New Christian Bible Study

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

 

Arcana Coelestia #5728

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5728. Genesis 44

1. And he commanded the one who was over his house, saying, Fill the men's pouches with food, as much as they can carry; and put each one's silver in the mouth of his pouch.

2. And you are to put my cup, the cup made of silver, in the mouth of the pouch of the youngest, and his silver for grain; and he did according to Joseph's word which he spoke.

3. Morning dawned, and the men were sent away, they and their asses.

4. They went out of the city, not far distant. And Joseph said to the one who was over his house, Rise up, pursue the men and overtake them; and you are to say to them, Why are you repaying evil for good?

5. Is not this what my lord drinks from; and does he not certainly practise divination in this? You have done evil in what you have done.

6. And he overtook them, and spoke those words to them.

7. And they said to him, Why does my lord speak words such as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing as this.

8. Behold, the silver which we found in the mouth of our pouches we brought back to you from the land of Canaan; and how could we steal from your lord's house silver or gold?

9. With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die; and we also will be slaves to my lord.

10. And he said, Now also, according to your words, so let it be: He with whom it is found will be my slave, and you will be innocent.

11. And they hurried and caused to come down, each one his pouch to the earth; and they opened each one his pouch.

12. And he searched; he began with the oldest and finished with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's pouch.

13. And they rent their clothes; and each one loaded his ass, and they returned to the city.

14. And Judah and his brothers entered Joseph's house, and he, he was still there; and they fell before him to the earth.

15. And Joseph said to them, What deed is this that you have done? Did you not know that a man such as I certainly practises divination?

16. And Judah said, What shall we say to my lord, what shall we speak? And how shall we be acquitted? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are my lord's slaves, even ourselves, even he in whose hand the cup was found.

17. And [Joseph] said, Far be it from me to do this; the man in whose hand the cup was found, he will be my slave, and you, go up in peace to your father.

18. And Judah approached him and said, By me, 1 my lord, let your servant, I beg you, speak a word in my lord's ears, and do not let your anger burn against your servant, for as you are, so is Pharaoh.

19. My lord questioned his servants, saying, Have you a father, or a brother?

20. And we said to my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, the youngest one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left to his mother, and his father loves him.

21. And you said to your servants, Cause him to come down to me, and I will set my eye on him.

22. And we said to my lord, The boy cannot leave his father; and should he leave his father, [his father] will die.

23. And you said to your servants, If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not see my face again.

24. And so it was, when we went up to your servant my father, that we told him my lord's words.

25. And our father said, Return, buy us a little food.

26. And we said, We cannot go down; if our youngest brother is with us we will go down, for we cannot see the man's face if our youngest brother is not with us.

27. And your servant my father said to us, You know that my wife bore me two sons.

28. And one went out from me, and I said, He has surely been torn to pieces; and I have not seen him since.

29. And you are taking this one also from before my face, and should harm befall him, you will cause my grey hair to go down in evil to the grave.

30. And now, when I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us, and his soul being bound up with his soul,

31. It will be, when he sees that the boy is not there, that he will die, and your servants will cause the grey hair of your servant our father to go down in sorrow to the grave.

32. For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, If I do not bring him back to you I shall be sinning against my father all my days.

33. And now, I beg you, let your servant stay instead of the boy, a slave to my lord; and let the boy go up with his brothers.

34. For how am I to go up to my father, and the boy is not with me? Perhaps I shall see the evil which will come upon my father.

CONTENTS

This chapter deals in the internal sense with the intermediary between the internal celestial man and the external natural man. First comes a description which shows that from itself the internal celestial man filled the intermediary with spiritual truth. The intermediary is 'Benjamin', while the spiritual truth present there is 'Joseph's silver cup'; the internal celestial man is 'Joseph', and the external natural man is 'the ten sons of Jacob'.

Footnotes:

1. The Latin per me represents the Hebrew Bi, which usually expresses entreaty, as here. But cp Chapter 43:20.

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

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