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 #624

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624. It is clear that a state which is not a state of the Church is the subject here from the fact that in this verse and those that follow in chapter the name God is used, whereas in previous verses it was Jehovah. When the Church does not exist the name God is used, but when it does exist, it is Jehovah; for example in Genesis 1, when the Church did not exist, He was called God, but in the next chapter when it did, He was called Jehovah God. 'Jehovah' is the holiest of names, and belongs to the Church alone. Not so 'God', for no nation was without gods. Consequently the same holiness was not attached to the name God. Nobody was allowed to utter the name Jehovah except him who had knowledge of the true faith; but anyone was allowed to utter the name God.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #874

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874. Fear God and give glory unto him. That this signifies that they should worship the Lord from His Divine truth by a life according to it, is evident from the signification of fearing God, as denoting to reverence and worship the Lord; concerning which see above (n. 696); and from the signification of giving glory unto Him, as denoting to live according to Divine truth, that is, according to His precepts in the Word.

By glory, where it is said of the Lord, is signified Divine truth proceeding from Him, thus the Word such as it is in heaven; for this is light to the angels, by means of which the Lord manifests His glory. For by means of that light He gives intelligence and wisdom, and also sets before their eyes magnificent objects, which are refulgent from highly precious things. This in the proximate sense is signified by the Lord's glory. But because all those magnificent things that are refulgent, as it were, from gold and precious stones in wonderful forms, are given by the Lord according to the reception of Divine truth proceeding from Him, therefore they are seen by them entirely according to the wisdom which is in them; for these things are correspondences. But since they have wisdom according to their reception of Divine truth, not only in doctrine but also in life, therefore by giving glory unto Him is signified to live according to Divine truth.

[2] It is believed in the world that those possess wisdom, and consequently heaven, who know Divine truths and speak of them from knowledge, although they may not live according to them. But I can testify that such persons have no wisdom. They appear indeed to be wise, when they speak; but as soon as they are in their own spirit, or think in themselves, they are quite unwise; sometimes in fact they rave like foolish persons, thinking contrary to the Divine truths of which they have spoken. But the case is different with those who live according to Divine truths. Such persons think wisely in themselves, and also speak wisely with others. This it has been granted me to know by a thousand examples from experience in the spiritual world; for things are seen there such as are altogether unknown to men in the natural world. I have heard many there speak so wisely that I could have supposed them to be angels of the interior heaven; yet they had become devils; for they had filled their memory with such things from the love of glory, and yet had not lived according to them. As soon therefore as they came to themselves, and returned to the love of their own life, they spoke in opposition to those things, and were as insane as if they had known nothing at all about them. It was therefore evident to me, that almost every one has the faculty to understand, in order that he may be reformed; but he who does not live the life of truth, does not will to be reformed. He successively rejects from himself all those things that have reference to his intelligence and wisdom, and lives his own love, which is opposed to them, and at length he draws near to those who are in hell, and in a love similar to his own.

From these things it is evident that to give glory to God is to live according to Divine truth; as the Lord also taught in these words in John:

"In this is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. Abide ye in my love: if ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you" (15:8, 10, 14).

It is therefore evident that to glorify God, or to give glory to God, is to bring forth fruit.

See, moreover, what has been said before concerning glory as that glory signifies the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, and its reception by angels and men (n. 33, 288, 345); and that the Lord's glory consists in enlightening men and angels, and in blessing them with wisdom and happiness; which can take place only by the reception of Divine truth in doctrine and also in life.

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