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 #17

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17. Verse 2 And the earth was a void and an emptiness, and there was thick darkness over the face 1 of the deep; and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face 1 of the waters. The person who has yet to be regenerated is called 'a void and an empty earth', and also 'ground', in which no good or truth at all has been sown - 'void' where there is no good, and 'empty' where there is no truth. Consequently there is 'thick darkness', or stupidity and lack of knowledge about anything that has to do with faith in the Lord and so anything that has to do with spiritual and celestial life. This kind of person is described by the Lord through Jeremiah,

My people are foolish, they know Me not; they are stupid children, having no understanding; they are wise to do evil, and know not how to do good. I looked to the earth, and, behold, a void and an emptiness; and towards the heavens, and they had no light. Jeremiah 4:22-23, 25.

Footnotes:

1. literally, the faces

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8625

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8625. 'And he said, Because [Amalek's] hand is against the throne of Jah' means because they wish to do violence to the Lord's spiritual kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'hand against someone' as doing violence; and from the meaning of 'the throne of Jah' as the Lord's spiritual kingdom. The reason why 'the throne of Jah' means the Lord's spiritual kingdom is that 'the throne' has reference to the Lord's kingship, and the Lord's spiritual kingdom corresponds to His kingship. There are two offices attributed to the Lord, which are those of priest and king. The celestial kingdom corresponds to His priesthood, and the spiritual kingdom to His kingship; for the Lord is called priest by virtue of His Divine Goodness, and He is called king by virtue of His Divine Truth. The name Christ holds the latter - Divine Truth - within it, and the name Jesus holds Divine Good, see 1728, 2015, 3004, 3009, 6148. 'The throne' has reference to the Lord's kingship, and therefore to His spiritual kingdom; and the same applies to 'Jah'. For what 'the throne' is, see 5313; and for what 'Jah' is, 8267.

As regards the specific thing meant here, that those represented by 'Amalek' - namely hellish genii steeped in falsity arising from interior evil - wish to do violence to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, this has been explained above in 8593, 8622. Those who were steeped in the falsity of this evil could not be kept away from those belonging to the spiritual Church, before the Lord came into the world and made Divine the Human within Him. When He did so they were shut up in hell, from where they cannot ever rise up; and also contact with that Church, effected through influx, was completely taken away. For in respect of the truth of faith a member of the spiritual Church is in obscurity; and he accepts it as the truth because the Church has said it is, not because he perceives it to be the truth. This truth as it resides with them becomes good and consequently composes their conscience. If wicked genii were to flow into that obscurity they would in a thousand ways destroy such conscience; for they go to work not on the truths of faith there but on the actual affections. Wherever they detect any degree of affection for good they instantly pervert it; they do this so secretively that it cannot at all be noticed. They attack the person's fundamental ends in view. In short, their wickedness defies description, though it may be compared to a deadly and imperceptible poison that penetrates right into the marrow of the bones. In the Lord's Divine mercy more will be said from experience about these genii at the ends of chapters. 1

Footnotes:

1. This proposal was not fulfilled, but presumably the material mentioned here concerning the hells appeared in the work published a few years later, in 1758, whose English title is Heaven and Hell.

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