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 #37

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37. As for the statement that 'the lights will be for signs, and for set times, and for days, and for years', this contains more arcana than can be presented at this point, though no arcanum at all is visible in the sense of the letter. For now only this can be said: Change in spiritual and celestial things takes place both on general and on particular scales, and is comparable to changes that take place through the day and through the year. Changes through the day are from morning to midday, from then on to evening, and through the night to the morning. Changes in the year similar, from spring to summer, from then on to autumn, and through winter to spring. These bring changes in temperature and amount of daylight, and so in the fertility of the earth. Compared to such changes are the changes that take place in spiritual and celestial things. Life without changes and variations would lead to sameness, and so no life at all. Good and truth would not be recognized and identified, let alone perceived. In the Prophets such changes are called 'ordinances', as in Jeremiah,

[Thus] said Jehovah who gives the sun for light by day and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for light by night, These ordinances will not depart from before Me. Jeremiah 31:35-36.

And in the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah, If I have not established My covenant of day and night, the ordinances of heaven and earth . . . Jeremiah 33:25.

But these things will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with at Genesis 8:12.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

The White Horse #7

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7. The Word is not understood except by those on whom enlightenment has shone.

The human intellect cannot grasp divine ideas, nor even spiritual ones, unless it is enlightened by the Lord: 2196, 2203, 2209, 2654. In this way only the enlightened grasp the Word: 10323. The Lord grants to those who are enlightened understanding of truths, and discernment of things which appear to contradict one another: 9382, 10659. The Word in its literal sense may not be consistent with itself, and often appears to contradict itself: 9025. For that very reason it can be explained and interpreted by the unenlightened in order to confirm any opinion and heresy whatsoever, and to provide a justification for any earthly and bodily love whatsoever: 4783, 10330, 10400. Those who read the Word from a love of truth and goodness are enlightened by the Word, but not those who read it from a love of fame, gain, honour, or indeed a love of self: 9382, 10548-10551. Those who lead a life of good and so have an affection for the truth are enlightened: 8694. Those whose internal self is opened may be enlightened, and so they can be raised to the light of heaven as regards the internal man: 10400, 10402, 10691, 10694. Enlightenment is an actual opening of the interior parts of the mind, and also a raising into the light of heaven: 10330. Holiness from the internal self, that is, from the Lord through the internal self, flows into those who hold the Word sacred, even when they do not know it: 6789. Those people are enlightened, and see truths in the Word, who are led by the Lord, but not those who are led by themselves: 10638. Those are led by the Lord who love truth because it is the truth, who also love to lead a life according with divine truths: 10578, 10645, 10829. The Word is brought to life for a person in the same measure that a life of love and faith resides in that person: 1776. Things which come from a person's own personal understanding have no life in themselves, because nothing good derives from a person's own properties: 8941, 8944. Those who have confirmed themselves in large measure in false doctrine cannot be enlightened: 10640.

It is the understanding which is enlightened: 6608, 9300. It is the understanding which is a recipient of the truth: 6222, 6608, 10659. Regarding every doctrinal point of the Church, there are ideas from the understanding and so from thought, according to which the doctrinal point is perceived: 3310, 3825. The ideas of a person, as long as he or she lives on earth, are natural, because then a person thinks on the natural level; but further, spiritual ideas are concealed in people, at least among those who have affection for the truth because it is the truth; and a person comes to these ideas after death: 3310, 5510, 6201, 10237, 10240, 10551. Without ideas from the understanding and so from thought there is no perception about any thing at all: 3825. Ideas about matters of faith are revealed in the next life, and there they are seen as they truly are by the angels, and a person is then linked to other ideas, as far as those ideas proceed from an affection belonging to love: 1869, 3310, 5510, 6200, 6201, 8885. For that reason the Word is not understood other than by a person who sees truth in God's light; for to believe something without an idea of that thing and without any such insight of it is just to retain in the memory an utterance devoid of all life of perception and affection, which is [the same as] not believing: 2553. It is the literal sense of the Word which is enlightened: 3436, 9824, 9905, 10548.

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