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 #90

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90. "'Which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.'" This symbolically means, inwardly in the truths of wisdom and faith.

In the midst means, symbolically, the inmost (nos. 44, 383), here within or inwardly. The Paradise of God symbolizes truths of wisdom and faith. Consequently the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God symbolizes the Lord accompanied by the goodness of love and charity inwardly in the truths of wisdom and faith. Good also exists inwardly within truths, for good is the essence of life, and truth is the consequent expression of life, as we showed many times in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom.

That the Paradise of God is the truth of wisdom and faith is apparent from the symbolic meaning of a garden in the Word. A garden there symbolizes wisdom and intelligence, because trees symbolize the people of the church, and their fruits goods of life. That is what the Garden of Eden symbolizes, for it describes the wisdom of Adam.

[2] The garden of God in Ezekiel has the same meaning:

With your wisdom and your understanding you have gained riches for yourself... You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering... (Ezekiel 28:4, 13)

The subject is Tyre, which symbolizes the church in respect to its concepts of truth and good, thus in respect to its intelligence. Accordingly it is said, "With your wisdom and your understanding you have gained riches for yourself." The precious stones which served as its covering symbolize truths of intelligence.

[3] In the same book:

Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon... The cedars in the garden of God did not hide it... No tree in the garden of God was like it in beauty... All the trees of Eden envied it... in the garden of God. (Ezekiel 31:3, 8-9)

This is said of Egypt and Assyria, because Egypt symbolizes knowledge, and Assyria rationality, which leads to intelligence. A cedar has a similar symbolism.

But because Egypt's rationality led also to a conceit in its own intelligence, therefore it is said of it,

To which of the trees in Eden were you then likened in glory and greatness, when you were brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below, and you lay in the midst of the uncircumcised...? (Ezekiel 31:18)

The uncircumcised are people who lack the goodness of charity.

[4] In Isaiah:

...Jehovah will comfort Zion..., and make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. (Isaiah 51:3)

Zion there is the church. The wilderness and desert are a deficiency of truth and ignorance of it. Eden and the garden of God are wisdom and intelligence.

Wisdom and intelligence are also symbolically meant by a garden in Isaiah 58:11; 61:11, Jeremiah 31:12, Amos 9:14, and Numbers 24:6.

[5] A person of the church is also like a garden in respect to his intelligence when he possesses goodness of love from the Lord, because the spiritual warmth that enlivens him is love, and spiritual light is the resulting intelligence.

People know that these two, warmth and light, cause gardens in the world to bloom. It is the same in heaven. Paradisal gardens are seen in heaven, with trees bearing fruit in accordance with the inhabitants' wisdom that springs from their goodness of love from the Lord. But around people who possess intelligence without the goodness of love, no gardens are seen, but grass, while around those whose faith is divorced from charity, not even grass is seen, but sand.

  
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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

 

Isaiah 61:11

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11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.