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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 #666

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666. 'A covenant' means nothing other than regeneration and the things that constitute regeneration. This becomes clear from many places in the Word where the Lord Himself is called 'the Covenant', for it is He alone who regenerates, to whom a regenerated person looks, and who is the All in all of love and faith. That the Lord is the Covenant itself is clear in Isaiah,

I Jehovah have called You in righteousness, taking You by the hand and keeping You, and I will give You for a Covenant of the people, a light of the nations. Isaiah 42:6.

Here 'a Covenant' stands for the Lord, and 'the light of the nations' is faith. Similarly in Isaiah 49:6, 8. In Malachi,

Behold, I am sending My angel, and suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the Angel of the Covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming. Who will endure the day of His coming? Malachi 3:1-2.

Here the Lord is called 'the Angel of the Covenant'. In Exodus 31:16 the Sabbath is called an eternal covenant because it means the Lord Himself. It also means the celestial man who has been regenerated by Him.

[2] The Lord being the Covenant itself, it is clear that what constitutes the covenant is everything that joins a person to the Lord, that is to say, love and faith and the things that belong to love and faith. In fact these are the Lord's and the Lord is within them, and so the Covenant itself exists within these, where they are received. These things do not exist except with someone who has been regenerated, with whom anything at all that is the Regenerator's, or the Lord's, constitutes the covenant, or is the covenant. As in Isaiah,

My mercy will not depart from you, and the covenant of My peace will not be removed. Isaiah 54:10.

Here 'mercy and covenant of peace' means the Lord and things that are the Lord's. In the same prophet,

Incline your ear and come to Me; hear, that your soul may live, and I will make with you an eternal covenant, even the sure mercies of David. Lo, I have given Him as a witness to the peoples, a leader and lawgiver to the peoples. Isaiah 55:3-4.

Here 'David' stands for the Lord. 'The eternal covenant' exists in and acts through those qualities that are the Lord's, which are meant by 'coming to Him' and 'hearing so that your soul may live'.

[3] In Jeremiah,

I will give them one heart and one way, to fear Me all their days, for their own good and that of their sons after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear into their heart. Jeremiah 31:39, 40.

This stands for those who are to be regenerated, and also for those things with someone regenerate which are 'one heart and one way', namely charity and faith, which belong to the Lord and so to the covenant. In the same prophet,

Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, when I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, for they rendered My covenant invalid. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put My law in the midst of them, and will write it on their heart, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Jeremiah 31:31-33.

This is an explicit statement of what constitutes the covenant - love and faith in the Lord, which will be present with him who is to be regenerated.

[4] In the same prophet love is called the covenant far the day, and faith the covenant for the night, Jeremiah 33:20. In Ezekiel,

I Jehovah will be their God, and my servant David will be prince in the midst of them; and I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will banish the evil wild animal from the land, and they will dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. Ezekiel 34:24-25.

This clearly refers to regeneration. 'David' stands for the Lord. In the same prophet,

David will be their prince for ever. I will make with them a covenant of peace, it will be an eternal covenant with them. I will set My sanctuary in their midst for evermore. Ezekiel 37:25-26.

This similarly refers to regeneration. 'David' and 'the sanctuary' stand for the Lord. In the same prophet,

I entered into a covenant with you, and you were Mine. And I washed you with water and washed away your blood from upon you, and anointed you with oil. Ezekiel 16:8-9, 11.

This clearly stands for regeneration. In Hosea,

I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air, 1 and with the creeping things of the earth. Hosea 2:18.

This stands for regeneration. 'Wild animals of the field' stands for things of the will, 'birds of the air' 1 for those of the understanding. In David,

He sent redemption to His people, He commanded His covenant for ever. Psalms 111:9.

This stands for regeneration. This is called 'a covenant' because it is something given and received.

[5] People however who have not been regenerated - or what amounts to the same, who focus worship on things that are external and who set up and worship as gods both themselves and everything they desire and think - are referred to, because they separate themselves from the Lord, as 'rendering the covenant invalid', as in Jeremiah,

They forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and bowed down to other gods and served them. Jeremiah 22:9.

In Moses,

He who transgressed the covenant by serving other gods, the sun, the moon, and the host of heaven, was to be stoned. Deuteronomy 17:2 and following verses.

'The sun' stands for self-love, 'the moon' for false assumptions, 'the host of heaven' for falsities themselves. From this it is now clear what 'the Ark of the covenant' is, containing the testimony or covenant, namely the Lord Himself; what 'the Book of the covenant' is, namely the Lord Himself, Exodus 24:4-7, 34:27; Deuteronomy 4:13, 23; what 'the Blood of the covenant' is, namely the Lord Himself, Exodus 24:6, 8; who alone is the Regenerator. Hence 'a covenant' is regeneration itself.

Footnotes:

1. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)

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

The Bible

 

Genesis 6

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1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

   

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