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 #3623

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3623. 'What would life hold for me?' means, and so there would not be any conjunction. This is clear from the meaning of 'life' as conjunction by means of truths and goods. For when it was not possible for any truth from a common stem or genuine source to be joined to natural truth, there could not be any alliance of the natural to the truth of the rational, in which case it seemed to the rational as though its own life were no life, 3493, 3620. This is why here 'what would life hold for me?' means, and so there would not be any conjunction. Here and in other places the word 'life' in the original language is plural, and the reason for this is that in man there are two powers of life. The first is called the understanding and is the receptacle of truth, the second is called the will and is the receptacle of good. These two forms or powers of life make one when the understanding is rooted in the will, or what amounts to the same, when truth is grounded in good. This explains why in Hebrew the noun 'life' is sometimes singular, sometimes plural. The plural form of that noun is used in all the following places, Jehovah God formed the man, dust from the ground; and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7. Jehovah God caused to spring up out of the ground every tree desirable to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the middle of the garden. Genesis 2:9. Behold, I am bringing a flood of waters over the earth, to destroy all flesh in which there is the spirit of life. Genesis 6:17.

They went in to Noah into the ark, two by two from all flesh in which there is the spirit of life. Genesis 7:15 (in 780).

Everything which had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils breathed its last. Genesis 7:12.

In David,

I believe [I am going] to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living. Psalms 27:13.

In the same author,

Who is the man who desires life, who loves [many] days, that he may see good? Psalms 34:12

In the same author,

With You, O Jehovah, is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light. Psalms 36:9.

In Malachi,

My covenant with Levi was [a covenant] of life and peace. Malachi 2:5.

In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. Jeremiah 21:8.

In Moses,

To love Jehovah your God, to obey His voice, and to cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land. Deuteronomy 30:20.

In the same author,

It is not an empty word from you; for it is your life, and through this word you will prolong your days in the land. Deuteronomy 32:47.

And in other places too the plural form of the noun 'life' is used in the original language because, as has been stated, there are two kinds of life which yet make one. It is similar with the word 'heavens' in the Hebrew language, in that the heavens are many and yet make one, or like the expression 'waters' above and below, in Genesis 1:7-9 , by which spiritual things in the rational and in the natural are meant which ought to be one through being joined together. As for the plural form of 'life', when this is used both the life of the will and that of the understanding are meant, and therefore both the life of good and that of truth are meant. For man's life consists in nothing else than good and truth which hold life from the Lord within them. Devoid of good and truth, and of the life which these hold within them, no one is human. For devoid of these no one would ever have been able to will or to think anything. Everything that a person wills originates in good or in that which is not good, and everything he thinks originates in truth or in that which is not truth. Consequently man possesses two kinds of life and these make one when his thinking flows from his willing, that is, when truth which is the truth of faith flows from good which is the good of love.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4721

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4721. 'And Joseph went to his brothers, and found them in Dothan' means that they were steeped in the specific details belonging to false assumptions. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph' as the Lord as regards Divine Truth, dealt with in 4669; from the representation of 'his brothers' as the Church which turns aside from charity to faith, and at length to faith separated from charity, dealt with in 4665, 4671, 4679, 4680, 4690; and from the meaning of 'Dothan' as the specific details belonging to false assumptions' deals with immediately above in 4720. From this it is evident that the words used here mean that he found them steeped in the specific details belonging to false assumptions.

[2] So that anyone can know what 'specific details belonging to false assumptions' is used to mean, let some of the ideas taught by the Church making and acknowledging faith alone as its basic assumption serve to illustrate that phrase. That is to say, the ideas that a person is justified by faith alone; that in this case all sins are wiped away from him; that by faith alone he is saved even in the last hour of his life; that salvation is simply being admitted by grace into heaven; that even young children are saved through faith; that because they do not possess that faith gentiles are not saved; besides many other ideas that are taught. These ideas and others like them are the specific details belonging to the basic assumption made regarding faith alone. But if the Church were to make and acknowledge the life of faith as its basic assumption it would acknowledge charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord, and consequently the works of charity and love. Then all those specific details that have just been mentioned would fall to the ground. Instead of justification the Church would acknowledge regeneration, of which the Lord speaks in John,

Unless anyone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3.

It would also acknowledge that regeneration is effected by means of the life of faith, not by faith separated from charity. It would not acknowledge that all sins are in that case wiped away from a person, but that in the Lord's mercy he is withheld from them and maintained in good and from this in truth; so the Church would acknowledge that all good originates in the Lord and all evil in oneself. Nor would it acknowledge that a person is saved through faith even in the last hour of his life but through his life of faith which awaits his arrival [in heaven]. It would not acknowledge either that salvation is simply being admitted by grace into heaven, for heaven is refused to none by the Lord, but that if his life is not the kind that enables him to exist together with angels he is impelled to flee from it, 4674. Nor would the Church acknowledge that young children are saved through faith, but that in the next life they are taught about the good deeds of charity and about the truths of faith by the Lord and in this way are accepted into heaven, 2289-2308. Nor also would it acknowledge that because they do not possess faith gentiles are not saved, but that the life they have led awaits their arrival in heaven, and that those who have led charitable lives with one another are taught about the good deeds of faith and are equally accepted in heaven. Those who lead a good life also desire the same and believe in it, see 2589-2604. And so on with many other specific ideas.

[3] The Church which makes and acknowledges faith alone as its basic assumption cannot possibly know what charity is, not even what the neighbour is, and so cannot know what heaven is. It will be astonished whenever anyone says that the happiness of the life after death and the joy in heaven consist in the Divine which flows into desiring and doing for others that which is good, and that the happiness resulting from this, and the bliss, surpass one's entire ability to perceive them. It will be astonished to learn that the reception of that influx from the Divine is by no means possible with anyone who has not been leading the life of faith, that is, with whom the good of charity has not been present. That the life of faith is what saves a person is also explicitly taught by the Lord in Matthew 25:31-end. The same teaching is found in many other places, and that too is why the Creed, called the Athanasian, states towards the end of it,

Everyone will give an account of his works: he who has done well will go into eternal life, but he who has done wickedly into eternal fire.

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