The Bible

 

Genesis 1

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1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first Day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

The Bible

 

Genesis 9:1

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1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #719

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719. 'The beast that is not clean' means evil affections. This is clear from what has been stated and shown already about clean beasts. The clean ones are so called because they are gentle, good, and useful. Those that are not clean are the opposite - savage, evil, and useless - of which there are genera and species. These in the Word are also portrayed as wolves, bears, foxes, pigs, and many others, which mean various evil desires and malicious intentions. In the present verse it is said that unclean beasts, or evil affections, were to be taken into the ark as well, for the following reason: The character of the member of this Church is being described here, specifically by means of the ark, and thus by the things that were in or rather had been brought into the ark, that is, the things that already resided with man prior to his being regenerated. Truths and goods resided with him already, which the Lord had supplied and granted prior to his regeneration, for without truths and goods no one can possibly be regenerated. Here the evils that resided with him are referred to and are meant by 'unclean beasts' that are mentioned. While a person is being regenerated evils are present that have to be dispersed, that is, broken down and modified by means of goods. For no evil with man, that of his own doing or that which is hereditary, can ever be dispersed so far as to be banished, but remains implanted for ever. Yet it is broken down and modified by means of goods from the Lord so as to be innocuous and not seen. This is an arcanum that is still unknown. It is the evils of man's own doing that are broken down and modified, rather than those which are hereditary - something else which is not known.

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