The Bible

 

Genesi 1

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1 NEL principio Iddio creò il cielo e la terra.

2 E la terra era una cosa deserta e vacua; e tenebre erano sopra la faccia dell’abisso. E lo Spirito di Dio si moveva sopra la faccia delle acque.

3 E Iddio disse: Sia la luce. E la luce fu.

4 E Iddio vide che la luce era buona. E Iddio separò la luce dalle tenebre.

5 E Iddio nominò la luce Giorno, e le tenebre Notte. Così fu sera, e poi fu mattina, che fu il primo Giorno.

6 Poi Iddio disse: Siavi una distesa tra le acque, la quale separi le acque dalle acque.

7 E Iddio fece quella distesa: e separò le acque che son disotto alla distesa, da quelle che son disopra d’essa. E così fu.

8 E Iddio nominò la distesa Cielo. Così fu sera, e poi fu mattina, che fu il secondo giorno.

9 Poi Iddio disse: Sieno tutte le acque, che son sotto al cielo, raccolte in un luogo, ed apparisca l’asciutto. E così fu.

10 E Iddio nominò l’asciutto Terra, e la raccolta delle acque Mari. E Iddio vide che ciò era buono.

11 Poi Iddio disse: Produca la terra erba minuta, erbe che facciano seme, ed alberi fruttiferi che portino frutto, secondo le loro specie; il cui seme sia in esso, sopra la terra. E così fu.

12 La terra adunque produsse erba minuta, erbe che fanno seme, secondo le loro specie, ed alberi che portano frutto, il cui seme è in esso, secondo le loro specie. E Iddio vide che ciò era buono.

13 Così fu sera, e poi fu mattina, che fu il terzo giorno.

14 Poi Iddio disse: Sienvi de’ luminari nella distesa del cielo, per far distinzione tra il giorno e la notte: e quelli sieno per segni, e per distinguer le stagioni e i giorni e gli anni.

15 E sieno per luminari nella distesa del cielo, per recar la luce in su la terra. E così fu.

16 Iddio adunque fece i due gran luminari il maggiore per avere il reggimento del giorno, e il minore per avere il reggimento della notte, e le stelle.

17 E Iddio li mise nella distesa del cielo, per recar la luce sopra la terra,

18 e per avere il reggimento del giorno e della notte, e per separar la luce dalle tenebre. E Iddio vide che ciò era buono.

19 Così fu sera, e poi fu mattina, che fu il quarto giorno.

20 Poi Iddio disse: Producano le acque copiosamente rettili, che sieno animali viventi; e volino gli uccelli sopra la terra, e per la distesa del cielo.

21 Iddio adunque creò le grandi balene, ed ogni animal vivente che va serpendo; i quali animali le acque produssero copiosamente, secondo le loro specie; ed ogni sorta di uccelli che hanno ale, secondo le loro specie. E Iddio vide che ciò era buono.

22 E Iddio li benedisse, dicendo: Figliate, moltiplicate, ed empiete le acque ne’ mari; moltiplichino parimente gli uccelli sulla terra.

23 Così fu sera, e poi fu mattina, che fu il quinto giorno.

24 Poi Iddio disse: Produca la terra animali viventi, secondo le loro specie; bestie domestiche, rettili e fiere della terra, secondo le loro specie. E così fu.

25 Iddio adunque fece le fiere della terra, secondo le loro specie; e gli animali domestici, secondo le loro specie; ed ogni sorta di rettili della terra, secondo le loro specie. E Iddio vide che ciò era buono.

26 Poi Iddio disse: Facciamo l’uomo alla nostra immagine, secondo la nostra somiglianza; ed abbia la signoria sopra i pesci del mare, e sopra gli uccelli del cielo, e sopra le bestie, e sopra tutta la terra, e sopra ogni rettile che serpe sopra la terra.

27 Iddio adunque creò l’uomo alla sua immagine; egli lo creò all’immagine di Dio; egli li creò maschio e femmina.

28 E Iddio li benedisse, e disse loro: Fruttate e moltiplicate, ed empiete la terra, e rendetevela soggetta, e signoreggiate sopra i pesci del mare, e sopra gli uccelli del cielo, e sopra ogni bestia che cammina sopra la terra.

29 Oltre a ciò, Iddio disse: Ecco, io vi do tutte l’erbe che producono seme, che son sopra tutta la terra; e tutti gli alberi fruttiferi che fanno seme. Queste cose vi saranno per cibo.

30 Ma a tutte le bestie della terra, ed a tutti gli uccelli del cielo, ed a tutti gli animali che serpono sopra la terra, ne’ quali è anima vivente, io do ogni erba verde per mangiarla. E così fu.

31 E Iddio vide tutto quello ch’egli avea fatto; ed ecco, era molto buono. Così fu sera, e poi fu mattina, che fu il sesto giorno.


