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

 

Arcana Coelestia #10157

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10157. 'That I may dwell in their midst' means what is Divine and the Lord's, which is the All in all of heaven and of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'dwelling in the midst of the children of Israel', when it refers to Jehovah, as the Lord's presence and His influx through good in heaven and in the Church, dealt with in 10153. And since His presence there is meant, what is Divine and His, the All in all there, is also meant. For the Lord is present with the angels of heaven and with members of the Church not in what is their own but in what is His with them, thus in what is Divine, as accords with what has been shown above in 10151; and when the Lord is present in what is Divine and His in the heavens and in the Church He is also the All in all there. Therefore He constitutes heaven itself, which also explains why the whole of heaven presents an image of the Lord as to His Divine Human, and why heaven in its entirety is a human being, called the Grand Man, a subject dealt with at the ends of a number of chapters, see the places referred to in 9276(end), 10030(end). It also explains why 'man' (homo) in the Word means the Church and also heaven, 478, 768, 3636, and why those who are in heaven, and those who are truly in the Church, are said to be 'in the Lord', 3637, 3638, since the good of love to and the truth of faith in the Lord, received from the Lord, are present in them.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8771

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8771. 'And a holy nation' means thus the spiritual kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'nation' as those governed by good, dealt with in 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, 6005; and from the meaning of 'holy' as that which has reference to truth springing from good, dealt with in 6788, 7499, 8127 (end), 8302, 8330, so that 'a holy nation' means the good from which truth is derived. Both expressions - 'a kingdom of priests' and 'a holy nation' - mean the spiritual kingdom; yet there is a difference between them. 'A kingdom of priests' means those who are governed by good from truth, whereas 'a holy nation' means those who are governed by good and by truth from this good. Those governed by good from truth use truths to look upwards to the Lord; but those governed by good and by truth from this good are with the Lord, and see truths from Him. These two states come one after the other with those who are being regenerated, in whom the spiritual kingdom, that is, the life of heaven, is implanted by the Lord. For they are led by means of truth on into good, thus into heaven since heaven consists in good; and when they are there they see truths in heaven and from heaven.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.