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 #33

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33. Everyone is capable of knowing very well that no life is possible without love of some kind, nor any type of joy whatsoever except the joy that flows out from the love. Furthermore the nature of the love determines the nature of the life and of the joy. If you took away your loves, and what amounts to the same, your desires (since these stem from love), thought would instantly perish and you would be as one dead. This I have been shown convincingly. Self-love and the love of the world present a semblance of life and of joy, but because they are absolutely contrary to true love, which is loving the Lord above all things and the neighbour as oneself, it is clear that neither of them is love but hatred. For the more anyone loves himself and the world, the more he hates his neighbour and so the Lord. Consequently true love is love to the Lord, true life is the life inherent in love from Him, and true joy is the joy of that life. The existence of more than one true love is not possible. Nor consequently is the existence of more than one true life possible which is the source of all true joy and happiness, such as angels in the heavens enjoy.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #24

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24. And from the seven spirits. That this signifies the Divine in heaven, is evident from the signification of seven, as being what is full, and thence all, and as being spoken of the holy Divine things which go forth from the Lord (concerning this see above, n. 20); and from the signification of spirits, as being those of whom heaven consists. For they are all called spirits of God, because the spirit of God is the proceeding Divine, or the Divine truth united to the Divine good, in heaven and in the church (concerning this see Arcana Coelestia 9818); and the proceeding Divine, or Divine truth united to Divine good, forms and creates an angel, and thus makes him what he is according to the nature and extent of his reception (as may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell. n. 7-12). From these considerations it is clear, that the seven spirits of whom more will be said in the following pages, do not mean seven spirits, but all those who are in heaven; just as the seven churches do not mean seven churches, but all who are in truths from good, or who belong to the church (concerning this see above, n. 20). These things being understood, the mystery becomes clear as to what is meant by Jehovah God in the Word; for by Jehovah is meant the Divine as Being (Esse), and by God, the Divine Manifestation (Existere) in heaven. The reason why the Divine which is meant by God, is the Divine Manifestation (Existere) in heaven is, because the Divine in heaven is in many; therefore, in the Hebrew language, God is called Elohim, in the plural, and therefore the angels are called gods, not that they are gods, but because the Divine of the Lord, which is in them, is meant by God. (That in the Word the Lord is called Jehovah from Being (Esse) or Essence, and God from Manifestation (Existere) or Existence, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 300, 3910, 6905. That the Divine, as Being (Esse) also is Divine Good, and that the Divine Manifestation (Existere) is Divine Truth, see n. 3061, 6280, 6880, 6905, 10579; and in general, that good is being (esse), and truth is the manifestation (existere) thence derived, see n. 5002. That angels are called gods from the reception of Divine truth going forth from the Divine good of the Lord, see n. 4295, 4402, 7268, 7873, 8301, 8192. And that Divine truth united to Divine good in heaven, is called in one phrase Divine truth, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 13, 133, 144.)

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.