The Bible

 

Genesis 11

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1 And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech.

2 And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it.

3 And each one said to his neighbour: Come, let us make brick, and bake them of stones, and slime instead of mortar.

4 And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven: and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building.

6 And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, till they accomplish them in deed.

7 Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there may not understand one another's speech.

8 And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands, and they ceased to build the city.

9 And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, because there the language of the whole earth was confounded: and from thence the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all countries.

10 These are the generations of Sem: Sem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood.

11 And Sem lived after he begot Arphaxad, five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

12 And Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Sale.

13 And Arphaxad lived after he begot Sale, three hundred and three years; and begot sons and daughters.

14 Sale also lived thirty years, and begot Heber.

15 And Sale lived after he begot Heber, four hundred and three years; and begot sons and daughters.

16 And Heber lived thirty-four years, and begot Phaleg.

17 And Heber lived after he begot Phaleg, four hundred and thirty years: and begot sons and daughters.

18 Phaleg also lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

19 And Phaleg lived after he begot Reu, two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Sarug.

21 And Reu lived after he begot Sarug, two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

22 And Sarug lived thirty years, and begot Nachor.

23 And Sarug lived after he begot Nachor, two hundred years: and begot sons and daughters.

24 And Nachor lived nine and twenty years, and begot Thare.

25 And Nachor lived after he begot Thare, a hundred and nineteen years: and begot sons and daughters.

26 And Thare lived seventy years, and begot Abram, and Nachor, and Aran.

27 And these are the generations of Thare: Thare begot Abram, Nachor, and Aran. And Aran begot Lot.

28 And Aran died before Thare his father, in the land of his nativity in Ur of the Chaldees.

29 And Abram and Nachor married wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai: and the name of Nachor's wife, Melcha, the daughter of Aran, father of Melcha, and father of Jescha.

30 And Sarai was barren, and had no children.

31 And Thare took Abram, his son, and Lot the son of Aran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, the wife of Abram his son, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Chanaan: and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there.

32 And the days of Thare were tow hundred and five years, and he died in Haran.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1182

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1182. 'Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar' means that these types of worship existed in those areas, and that at the same time these same nations mean types of worship themselves, whose external features appear holy but whose interiors are unholy. This is clear from the meaning of 'Babel' and of 'the land of Shinar'. In the Word much reference is made to Babel, and wherever it occurs it means such worship, that is to say, worship whose exteriors look holy but whose interiors are unholy. But since Babel is the subject in the next chapter it will be shown there that Babel means such things, and also that such worship in the beginning was not as unholy as it became subsequently. For the real nature of external worship is determined entirely by its interiors. The more undefiled the interiors are, the more undefiled is the external worship, but the more foul the interiors the more foul the external worship. And the more unholy the interiors are, the more unholy is the external worship. To put it briefly, the more love of the world and self-love exist in someone with whom external worship exists, the less life and holiness his worship has within it. The more hatred towards the neighbour there is present within his self-love and love of the world, the more unholiness his worship has within it. The more wickedness there is present within his hatred, the more unholiness still his worship has within it. And the more deceit that wickedness contains, the more unholiness still his worship has within it. These types of love and these forms of evil are the interior features of the external worship meant by 'Babel', which is dealt with in the next chapter.

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

The Bible

 

Genesis 10:5

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5 Of these were the islands of the nations divided in their lands, everyone after his language, after their families, in their nations.