The Bible

 

Genesis 7

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1 And the Lord said to him: Go in thou and all thy house into the ark: for thee I have seen just before me in this generation.

2 Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and female.

3 But of the beasts that are unclean two and two, the male and female. Of the fowls also of the air seven and seven,the male and the female: that seed may be saved upon the face of the whole earth.

4 For yet a while, and after seven days, I will rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy every substance that I have made, from the face of the earth.

5 And Noe did all things which the Lord had commanded him.

6 And he was six hundred years old, when the waters of the flood overflowed the earth.

7 And Noe went in and his sons, his wife and the wives of his sons with him into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

8 And of the beasts clean and unclean, and of fowls, and of every thing that moveth upon the earth,

9 Two and two went in to Noe into the ark, male and female, as the Lord had commanded Noe.

10 And after seven days were passed, the waters of the flood overflowed the earth.

11 In the six hundreth year of the life of Noe in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the flood gates of heaven were open:

12 And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 In the selfsame day Noe, and Sem, and Cham, and Japheth his sons: his wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark:

14 They and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle in their kind, and every thing that moveth upon the earth according to its kind, and every fowl according to its kind, and every fowl according to its kind, all birds, and all that fly.

15 Went in to Noe into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein was the breath of life.

16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in on the outside.

17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased, and lifted up the ark on high from earth.

18 For they overflowed exceedingly: and filled all on the face of the earth: and the ark was carried upon the waters.

19 And the waters prevailed beyond measure upon the earth: and all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.

20 The water was fifteen cubits higher than the mountains which it covered.

21 And all flesh was destroyed that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of all creeping things that creep upon the earth: and all men.

22 And all things wherein there is the breath of life on the earth, died.

23 And he destroyed all the substance that was upon the earth, from man to beast, and the creeping things and fowls of the air: and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noe only remained, and they that were with him in the ark.

24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #739

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739. That by the “flood of waters” is signified the beginning of temptation, is evident from temptation as to things of the understanding being here treated of, which temptation precedes, and, as before said, is light; and for this reason it is called a “flood of waters” and not simply “a flood” as in the seventeenth verse (Genesis 7:17). For “waters” signify especially the spiritual things of man, the intellectual things of faith, and the opposites of these, which are falsities; as may be confirmed by very many passages from the Word.

[2] That a “flood” or “inundation” of waters signifies temptation, is evident from what was shown in the introduction to this chapter. So also in Ezekiel:

Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, I will make a stormy wind to break through in My fury, and an inundating rain shall there be in Mine anger, and hailstones in wrath, unto the consummation, that I may destroy the wall that ye have daubed with what is unfit (Ezekiel 13:13-14).

Here a “stormy wind” and an “inundating rain” denote the desolation of falsities; the “wall daubed with what is unfit” denotes fiction appearing as truth.

In Isaiah:

Jehovah God is a protection from inundation, a shadow from the heat, for the breath of the violent is as an inundation against the wall (Isaiah 25:4).

An “inundation” here denotes temptation as to things of the understanding, and is distinguished from temptation as to things of the will, which is called “heat.”

[3] Again:

Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, as an inundation of hail, a destroying storm, as an inundation of mighty waters, overflowing (Isaiah 28:2),

where degrees of temptation are described. And again:

When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned, and the flame shall not kindle upon thee (Isaiah 43:2).

“Waters” and “rivers” here denote falsities and phantasies, “fire” and “flame” evils and cupidities.

In David:

For this shall everyone that is holy pray unto Thee at a time of finding; so that in the inundation of many waters they shall not reach unto him; Thou art my hiding place; Thou wilt preserve me from trouble (Psalms 32:6-7),where the “inundation of waters” denotes temptation which is also called a “flood.” In the same:

Jehovah sitteth at the flood; yea, Jehovah sitteth King forever (Psalms 29:10).

From these passages, and from what was premised at the beginning of this chapter, it is evident that a “flood” or “inundation” of waters signifies nothing else than temptations and vastations, although described historically, after the manner of the most ancient people.

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