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 #893

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893. Verse 13 And it happened in the six hundred and first year, at the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters dried up from over the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and saw out, and behold, the face 1 of the ground was dry.

'It happened in the six hundred and first year' means a finishing point. 'At the beginning, on the first of the month' means a starting point. 'The waters dried up from over the earth' means that falsities were not at that time apparent. 'And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and saw out' means the light, once falsities had been removed, shed by the truths of faith, which he acknowledged and in which he had faith. 'And behold, the face 1 of the ground was dry' means regeneration.

Footnotes:

1. literally, the faces

[893a] 1 That 'it happened in the six hundred and first year means a finishing point is clear from the meaning of the number six hundred, dealt with at Chapter 7:6, in 737, as a beginning, and in particular in that verse as the beginning of temptation. The end of it is specified by the same number, with a whole year having now passed by. It took place therefore at the end of a year, and this also is why the words are added 'at the beginning, on the first of the month', meaning a starting point. In the Word any complete period is specified either by a day, or a week, or a month, or a year, and even by a hundred or a thousand years - for example, 'the days' mentioned in Genesis 1, which meant stages in the regeneration of the member of the Most Ancient Church. For in the internal sense day and year mean nothing else than a period of time; and meaning a period of time they also mean a state. Consequently a year stands in the Word for a period of time and for a state, as in Isaiah,

To proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God; to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:2.

This refers to the Lord's Coming. In the same prophet,

The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed had come. Isaiah 63:4.

Here too 'day' and 'year' stand for a period of time and for a state. In Habakkuk,

Your work, O Jehovah, in the midst of the years make it live, in the midst of the years do You make it known. Habakkuk 3:2.

Here 'years' stands for a period of time and for a state. In David,

'You are God Himself, and Your years have no end. Psalms 102:27.

This statement, in which 'years' stands for periods of time, means that time does not exist with God. The same applies in the present verse where 'the year' of the flood in no way means any one particular year but a period of time that is not determined by a specific number of years. At the same time it means a state. See what has been said already about 'years' in 482, 487, 488, 493.

1. This paragraph is not numbered in the Latin.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #5893

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5893. 'There have been two years of famine in the midst of the land' means states 1 when there is a lack of good in the natural mind. This is clear from the meaning of 'years' as states, dealt with in 487, 488, 493, 893; from the meaning of 'famine' as a lack of good (for 'bread' in the spiritual sense is the good of love, and 'food' is the good of truth, so that 'famine' or 'hunger' is a lack of good, while 'thirst' is a lack of truth); and from the meaning of 'in the midst of the land' - the land of Egypt - as the natural mind, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301. The expression 'in the midst' is used because the midst or middle is the inmost part, 1074, 2940, 2973. Where good resides. 'Two years' are states when good and truth exist joined together, since 'two' means a joining together, 5194; but in the present use of the expression a joining together that has not yet been effected is meant since they are 'two years of famine'.

[2] The implications of this are as follows: Truths must be present in the natural mind if good is to do its work, and those truths must be brought into it through an affection belonging to genuine love. Everything without exception in a person's memory has been brought into it through some love, and having become joined to that love remains in the memory. This also applies to the truths of faith; if they have been brought in through a love of truth, those truths become joined to and remain there with that love. Once they have become joined to it the following is then the situation: If the affection is evoked again, the truths that have been joined to it reappear at the same time; and if the truths are evoked again, the affection to which they have been joined reappears at the same time. This being so, when a person is being regenerated - which happens in adult life because he is unable before this to think for himself about the truths of faith - he is governed by angels sent by the Lord. They govern him by maintaining in him the truths which he has become convinced are truths, and by maintaining in him through those truths the affection to which they have been joined. And because that affection - an affection for truth - has its origin in good, he is then led step by step towards good.

[3] A considerable amount of experience has proved the truth of this to me. For I have noticed that when evil spirits have thrust evils and falsities at me, the angels from the Lord present at the time have maintained in me the truths implanted in me previously and have thereby withheld me from those evils and falsities. From this it has also been evident that the truths of faith which, through an affection for truth, have become rooted in me serve as a level into which angels can operate, so that people who do not have this level laid down in them cannot be led by angels but allow themselves to be led by hell. For without it the operation of the angels cannot become established anywhere and so passes away from them. That level for angels to operate into cannot however be acquired unless the truths of faith have been put into service and thus have been implanted in the person's will and through this in his life. It is also worth mentioning that when the operation of the angels into the truths of faith present with a person takes place, it is rarely plain to see, that is to say, so plain that thought about the truth operated into is aroused. Rather, a general notion of things in keeping with that truth, and the affection that goes with it, is produced. For that operation by the angels is effected by means of an imperceptible inflowing which, when a visual presentation of it is made, looks like an inflowing beam of light. That light is made up of countless truths present within good which focus on one particular truth known by a person and which, while they sustain the truth in him, also sustain the love that belongs to that truth. This is the way the angels raise a person's mind above falsities and protect it from evils. Yet the person is totally unaware of any of this.

Footnotes:

1. a state is probably intended here, cp 5891

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