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 #478

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478. The reason he is called Adam is that the Hebrew word Adam means man. But the fact that Adam was never used as a proper name, only Man, is quite clear from the consideration that both here and earlier he is spoken of in the plural and not in the singular, and that the term refers to both man and woman. The two together are called Man. Anyone may see from these words that both are included, for it is said, 'He called their name Man on the day in which they were created', and similarly in 1:26, 28, 'Let Us make man in Our image, and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea. This shows also that the subject is not about someone who, when created, was the first human being of all, but about the Most Ancient Church.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #333

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333. And we shall reign on the earth. That this signifies the power that belongs to the Lord alone by means of the Divine truth, united to the Divine good, and the power and wisdom thence to those who are of the Lord's spiritual and celestial kingdom, is clear from the signification of reigning, as denoting to be in truths and goods, and thence, from the Lord, to be in the power of resisting the evils and falsities that are from hell; and because truths and goods are from the Lord alone, and all power is in truths from good, therefore by reigning is signified the power that belongs to the Lord alone by means of the Divine truth united to the Divine good, and the power thence to those who are in the Lord's spiritual and celestial kingdom. He who does not rightly understand the Word in the spiritual sense, will suppose that they will be as kings and priests, and reign with the Lord; but, in the spiritual sense, by kings are meant truths, and by priests goods apart from persons, or in persons, from the Lord; hence it follows that truths from good shall reign, thus the Lord alone, from whom they are. The angels indeed possess great power; but still they have no power of themselves; indeed should one who is in heaven believe that he has power from himself, he is instantly deprived of it, and then he is altogether impotent. The reason it is said in the sense of the letter, that they shall reign, is, because the sense of the letter is personal; wherefore, when in that [sense] it is said, that they shall be kings and priests, it is also said that they shall reign; but in the spiritual sense everything associated with person is put off, and thence everything of dominion belonging to it, and it is left to the Lord alone.

Similar to this case is that in which the Lord said to His disciples, that they should sit upon twelve thrones, and judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30). Then what the Lord said to Peter, That to him belonged the keys of the kingdom of the heavens (Matthew 16:19). By this is not meant that the disciples and Peter should have that power, but the Lord alone; because, in the spiritual sense, by the twelve disciples are meant all the truths and goods of the church from the Lord; and by Peter is meant truth from good from the Lord. (That by the disciples are meant all the truths and goods of the church from the Lord, may be seen above, n. 100, 122. That Peter signifies truth from good from the Lord, may be seen in the small work concerning the Last Judgment 57; and above, n. 9, 206, 209. That all power belongs to truth from good from the Lord, thus to the Lord alone, and that thence the angels have power, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell 228-233.) That by, we shall reign, is also signified that they have wisdom from the Lord, is, because by kings and priests are signified truths and goods, and all wisdom is from truths that are from good from the Lord. It is said that they shall reign upon the earth, because by the earth is meant the Lord's church in the heavens and in the earths (see above, n. 304). That the earth also here does not signify the earth, is evident; thus neither that we shall be kings and priests. The reason why to reign signifies to be in truths from good, and thence in power and wisdom from the Lord, is, because a kingdom signifies heaven and the church as to truths, and a king truth from good. (That kingdom in the Word signifies heaven and the church as to truths, may be seen above, n. 48; and a king, truth from good, also above, n. 31. The same is signified by reigning in the following passages, 20:4, 6; 22:4.)

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