The Bible

 

Genesi 23

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1 OR la vita di Sara fu di cenventisette anni. Questi furono gli anni della vita di Sara.

2 E Sara morì in Chiriat-Arba, ch’è Hebron, nel paese di Canaan, ed Abrahamo entrò, per far duolo di Sara, e per piangerla.

3 Poi Abrahamo si levò d’appresso al suo morto, e parlò a’ figliuoli di Het, dicendo:

4 Io sono straniere ed avveniticcio appresso di voi; datemi la possessione di una sepoltura appo voi; acciocchè io seppellisca il mio morto, e mel levi d’innanzi.

5 E i figliuoli di Het risposero ad Abrahamo, dicendogli:

6 Signor mio, ascoltaci: Tu sei per mezzo noi un principe divino; seppellisci il tuo morto nella più scelta delle nostre sepolture; niuno di noi ti rifiuterà la sua sepoltura, che tu non vi seppellisca il tuo morto.

7 Ed Abrahamo si levò, e s’inchinò al popolo del paese, a’ figliuoli di Het; e parlò con loro, dicendo:

8 Se voi avete nell’animo che io seppellisca il mio morto, e mel levi d’innanzi, ascoltatemi: Intercedete per me appo Efron, figliuolo di Sohar;

9 che mi dia la spelonca di Macpela, che è sua, la quale è nell’estremità del suo campo; che me la dia per lo suo prezzo intiero, per possession di sepoltura fra voi.

10 Or Efron sedeva per mezzo i figliuoli di Het. Ed Efron Hitteo rispose ad Abrahamo, in presenza de’ figliuoli di Het, di tutti coloro ch’entravano nella porta della sua città, dicendo:

11 No, signor mio; ascoltami: Io ti dono il campo; ti dono ancora la spelonca ch’è in esso; io te ne fo un dono, in presenza de’ figliuoli del mio popolo; seppelliscivi il tuo morto.

12 Ed Abrahamo s’inchinò al popolo del paese;

13 e parlò ad Efron, in presenza del popolo del paese, dicendo: Anzi se così ti piace, ascoltami, ti prego: Io darò i danari del campo; prendili da me, ed io vi seppellirò il mio morto.

14 Ed Efron rispose ad Abrahamo, dicendogli:

15 Signor mio, ascoltami: Fra me e te che cosa è una terra di quattrocento sicli d’argento? seppelliscivi pure il tuo morto.

16 Ed Abrahamo acconsentì ad Efron, e gli pagò i danari ch’egli gli avea detto, in presenza de’ figliuoli di Het; cioè quattrocento sicli d’argento, correnti fra’ mercatanti.

17 Così l’acquisto del campo di Efron, il quale è in Macpela, ch’è dirimpetto a Mamre, insieme con la spelonca che è in esso, e con tutti gli alberi ch’erano in esso campo, in tutti i suoi confini attorno attorno,

18 fu fermato ad Abrahamo, in presenza de’ figliuoli di Het, fra tutti coloro ch’entravano nella porta della città di esso.

19 E dopo ciò, Abrahamo seppellì Sara, sua moglie, nella spelonca del campo di Macpela, ch’è dirimpetto a Mamre, ch’è Hebron, nel paese di Canaan.

20 Così l’acquisto di quel campo, e della spelonca ch’è in esso, fu fermato ad Abrahamo, per possession di sepoltura, dai figliuoli di Het.

   


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 #2966

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2966. 'Four hundred shekels of silver' means the price of redemption, as has been shown above in 2959. But what the price of redemption is will now be stated. Redemption is attributable to the Lord alone, and so also is the price of redemption. Yet the latter may also be spoken of in reference to man's receptivity, though with him the price of redemption is determined by the measure of his receptivity. The price of redemption is the Lord's merit and righteousness acquired through the severest temptations by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, and the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, doing so by His own power. And through that uniting of them He has saved the human race, especially those who belong to the spiritual Church.

For the Lord's becoming righteousness through the severest temptations, see 1813, 2025-2027.

For the Lord's uniting of the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, and the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, 1725, 1729, 1733, 1737, 1813, 2083.

For His doing this by His own power, 1616, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2083, 2500, 2523, 2632.

And for His salvation of the human race, especially those who belong to the spiritual Church, through that uniting of both, 2661, 2716.

These are the factors meant by the price of redemption.

[2] As regards the consideration that this price may also be spoken of in reference to man's receptivity, though with him that price is determined by the measure of his receptivity, this may be seen from the truth that it is the Lord's Divine which constitutes the Church with man. For the Church does not hearken to anything except that which is the Lord's own. It is the good of love and charity, and the truth of faith, that constitute that which is called the Church. For it is well known that all good comes from the Lord and that all truth comes from the Lord. Good and truth that come from man are not good and truth. From this it is evident that the price of redemption is with man determined by the measure of his receptivity.

[3] Because among the Jews the Lord's redemption was rated so low as to be scarcely anything at all, it is therefore said in Zechariah,

I said to them, If it is good in your eyes, give me my wages; and if not, withhold them. And they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver. And Jehovah said to me, Throw it to the potter, the magnificent price I was valued at among them. Zechariah 11:12-13.

And in Matthew,

They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him whom they had bought from the children of Israel, and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me. Matthew 27:9-10.

'Thirty' is that which is so little as to be scarcely anything, see 2276. Thus the meaning is that the Jews rated the Lord's merit and redemption as nothing, but among those who believed that all good and all truth came from the Lord, the price of redemption is meant by 'forty' and to a higher degree by 'four hundred'.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2523

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2523. 'She is my sister' means that it was the rational which ought to be consulted, that is to say, He thought that such a consultation should take place. This is clear from the meaning of 'a sister' in this chapter as rational truth, dealt with in 1495, 2508. In the internal sense of the Word the Lord's entire life is described, as it was going to be when He was in the world, even as to His perceptions and thoughts. For these things had been foreseen and provided, since they were from the Divine. A further reason for this provision of them in the internal sense was so that the things of the Lord's life in the world might be manifested as present realities to the angels, who perceive the Word according to its internal sense. In this way the Lord was placed before them, and at the same time the manner in which He gradually cast off the human and put on the Divine. Unless these things had been manifested to the angels as present realities by means of the Word, and also by means of all the religious observances of the Jewish Church, it would have been necessary for the Lord to come into the world immediately after the fall of the Most Ancient Church, which is called 'Man' or Adam; for the Lord's Advent was foretold immediately the Fall took place, Genesis 3:15. And what is more, the human race existing at that time could not otherwise have been saved.

[2] As regards the Lord's life itself, it was a life in which the Human was constantly advancing towards the Divine, even to complete union, as stated many times already. For to fight the hells and overcome them He had to do so from the Human, since no conflict with the hells takes place from the Divine. That being so, He was pleased to put on the human as any other person; to be a small child as any other; to grow in knowledge and cognitions which were represented and meant by Abraham's sojourning in Egypt, Chapter 12, and now in Gerar. Thus He was pleased to develop the rational like any other person and to dispel the shadow enveloping it and to bring it into light, and to do so from His own power. That the Lord advanced in this manner from the Human to the Divine, no one can be in any doubt if he merely considers the fact that He was a small child, and learned to talk as any small child does, and so on. But there was this difference, that the Divine itself dwelt within Him because He had been conceived from Jehovah.

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