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.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #975

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975. (Verse 6) Because they have shed the blood of saints and of Prophets. That this signifies, because they have falsified the truths of the Word and of doctrine from the Word, is evident from the signification of blood, as denoting Divine truth (concerning which see n. 30, 328, 329, 476, 748) and from the signification of shedding it, as denoting to offer violence to Divine truth, which is to falsify it (seen. 329) and from the signification of saints, as denoting those who are in Divine truth from the Lord (see n. 204); but in the abstract sense, Divine truths from the Lord (n. 325); and because by saints are meant the Divine truths in the Word, therefore the Word is meant thereby; and from the signification of prophets, as denoting those who teach doctrine from the Word; and, in the abstract sense, the truths of doctrine from the Word (see n. 624). Hence, then, by shedding the blood of the saints and of the prophets, is signified to falsify the truths of the Word, and the truths of doctrine from the Word.

Continuation concerning the Fifth Precept:-

[2] It was said, that so far as man shuns evils as sins and turns away from them, so far he does good, and that the goods which he does are the good works meant in the Word, by reason of their being wrought in the Lord. Also, that these works are good, in so far as man turns away from the evils opposed to them, because they are so far done from the Lord, and not from man.

Works, however, are more or less good according to the excellence of uses, for works must be uses. The best are those that are done for the sake of uses to the church. In the quality of goodness follow those that are done for the sake of uses to one's native country, and so on. Uses determine the good quality of works. The good quality of works also increases with man according to the plenitude of the truths from whose affection they are done. For a man who turns away from evils as sins desires to know truths, because truths teach uses and the quality of their good. Hence it is that good loves truth, and truth loves good, and that they desire to be conjoined. In proportion, therefore, as such a man learns truths from affection for them, in the same proportion he does goods more wisely and more fully; more wisely, because he knows how to distinguish uses, and to do them with judgment and justice; and more fully, because all truths are present in the performance of uses and form a spiritual sphere, which the affection of them produces.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Revelation 16:6

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6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.