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 #761

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761. Where she is nourished a time and times and half a time, from the face of the serpent, signifies until the church grows and comes to its fullness. This is evident from the signification of "to be nourished," as being to be sustained, and in the meantime to grow; from the signification of "a time and times and half a time," as being a state of increase of the church, even to its fullness, for this has a similar signification as "a thousand two hundred and sixty days," in the sixth verse above, for it is there, too, said of the woman that "she fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and sixty days." That this number has a similar signification as the number "three and a half," as also the number "seven," namely, until it grows to its full, may be seen above n. 732. But here it is said "a time, times, and half a time," because the above named numbers in their places also signify times, and "times" signify the states of life in their progress (as may be seen above, n. 571, 610, 664, 673, 747), so here, their progress and growth even to fullness. It is said "a time, times, and half a time," because "time" in the singular signifies a state of good, "times" in the plural a state of truth, both in respect to their implantation, and "half a time" signifies a holy state of the church. They have this signification because a thing in the singular involves good, in the plural truths, and a "half" holiness; a "half" involves holiness because "three," likewise "three and a half" and "seven," signify fullness, but "seven" signifies fullness when things holy are treated of, and the half after the three fills out or constitutes the number seven, for three and a half doubled makes seven, and a number doubled or multiplied has a similar signification as the number that is doubled or multiplied, as seven has a similar signification here as three and a half. That "seven" signifies fullness and the whole, and is predicated of things holy, may be seen above (n. 20, 24, 257). That "a time, times, and half a time," have this signification can be seen from these words in Daniel:

A man clothed in linen held up his right hand and his left hand unto the heavens, and sware by Him that liveth forever that it shall be for a fixed time of fixed times and a half; and when they shall make an end of scattering the hand of the people of holiness all these things shall be consummated (Daniel 12:7).

From this it is clear that these times signify a consummation, for it is said "until all these things shall be consummated," and consummation means fulfillment, thus even to fullness.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Revelation 12:14

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14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.