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

 

Waters, rivers, and depths

  

'Waters,' 'rivers,' and 'depths,' as in Psalm 78:15-16, signify truths from the Lord.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 2702 [1-17])

The Bible

 

Psalms 78

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1 Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,

3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

4 We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, his strength, and his wondrous works that he has done.

5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a teaching in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;

6 that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born; who should arise and tell their children,

7 that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments,

8 and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn't make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

9 The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

10 They didn't keep God's covenant, and refused to walk in his law.

11 They forgot his doings, his wondrous works that he had shown them.

12 He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

13 He split the sea, and caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand as a heap.

14 In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.

15 He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.

16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

17 Yet they still went on to sin against him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert.

18 They tempted God in their heart by asking food according to their desire.

19 Yes, they spoke against God. They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

20 Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out, and streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people?"

21 Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, anger also went up against Israel,

22 because they didn't believe in God, and didn't trust in his salvation.

23 Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven.

24 He rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them food from the sky.

25 Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.

26 He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind.

27 He rained also flesh on them as the dust; winged birds as the sand of the seas.

28 He let them fall in the midst of their camp, around their habitations.

29 So they ate, and were well filled. He gave them their own desire.

30 They didn't turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,

31 when the anger of God went up against them, killed some of the fattest of them, and struck down the young men of Israel.

32 For all this they still sinned, and didn't believe in his wondrous works.

33 Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.

34 When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.

35 They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer.

36 But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.

37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they faithful in his covenant.

38 But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn't destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, and didn't stir up all his wrath.

39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn't come again.

40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!

41 They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42 They didn't remember his hand, nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;

43 how he set his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the field of Zoan,

44 he turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink.

45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

46 He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust.

47 He destroyed their vines with hail, their sycamore fig trees with frost.

48 He gave over their livestock also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

49 He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and a band of angels of evil.

50 He made a path for his anger. He didn't spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence,

51 and struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.

52 But he led forth his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53 He led them safely, so that they weren't afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54 He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain, which his right hand had taken.

55 He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, and didn't keep his testimonies;

57 but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.

59 When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel;

60 So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

61 and delivered his strength into captivity, his glory into the adversary's hand.

62 He also gave his people over to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance.

63 Fire devoured their young men. Their virgins had no wedding song.

64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows couldn't weep.

65 Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.

66 He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach.

67 Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and didn't choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68 But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.

69 He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he has established forever.

70 He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;

71 from following the ewes that have their young, he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.

72 So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. A Psalm by Asaph.