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 #41

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41. Anything that is man's own has no life in it; and when depicted visually it looks like something hard as a bone and black. But anything that comes from the Lord does contain life. It has that which is spiritual and celestial within it, and when depicted visually it looks human and alive. It is perhaps incredible, but nevertheless absolutely true, that every expression, every idea, and every least thought of an angelic spirit is alive. In even the most detailed areas of his thought there is an affection that comes from the Lord, who is life itself. Consequently all that derives from the Lord has life within it, for it contains faith in Him, and is here meant by 'a living creature'. It then has the outward appearance of a body, meant here by that which is moving, or creeping. To man these matters remain arcana, but since the subject here is the living and moving creature, they ought at least to be mentioned here.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8521

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8521. 'And it was like coriander seed, white' means the truth within it, that it was pure. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as the truth of faith, dealt with in 255, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3310, 3373. 'Coriander seed' is mentioned because it is white; for 'white' has reference to truth, and in addition truth is represented as being white, 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319. The good of truth, meant by 'the manna', is being described now, both the essential nature of the truth in that entity and the essential nature of the good in it. The essential nature of the truth is described by the statement that it was 'like coriander seed, white' and the essential nature of the good by the statement that 'the taste of it was like that of a cake with honey'. The good of truth, which is good as it exists with those who belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, is entirely different from good as it exists with those who belong to the Lord's celestial kingdom.

[2] The good of truth existing with those who belong to the spiritual kingdom has been implanted in the understanding part of the mind; for in that part the Lord fashions the new will, which exists in a person when he has the will to act in accord with the truth he has absorbed from the teachings of his Church. And when he wills and does that truth it becomes good residing with him, which is called spiritual good, and also the good of truth. He indeed believes that this is positively the truth, because he has faith in what he has been taught. But he has no perception to see for himself whether it is the truth apart from that which he seems to himself to have as a consequence of having proved it for himself, partly from the sense of the letter of the Word and partly from the misconception that lend support to a preconceived notion. He fails however to consider that nothing, not even actual falsity, is incapable of receiving proof that makes it look like the truth, 4741, 5033, 6865, 7012, 7680, 7950. So it is that all people without exception, including Socinians and also the Jews themselves, believe that their doctrines are the truth.

All this shows the essential nature of the truth that is converted into good with very many members of the Church. None among them can see whether a teaching of their Church is true except those who have an affection for truth for the sake of useful services in life. Those who have this end in view are enlightened by the Lord constantly, not only while they live in the world but also afterwards. They alone are the ones who are able to receive truth, for the Lord leads them by means of good, and through that good He enables them to see truth and so believe it. All this demonstrates the origin and nature of good as it exists with those belonging to the Lord's spiritual kingdom. But good as it exists with those belonging to the Lord's celestial kingdom has been implanted not in the understanding part of the mind, but in the will part. Those with whom this good resides know from inward perception received from the Lord whether something is true. Regarding good as it exists with the one and as it exists with the other, and the difference between them, see 2046, 2088, 2227, 2669, 2715, 2718, 3235, 3240, 3241, 3246, 4138, 4493, 5113, 6500, 6865, 7233, 7977, 7992.

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