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.

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Psalms 104:5

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5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9433

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9433. 'From the middle of the cloud' means from the obscurity which existed before. This is clear from the meaning of 'the cloud' as the lowest level of the Word, which is obscure, comparatively so, dealt with above in 9430. 'The cloud' has this meaning because Divine Truth emanating from the Lord cannot possibly appear with the actual brightness it possesses. If it did a person would be destroyed; for his understanding would be completely blinded by the light of truth, and his will would be completely wiped out by the fire of good, so that everything composing his life would be annihilated. This explains why Divine Truth is adjusted to everyone's understanding and is covered as though by a cloud, even among angels, 6849. Among spirits that covering manifests itself as a cloud, the thick or thin texture of which is determined by the way each one receives that Truth.

[2] This is meant by the following in Isaiah,

Jehovah creates over every habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a hut for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and hiding-place from deluge and rain. Isaiah 4:5-6.

'Habitation of Mount Zion' means heaven and the Church. 'Her assemblies' means forms of good and truths. 'A cloud by day', 'smoke by night', and 'a covering' mean the veiling of God's truth, thus the adjustment of it to the ability to understand it, 'the glory' over which the covering will lie meaning Divine Truth which comes from the Lord, see above in 9429. 'A hut' means the lowest level of God's truth which conceals more internal levels, the words 'will be for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge from deluge and rain' meaning in order that a person may be safe from harm.

[3] Another description of the veiling of Divine Truth occurs in David,

O Jehovah my God, You are very great! You have put on glory and honour - He who covers Himself with light, as if with a garment, who lays the beams for His upper chambers on the waters, who makes the clouds His chariot, who sets the earth on its bases in order that it may never be moved. 1 You have covered it with the deep as if with a garment. You have set a boundary in order that they may not pass over. Psalms 104:1-6, 9.

'Glory and honour' which Jehovah, that is, the Lord, has put on is Divine Truth, 9429. 'Light' with which He covers Himself, as if with a garment, is Divine Truth as it exists in heaven and in the Church; for in the Word Divine Truth is meant by 'light', see the places quoted above in 9429. 'Upper chambers' for which He lays beams on the waters are heavenly communities; and 'the waters' are truths, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 8568, 9323. 'The clouds' which He makes His chariot are the truths from which doctrinal teachings are formed, 'chariot' meaning doctrinal teachings, see 5321, 8215. 'The earth' which, it says, is set on its bases in order that it may never be moved is the Church; for 'the earth' in the Word means the Church, see the places quoted in 9325. 'The bases' on which it is set are truths on lowest levels, such as exist in the Word, in its literal sense; therefore it says 'in order that it may never be moved'. 'The deep' with which it is covered as if with a garment is factual knowledge of truth for the natural man, 6431, 8278; and from this it is evident what 'the boundary' set in order that they may not pass over is, namely the lowest level of God's truth in which interior things end and on which as their support and foundation they stand and rest, as has been stated.

Footnotes:

1. literally, that it may not be moved to eternity and perpetuity

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