 'she-asses' in 2781; and these things which belong to the natural man, in relation to other things are subservient, see 1486, 3019, 3020, 3167. Consequently things that are subservient, general and specific, are meant by the animals mentioned here. As regards the numbers of the animals being 200 she-goats, 20 he-goats, 200 sheep, 20 rams, 30 camels and their colts, 40 young cows, 10 young bulls, 20 she-asses and 10 foals, these are arcana which cannot be revealed without much explanation and an extensive drawing of inferences. For all numbers used in the Word mean real things, 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252; and what they mean has been shown where they have occurred in previous chapters.

[2] I have sometimes been amazed that when angels' conversing together came down into the world of spirits their conversation revealed itself in various numbers, and also that when numbers have been read in the Word the angels have understood real things. For no numerical value ever penetrates into heaven since numbers belong to measurements both of space and of time, and these belong to the world and to the natural order to which, in the heavens, states and changes of states correspond. The most ancient people, who were celestial and had communication with angels, were aware of what simple numbers and also compound numbers meant. The meanings of these were conveyed from those people to their descendants and to members of the Ancient Church. These are things which find scarcely any acceptance in the member of the Church at the present day who believes that nothing holier is concealed in the Word apart from that which is seen in the letter.

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