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

 

Psalms 104:6

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6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms #401

  
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401. Internal Meaning of The Historical Parts of the Word

The Historical parts of the Word, like the prophetical parts, contain a spiritual sense within themselves, in which there is nothing Historical of the world, as in the sense of the letter, but there are heavenly things which relate to the church, and in the highest sense to the Lord, just like the prophetical parts. The Historical parts there are representative, and all the senses with their expressions are correspondences.

It ought to be known, that all the churches, down to the Coming of the Lord, were representative churches; they represented the church, and in the highest sense, the Lord; it is from this that the Word is spiritual and Divine. But the representative churches ceased when the Lord came into the world, because all things of the Word, those that are prophetical, as also those that are Historical, signified and represented Him and this is why the Lord is called the Word.

There were three notable changes of the representative churches: the first, which was before the flood, shall be called the Most Ancient Church; the second, which was after the flood, the Ancient Church; and the third, which followed the Ancient, the Israelitish and Jewish church. (2)

The Most Ancient Church is described briefly by Adam and His posterity; the Ancient Church, by Noah and His posterity; and the Israelitish and Jewish church by the Historical portions of the Word.

The former churches are described in like manner, but by more interior correspondences, in the Word that is mentioned by Moses; but this Word has been effaced, and in its place the Word was given that exists at the present day.

The church that followed these three is the Christian church, which church is internal, differing from the Jewish church as a moonlight night differs from a dark night. But as this church has come to its end, by the accomplishment of the last judgment, a new church is now being instituted by the Lord, which is called, in Revelation, the new Jerusalem, to which the things that are being published by me at the present day will be of service; it is also being instituted elsewhere. (1)

The Historical parts of the Word involve in a summary the things that follow.

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