To many Protestant and Evangelical Italians, the Bibles translated by Giovanni Diodati are an important part of their history. Diodati’s first Italian Bible edition was printed in 1607, and his second in 1641. He died in 1649. Throughout the 1800s two editions of Diodati’s text were printed by the British Foreign Bible Society. This is the more recent 1894 edition, translated by Claudiana.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8891

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8891. 'For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and the sea' means regenerating and vivifying the things in the internal man and in the external. This is clear from the meaning of 'six days' as states of conflict, dealt with just above in 8888, and - when used in reference to Jehovah, that is, the Lord - as His labour with a person before he is regenerated, 8510; from the meaning of 'heaven and earth' as the Church or Lord's kingdom in a person, 'heaven' being in his internal man and 'earth' in his external, dealt with in 82, 1411, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535, so that a person who has been regenerated is meant, that is, one who has acquired new life and accordingly been vivified; and from the meaning of 'the sea' as the sensory awareness adhering to the bodily level of a person's mind, dealt with in 8872.

[2] The present verse deals with the sanctifying of the seventh day or institution of the sabbath, describing it as follows,

In six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and sanctified it.

When people's thinking does not extend beyond the sense of the letter they cannot do other than suppose that the creation described in the first and second chapters of Genesis is the creation of the universe, and that there were six days within which heaven, earth, the sea, and all that is in them were created, and at length the human being in God's likeness. Yet is there anyone pondering on the details who fails to see that the creation of the universe is not what is meant there? For there are things in those chapters which common sense tells anyone are not literally true, for example, that days existed before the sun and moon, that light and darkness did so, and that plants and trees sprang up, when in fact it is through those [great] lights that light is given, light and darkness are divided, and so days come into being.

[3] Further on after these details, others of a similar nature follow which scarcely anyone who thinks more deeply will consider to have been literally possible, such as these: The woman was built out of the man's rib; two trees were placed in paradise, the fruit of one of which they were forbidden to eat; a serpent spoke from one of them to the wife of man (homo), who had been the wisest of mortal beings; what it said - what came out of the serpent's mouth - deceived them both; and the whole human race, numbering so very many thousands of thousands, was therefore condemned to hell. As soon as they are contemplated these and similar details there inevitably seem nonsensical to those who entertain any doubt about the holiness of the Word; and they lead to a denial of the Divine there. However it should be realized that every detail there down to the smallest is Divine; they all contain arcana which are clearly visible to angels in heaven, as in broad daylight. The reason why this should be so is that angels do not see the literal meaning of the Word but what lies within it, that is, spiritual and celestial realities, and Divine ones within these. When the first chapter of Genesis is read they perceive no other creation than the new creation of a human being, which is called regeneration. This is what is described there, 'paradise' being the wisdom of a person created anew. 'The two trees in the middle of it' are the two mental powers of that person, which are a will desiring good, meant by 'the tree of life', and an understanding seeing truth, meant by 'the tree of knowledge'. And the reason why they were forbidden to eat from this tree was that a person who has been regenerated or created anew ought no longer to be led by an understanding that sees truth but by a will desiring good, or else his newness of life is destroyed. Regarding these matters, see 202, 337, 2454, 2715, 3246, 3652, 4448, 5895 (end), 5897 (end), 7877, 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8690, 8701, 8722. Consequently Adam or Man and Eve his wife there are used to mean a new Church, and 'eating from the tree of knowledge' to mean the decline of that Church from good into truth, consequently from love to the Lord and towards the neighbour into faith without such love. And this came about through reasoning arising from self-intelligence, that reasoning being meant by 'the serpent', see 195-197, 6398, 6399, 6949, 7293.

[4] From all this it is evident that the historical narratives regarding creation, and regarding the first human being and paradise, are the descriptions of fictitious historical events, containing heavenly and Divine realities within them. Making up such stories was in keeping with the accepted custom in the ancient Churches; and the custom also spread from them to many outside the Church, who in a similar way produced descriptions of fictitious historical events, wrapping up arcana within them, as is evident from writers belonging to most ancient times. For the ancient Churches were well acquainted with what such things as exist in the world meant in heaven. Nor were great exploits of sufficient importance for them to write about, only the things of heaven. Things of heaven occupied their minds because they thought on a more internal level than people do at the present day and so were in contact with angels; and for this reason they gained a delight out of putting together such stories. But they were led by the Lord to images which would be held sacred in Churches. Out of these they composed stories in which everything had a correspondence

[5] All this shows what 'heaven and earth' is used to mean in the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis - the internal Church and the external Church. The fact that they are meant by 'heaven and earth' is also clear from places in the Prophets which speak of a new heaven and a new earth, by which a new Church is to be understood, see 82, 1411, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535.

From all this it is now evident that 'in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and the sea' means regenerating and vivifying the things in the internal man and in the external man.

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