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 #23

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23. Nothing is more common in the Word than for the word 'day' to be used to mean the particular time at which events take place, as in Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah is near. Behold, the day of Jehovah comes. I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, on the day of My fierce anger. Its time is close at hand, and its days will not be prolonged. Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22.

And in the same prophet,

Her antiquity is in the days of antiquity. On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. Isaiah 23:7, 15.

Since 'day' stands for the particular time it also stands for the state associated with that particular time, as in Jeremiah, Woe to us, for the day has declined, for the shadows of evening have lengthened! Jeremiah 6:4

And in the same prophet,

If you break My covenant that is for the day and My covenant that is for the night, so that there is neither daytime nor night at their appointed time. Jeremiah 33:20, 25.

Also,

Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #571

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571. That had been prepared for the hour, and day, and month, and year, signifies continually in the state. This is evident from the signification of "being prepared for the hour and day and month and year," as being to be continually in the state, that is, of depriving themselves of all understanding of truth, and thence of spiritual life, which is signified by what follows, namely, "that they should kill the third part of men;" for "hours," "days," "months," and "years," signify in the Word the states of life in particular and in general, therefore "to be prepared for" these periods signifies to be continually in that state. "Hours," "days," "months," and "years," do not mean hours, days, months, and years, because in the spiritual world times are not divided into such intervals, for the sun from which the angelic heaven has its light and its heat is not carried around as the sun in the natural world is apparently, therefore it does not cause years, months, days, or hours; but times in the spiritual world, although they succeed each other as times do in the natural world, are distinguished by the states of life. (What these are may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, under the head, The Sun in Heaven, n. 116-125; Changes of the State of the Angels in Heaven, n. 154-161; Time in Heaven, n. 162-169.) From this it can he seen that the angels "had been prepared for the hour, day, month, and year," signifies to be continually in the state that is treated of in what follows. That an "hour," signifies state, so also a "day," a "month," and a "year," in like manner, is evident from the passages in the Word in which they are mentioned, but to quote those passages here would be too lengthy. (This, however, can be seen from what is shown respecting Time in the work on Heaven and Hell; also Arcana Coelestia, that "times" do not signify in the Word times, but states of life, n. 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 4814, 4901, 4916, 7218, 8070, 10133, 10605.) "Times" signify states for the reason that in the spiritual world there are no stated times of the day called morning, noon, evening, and night, nor stated times of the year called spring, summer, autumn, and winter; nor are there changes of light and shade, of heat and cold, as in our world, but instead of these there are changes of state in respect to love and faith; and from these no idea can be had of the intervals into which our times are divided, although times have progression there as in the natural world (as to this see Arcana Coelestia 1274, 1382, 3356, 4882, 6110, 7218). And as the sun of the angelic heaven, which is the Lord, is continually in its rising, and makes no revolutions as the sun of our world apparently does, but there are instead merely changes of state with the angels and spirits according to their reception of the good of love and the truth of faith, therefore times correspond to changes of state and signify them (Arcana Coelestia 4901, 7381). Therefore angels and spirits think apart from any idea of time, which man cannot do (Arcana Coelestia 3404).

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