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 #7351

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7351. 'behold, I will plague all your borders with frogs' means reasonings arising from utter falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'frogs' as reasonings. Their arising from utter falsities is meant by their crawling forth from the river, as the next phrase in the verse declares, 'the river of Egypt' being falsity, see 6699, 7307; and because the words used here say that all their borders would be plagued with them, they also mean that the reasonings will arise not from falsified truths but from utter falsities. The reason for this is that reasonings which arise from falsified truths are turned at length into blasphemous contradictions of what is good and true. Furthermore real truths reject falsification from themselves since they cannot coexist with falsities, and all the time they are present with them they fight against them and at length free and separate themselves from them. This explains why after a person has falsified truths he at length renounces them altogether. If he did not do that falsities would have dominion over truths. So it is that after the evil in the next life have been cast into hell they are not allowed to use reasonings that arise from falsified truths, only those arising from utter falsities.

[2] The fact that 'frogs' are reasonings arising from falsities is clear in John,

I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits, like frogs. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, to go out to the kings of the land and of the whole earth, to assemble them for the war of that great day of God Almighty. Revelation 16:13-14.

'Frogs' are reasonings arising from falsities in opposition to truths, as is evident from every detail here; for it says that they came 'out of the mouth of the dragon', 'out of the mouth of the beast', and 'out of the mouth of the false prophet', and also that they were to go out 'to the kings of the land, to assemble them for war'. 'The kings of the land' are the Church's truths, for 'kings' are truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, see 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148, and 'the land' is the Church, 662, 1067, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577. 'War' is spiritual conflict, 2686, thus war against the truths and forms of the good of faith. From all this it is evident that 'frogs' are reasonings arising from falsities in opposition to truths. In David,

He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish. He caused frogs to crawl forth onto their land, into the chambers of their kings. Psalms 105:29-30.

The expression 'into the chambers of their kings' is used because reasoning arising from falsities in opposition to truths is meant, 'the chambers of kings' being truths of a more internal nature, and in the contrary sense falsities of a more internal nature. For the meaning of 'kings' as truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, see immediately above.

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