The Bible

 

Bereshit 3

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1 והנחש היה ערום מכל חית השדה אשר עשה יהוה אלהים ויאמר אל האשה אף כי אמר אלהים לא תאכלו מכל עץ הגן׃

2 ותאמר האשה אל הנחש מפרי עץ הגן נאכל׃

3 ומפרי העץ אשר בתוך הגן אמר אלהים לא תאכלו ממנו ולא תגעו בו פן תמתון׃

4 ויאמר הנחש אל האשה לא מות תמתון׃

5 כי ידע אלהים כי ביום אכלכם ממנו ונפקחו עיניכם והייתם כאלהים ידעי טוב ורע׃

6 ותרא האשה כי טוב העץ למאכל וכי תאוה הוא לעינים ונחמד העץ להשכיל ותקח מפריו ותאכל ותתן גם לאישה עמה ויאכל׃

7 ותפקחנה עיני שניהם וידעו כי עירמם הם ויתפרו עלה תאנה ויעשו להם חגרת׃

8 וישמעו את קול יהוה אלהים מתהלך בגן לרוח היום ויתחבא האדם ואשתו מפני יהוה אלהים בתוך עץ הגן׃

9 ויקרא יהוה אלהים אל האדם ויאמר לו איכה׃

10 ויאמר את קלך שמעתי בגן ואירא כי עירם אנכי ואחבא׃

11 ויאמר מי הגיד לך כי עירם אתה המן העץ אשר צויתיך לבלתי אכל ממנו אכלת׃

12 ויאמר האדם האשה אשר נתתה עמדי הוא נתנה לי מן העץ ואכל׃

13 ויאמר יהוה אלהים לאשה מה זאת עשית ותאמר האשה הנחש השיאני ואכל׃

14 ויאמר יהוה אלהים אל הנחש כי עשית זאת ארור אתה מכל הבהמה ומכל חית השדה על גחנך תלך ועפר תאכל כל ימי חייך׃

15 ואיבה אשית בינך ובין האשה ובין זרעך ובין זרעה הוא ישופך ראש ואתה תשופנו עקב׃

16 אל האשה אמר הרבה ארבה עצבונך והרנך בעצב תלדי בנים ואל אישך תשוקתך והוא ימשל בך׃

17 ולאדם אמר כי שמעת לקול אשתך ותאכל מן העץ אשר צויתיך לאמר לא תאכל ממנו ארורה האדמה בעבורך בעצבון תאכלנה כל ימי חייך׃

18 וקוץ ודרדר תצמיח לך ואכלת את עשב השדה׃

19 בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם עד שובך אל האדמה כי ממנה לקחת כי עפר אתה ואל עפר תשוב׃

20 ויקרא האדם שם אשתו חוה כי הוא היתה אם כל חי׃

21 ויעש יהוה אלהים לאדם ולאשתו כתנות עור וילבשם׃

22 ויאמר יהוה אלהים הן האדם היה כאחד ממנו לדעת טוב ורע ועתה פן ישלח ידו ולקח גם מעץ החיים ואכל וחי לעלם׃

23 וישלחהו יהוה אלהים מגן עדן לעבד את האדמה אשר לקח משם׃

24 ויגרש את האדם וישכן מקדם לגן עדן את הכרבים ואת להט החרב המתהפכת לשמר את דרך עץ החיים׃

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8935

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8935. 'An altar of soil you shall make for Me' means something which in a general way represents worship that springs from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'an altar' as the chief representative of the Lord and consequently of the worship of Him, dealt with in 921, 2777, 2811, 4489, 4541; and from the meaning of 'soil' or 'the ground' as good. The reason why 'the ground' stands for good is that a Church which abides in good is meant by 'the ground', 566. This is why Adam was said to be formed from the ground, at Genesis 2:7; 3:19; for one who belonged to the celestial Church, that is, the Church itself abiding in good, was meant by him, 478, 479. Since there are two entities that inspire worship of the Lord - goodness and truth - worship springing from good was represented by an altar of soil, while worship springing from truth was represented by an altar of stones. Both kinds of altars are the subject here; and those two entities that inspire worship are called faith and charity. Worship springing from truth has connection with faith, and worship springing from good has connection with charity.

[2] As regards worship inspired by faith and worship inspired by charity, or that which springs from truth and that which springs from good, the situation is that before a person has been regenerated his worship consists of truth, but after he has been regenerated it consists of good. Before a person has been regenerated he is led by means of truth to good, that is, by means of faith to charity; but when he has been regenerated he abides in good and consequently in truth, that is, in charity and consequently in faith, 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658. These two kinds of worship are what the altars of soil and of stone represent. The reason why the altar is the chief representative of worship of the Lord is that burnt offerings and sacrifices were offered on it; and it was in these that the worship of God by the Hebrew nation, and subsequently by the Israelite and Jewish nation, chiefly consisted, 923, 1343, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519, 6405.

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

The Bible

 

Genesis 8

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1 God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided.

2 The deep's fountains and the sky's windows were also stopped, and the rain from the sky was restrained.

3 The waters receded from the earth continually. After the end of one hundred fifty days the waters decreased.

4 The ship rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on Ararat's mountains.

5 The waters receded continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

6 It happened at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made,

7 and he sent forth a raven. It went back and forth, until the waters were dried up from the earth.

8 He sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground,

9 but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship; for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship.

10 He stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ship.

11 The dove came back to him at evening, and, behold, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth.

12 He stayed yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she didn't return to him any more.

13 It happened in the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ship, and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dried.

14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15 God spoke to Noah, saying,

16 "Go out of the ship, you, and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you.

17 Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth."

18 Noah went forth, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives with him.

19 Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, after their families, went out of the ship.

20 Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike everything living, as I have done.

22 While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."