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 Revealed #757

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757. "A prison for every foul spirit, and a prison for every unclean and loathsome bird!" This symbolically means that the evils willed and so done by the people in those hells, and the falsities entertained in thought and in consequent intention, are diabolical, because the people have turned away from the Lord to themselves.

A prison symbolizes a hell, because these Roman Catholics were imprisoned there. A spirit symbolizes everything pertaining to their affection or will and of the consequent action, and a bird symbolizes everything pertaining to the thought or intellect and consequent intention. A foul spirit and an unclean bird accordingly symbolize all the evils willed and so done, and all the falsities entertained in thought and consequent intention. Moreover, since the evils and falsities entertained by these people are found in the hells, therefore the symbolical meaning is that their evils and falsities are diabolical. In addition, because these people have turned away from the Lord to themselves, every unclean bird is also called loathsome.

Similar symbolism is used to describe Babylon in the Prophets, as in Isaiah:

Babylon... will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited..., so that Arabs will not tarry there... But ziyyim 1 will lie there, their houses will be full of 'ochim, 2 the offspring of owls will dwell there, and satyrs will caper there. 'Iyyim 3 also will reply in its palaces, and dragons in its pleasant palaces. (Isaiah 13:19-22)

I will... cut off from Babylon the name and remnant... I will make it a possession of the bittern... (Isaiah 14:22-23)

And in Jeremiah:

...in Babylon shall dwell ziyyim 1 and 'iyyim 3 and the offspring of owls... As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors..., no son of man shall dwell in it. (Jeremiah 50:39-40)

It is apparent from this that a prison for every foul spirit, and a prison for every unclean and loathsome bird, means symbolically that the evils willed and so done by the people in those hells, and the falsities entertained in thought and consequent intention, are diabolical, because the people have turned away from the Lord to themselves.

[2] It is apparent from the Word that birds symbolize such things as have to do with the intellect and thought and consequent intention, and this in both senses, bad and good. They are found in a bad sense in the following passages there:

In the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice... (At length) on the bird of abominations shall be desolation. Even until the consummation... there shall rain down devastation. (Daniel 9:27)

The pelican and the bittern shall possess (the land). The screech owl and the raven shall dwell in it. (Isaiah 34:11)

Nothing else than hellish falsities are symbolized by 'ochim, 2 ziyyim, 1 the offspring of owls, and dragons in the passages cited above, as also by the birds that came down on the carcasses which Abram drove away (Genesis 15:11), by the birds which were given human corpses for food (Jeremiah 7:33; 15:3; 16:4; 19:7; 34:20; Ezekiel 29:5; Psalms 79:1-2).

[3] Birds are found in a good sense in the following passages:

Creeping thing and bird... shall praise the name of Jehovah. (Psalms 148:10, 13)

In that day I will make a covenant for them... with the birds of the sky, and the creeping things of the ground. (Hosea 2:18)

...ask the beasts, and they will teach you, and the birds of the sky, and they will tell you... Who among all these does not know that the hand of Jehovah does this? (Job 12:7-9)

I looked, when behold, there was no man; all the birds of the sky had flown away. (Jeremiah 4:24-26)

Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled away..., (because) I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of dragons. (Jeremiah 9:10-11)

There is no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God... Therefore the land will mourn... as regards the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky. (Hosea 4:1, 3)

I am God... calling a bird from the east, a man of My counsel from a far country. (Isaiah 46:9, 11)

Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon... In its branches all the birds of the sky made their nests..., and in its shade all great nations dwelled. (Ezekiel 31:3, 6)

[4] Similar statements to that made of Assyria as a cedar here are found elsewhere, as in Ezekiel 17:23, Daniel 4:10-14, 20-21, Mark 4:32, Luke 13:19.

Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: ."..come... to... a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel...." (Thus) I will set My glory among the nations. (Ezekiel 39:17, 21, cf. Revelation 19:17)

And so on regarding birds elsewhere, as in Isaiah 18:1, 6; Ezekiel 38:20; Hosea 9:11; 11:10-11.

That birds symbolize such things as have to do with the intellect and its consequent thought and intention is clearly apparent from birds in the spiritual world. There, too, one sees birds of every kind and every species - in heaven very beautiful ones, birds of paradise, turtle doves, and doves - in hell dragons, screech owls, eagle owls, and others of that kind - all of which are objective representations of thoughts springing from good affections in heaven, and of thoughts springing from evil affections in hell.

Footnotes:

1. A Hebrew word (צִיִּים), appearing six times in the Old Testament (Psalms 72:9; 74:14). It seems to refer to desert dwellers, and in contexts suggesting animals, to desert creatures, but the actual identity is unknown. It may not be a precise term.

2. Another Hebrew word (אֹחִים), appearing only once in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:21:4 identifies them as birds of the night.

3. Another Hebrew word (אִיִּים), appearing only three times in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:22; 34:14

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

John 9

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1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

3 Jesus answered, "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.

4 I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.

5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man's eyes with the mud,

7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means "Sent"). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

8 The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, "Isn't this he who sat and begged?"

9 Others were saying, "It is he." Still others were saying, "He looks like him." He said, "I am he."

10 They therefore were asking him, "How were your eyes opened?"

11 He answered, "A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.' So I went away and washed, and I received sight."

12 Then they asked him, "Where is he?" He said, "I don't know."

13 They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.

14 It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see."

16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because he doesn't keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was division among them.

17 Therefore they asked the blind man again, "What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."

18 The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight,

19 and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"

20 His parents answered them, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

21 but how he now sees, we don't know; or who opened his eyes, we don't know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself."

22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.

23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age. Ask him."

24 So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner."

25 He therefore answered, "I don't know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see."

26 They said to him again, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"

27 He answered them, "I told you already, and you didn't listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don't also want to become his disciples, do you?"

28 They insulted him and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don't know where he comes from."

30 The man answered them, "How amazing! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.

31 We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.

32 Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind.

33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

34 They answered him, "You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?" They threw him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"

36 He answered, "Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?"

37 Jesus said to him, "You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you."

38 He said, "Lord, I believe!" and he worshiped him.

39 Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment, that those who don't see may see; and that those who see may become blind."

40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?"

41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.