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 #246

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246. 'Beast' and 'wild animal of the field' mean affections. This becomes clear from what has been stated already in 45, 46, about 'beast' and 'wild animal', to which let the following quotation from David be added,

You shake down a shower of blessings, O God; Your heritage which is labouring, You strengthen; Your wild animals will dwell in it. Psalms 68:9-10.

Here also 'wild animal' stands for the affection for good, since it is going 'to dwell in God's heritage'. The reason 'beast' and 'wild animal of the field' are mentioned here, as also in Genesis 2:19, 20, but 'beast' and 'wild animal of the earth' in Genesis 1:24-25, is that the subject is the Church, that is, man when regenerate, whereas in Chapter 1 the subject is the time when the Church does not exist, that is, when man has yet to be regenerated; for 'field' is a term applying to the Church, that is, to man when regenerate.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #5159

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5159. 'And it happened on the third day' means in the final phase. This is clear from the meaning of 'the third day' as the final phase of a state; for 'day' means state, 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, and 'third' that which is complete, and so comes last, 1815, 2788, 4495. By the final phase of a state is meant the point when the previous state comes to an end and the new one begins. In the case of the person who is being regenerated a new state begins when order is turned around. The change takes place when interior things are given dominion over exterior ones, and exterior things begin to serve interior ones - which involves both ideas in the understanding and desires in the will. People who are being regenerated are conscious of this change as an inner urge not to allow sensory delights and bodily or earthly pleasures to take control, and draw ideas present in the understanding over to their own side to support them. When this change takes place the previous state has reached its final phase and the new one is entering its first. This is what is meant by 'on the third day'.

[2] In everyone, whether or not he is being regenerated, changes of state take place, and order is turned around. Yet such changes are different in the case of those who are being regenerated than in the case of those who are not being regenerated. With those who are not being regenerated those changes of state or order are due to physical causes or are attributable to causes associated with life in the community. Physical causes are those impulses which arise at one stage in life and subside at another, in addition to the giving of deliberate thought to physical health and a long life in the world. The causes connected with life in the community are the external, visible curbs a person has to place on his real desire, so that he may earn a reputation for being a wise person and a lover of what is righteous and good, when in fact the acquisition of position and material gain is his real reason for pursuing such. But in the case of people who are being regenerated, such changes of state or order are attributable to spiritual causes which spring from goodness and righteousness themselves; and when a person starts to have an affection for these he is at the end of the previous state and at the beginning of the new one.

[3] But as few are capable of seeing the truth of all this, let an example serve to shed light on the matter. Anyone who does not allow himself to be regenerated loves things of the body for their own sake, not for any other reason; and he loves the world too for its own sake. His love does not reach any higher because at heart he refuses to accept anything higher or more interior. On the other hand one who is being regenerated also loves things of the body, and worldly things likewise. Yet he loves them for higher or more interior reasons. He loves things of the body because he wishes to have a healthy mind inside a healthy body. Also, he loves his own mind and its healthiness for an even more interior reason, namely that he may have a wise discernment of what is good and an intelligent understanding of what is true. He also loves worldly things as much as others do, yet for the reason that the world, worldly wealth, possessions, and positions of importance may serve him as the means to put what is good and true or what is just and fair into effect.

[4] This example enables one to see what each one - the regenerate and the unregenerate - is really like, and to see that outwardly the two are apparently alike but that inwardly they are totally different. From this one may also recognize the identity and the essential nature of the causes which bring about the changes of state and turnings around of order that take place with people who are not being regenerated and those that take place with people who are being regenerated. One may also see that in the case of regenerate persons interior things have dominion over exterior ones, whereas in the case of unregenerate persons exterior ones have dominion over interior. The reasons or the ends that a person has in view are what have dominion, for those ends subordinate everything else in a person and make it subject to themselves. The person's whole life is conditioned entirely by his end in view, for that end is what he loves all the time.

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