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.

Commentary

 

Resurrection, the first

  

'The first resurrection,' mentioned in Revelation 20:5, 6, does not mean a first resurrection, but the essence and primary part of resurrection, which is salvation and eternal life. There is only one resurrection to life. A second does not happen, and is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 6; Apocalypse Revealed 851; Revelation 20:5-6)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #704

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704. And great hail, signifies infernal falsity destroying the truths and goods of the church. This is evident from the signification of "hail," as being infernal falsity destroying the truths of the church (of which above, n. 503; and as it is called a "great hail," and "great" is predicated of good, and "many" of truth (See above, n. 652, 696, so "great hail" signifies also infernal falsity destroying the goods of the church. Besides lightnings, thunders, and an earthquake, great hail also was seen, because in the spiritual world there appear all the things that are in the natural world, as mists, clouds, rains, snow, and hail, and these though appearances are nevertheless real, arising from correspondences; for the celestial and spiritual Divine things that belong to the affections and the thoughts therefrom, thus to the good of love and the truth of that good with angels, when they descend into the next lower sphere put on forms like those of natural things, and thus present themselves before the eyes to be seen; thus correspondences are formed. So is it with lightnings, thunders, and hail. For this hail is formed by the flowing down of Divine truth where the evil are, who by reasonings draw false conclusions, and by these oppose truths and destroy them. For when Divine truth flows down out of the heavens into the sphere that is about the evil and that appears like a mist formed from their evil affections and from the resulting falsities of their thoughts, then that influx is turned into various things, and into hail with those who think from evils and falsities in opposition to the goods and truths of heaven and the church, and who violently assault them. The reason of this is that their affections and the thoughts therefrom, which are of falsity against truths, are destitute of all heavenly heat; therefore the rain which also falls down out of the heavens into the lower parts congeals into snow or into hail, and that hail destroys all things with them that are green and growing, and also their dwelling places, just like it is said of the hail in Egypt. The hail destroys because the things that are "green and growing" signify the truths of the church, and "the dwelling places" its goods, which such destroy with themselves. This takes place, as has been said, according to correspondence. Moreover, the hail appears congealed into larger or smaller grains according to their stronger or milder attacks upon truths by falsities; the larger grains are called in the Word "hail-stones," because "stones" also signify falsities. From this it can now be seen why "great hail" signifies infernal falsity destroying the truths and goods of the church.

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