The Bible

 

Deuteronomy 5

Study

   

1 And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.

2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.

3 The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.

4 The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,

5 (I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the work of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,

6 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:

9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,

10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.

13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:

14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.

16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

17 Thou shalt not kill.

18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

19 Neither shalt thou steal.

20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.

21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.

22 These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.

23 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

24 And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.

25 Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die.

26 For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

27 Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.

28 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the LORD said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken.

29 O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

30 Go say to them, Get you into your tents again.

31 But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.

32 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #616

Study this Passage

  
/ 1232  
  

616. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book.- That this signifies the power of perceiving from the Lord the quality of the Word, is evident from the signification of going to the angel and saying, Give me the book, as denoting, in the proximate sense, obedience to the command, because he was commanded to go and take it; but, in a more remote sense, which is also the interior sense, those words mean the power of perceiving from the Lord the quality of the Word. The Lord gives to every man [the faculty] of perceiving this, yet no one does perceive, unless he desire as it were of himself to perceive it. This reciprocal action is necessary on man's part in order that he may receive the power of perceiving the Word, and unless a man desire and set himself to do this as of himself, no power is appropriated to him. For an active and reactive are necessary in order that there may be appropriation. The active is from the Lord, and also the reactive, but the latter appears to be from man; for the Lord Himself imparts this power of reaction, and therefore it is from the Lord and not from man. But because man does not know otherwise than that he lives from himself, consequently that he thinks and wills from himself, therefore he ought to make use of this [reactive power] as though it were from what is proper to his own life, and when he so uses it, then first it is implanted in him, and conjoined and appropriated to him.

[2] He who believes that Divine truths and goodnesses (bonitates) inflow, without such a reactive or reciprocal [power], is much deceived, for this would be to hang down the hands, and wait for immediate influx, as those think who altogether separate faith from charity, and say that the goods of charity, which are the goods of life, inflow without any co-operation on the part of man's will, although the Lord teaches that He continually stands at the door and knocks, and that man must open the door, and that He enters in to him who opens (Apoc. 3:20).

In a word, action and reaction are the cause of all conjunction, while action and mere passiveness do not produce any conjunction; for an agent or active power, when it inflows into what is merely passive, passes through and is dissipated, for the passive yields and recedes. But when an agent or active power flows into a passive which is also a reactive, then there is application and both remain conjoined. Thus it is with the influx of Divine Good and Divine Truth into the will or into the love of man. When therefore the Divine flows into the understanding alone, it then passes through and is dissipated, but when it flows into the will, where the proprium of man resides, it then remains conjoined. From these things it is clear what interior fact is involved in its being said first, "Go, take the little book, which is open in the hand of the angel who standeth upon the sea and upon the earth," and then in its being said that he "went unto the angel, and said, Give me the little book," and that upon this the angel said unto him, "Take it, and eat it up," for this is a description of the reactive and reciprocal power. For this reason those words signify the power of receiving and perceiving from the Lord the quality of the Word. The reception of the Divine influx is also described in like manner in other passages of the Word.

  
/ 1232  
  

Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

John 6:49-58

Study

      

49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

50 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die.

51 I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

52 The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

53 Jesus therefore said to them, "Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don't have life in yourselves.

54 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him.

57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he will also live because of me.

58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven--not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread will live forever."