The Bible

 

Genesis 1

Study

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

 

Arcana Coelestia #1030

Study this Passage

  
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1030. 'From all that are going out of the ark' means members of the Church, and 'even every wild animal of the earth' people outside of the Church. This becomes clear from the train of thought in the internal sense. For direct reference to everything that went out of the ark being every living soul among birds, beasts, and wild animals of the earth' precedes the statement repeated here, 'from all those going out of the ark, even every wild animal of the earth'. 'Wild animal of the earth' is accordingly referred to a second time, which would be mere repetition if at this point it was not used to mean something different. And in addition to this, that which comes next - 'and I will establish My covenant with you - is also a statement that has appeared already. From this it is clear that 'those going out of the ark' means people who have been regenerated, that is, members of the Church, and 'wild animal of the earth' all people throughout the world who are outside of the Church.

[2] Except when used to mean a living creature, 'wild animal of the earth' in the Word means things of a more inferior kind which to a greater or less extent are of an untamed nature, their exact meaning depending on the things to which they refer. When referring to the things that are within man, 'wild animal of the earth' means the lower things that belong to the external man and to the body, such as those just mentioned in this verse, and so things of a more inferior kind. When it refers to an entire community, which is called a composite man, or composite person, 'wild animal of the earth' means people who do not belong to the Church because they are more inferior. And the meaning may be different again depending on the subject to which it refers, as in Hosea,

I will make for them a covenant on that day with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air, 1 and with the creeping things of the earth. Hosea 2:18.

In Isaiah,

Wild animals of the field will honour Me, for I have given them water in the desert. Isaiah 43:20.

In Ezekiel,

In its branches all the birds of the air 1 made their nests, and under its branches every wild animal of the field gave birth, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations. Ezekiel 31:6.

Footnotes:

1. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)

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