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 #7007

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7007. 'And will teach you the things you will do' means that the Divine will therefore be within every single thing that is going to happen. This is clear from the meaning of 'teaching' as flowing in, and when it is used as it is here in reference to the Divine, as going forth, as above in 6999; and from the meaning of 'the things you will do' as things that are going to happen. Every single one is meant because what is said refers to the Divine. Something must be said here about what is meant by the Divine within every single thing that happens in a person's life. To man this seems to be altogether untrue, because he thinks that if the Divine were present in every single thing that happens no evil deeds would be done and no one would be damned either, and also that justice would always prevail, the upright would prosper in the world rather than those who are not upright, and many other conditions like these. But because they see the opposite of such conditions they do not believe that the Divine is in every single thing. As a consequence they attribute matters of a specific nature to themselves and their own prudence, and merely general, overall control to the Divine, calling everything else fortune and chance, which to them are blind natural forces.

[2] But a person thinks in that kind of way because he has no knowledge of the arcana of heaven, which are that the Lord leaves each person in freedom, for unless a person is in freedom he cannot be reformed at all. What a person does under compulsion does not reform him because compulsion does not allow anything to take root; for anything a person does under compulsion is not an act of willing, whereas what he does in freedom is an act of willing. What is good and true, if it is to be present in a person as his own, must take root in his will. What is outside the will is not the person's own. And since everyone is for that reason left in freedom people are allowed to think what is evil and, so far as outward fears do not hold them back, to do what is evil; and - since everyone is in freedom - those who are not upright rejoice and glory in the world seemingly more than those who are upright. But the glorying and rejoicing of those who are not upright is external or of the body and in the next life it is turned into hellish misery, whereas the glorying and rejoicing of those who are upright, being internal or of the spirit, remains and becomes heavenly bliss.

[3] Furthermore high rank and wealth bring worldly but not eternal happiness. This being so, that happiness may be experienced both by those who are not upright and by those who are upright; and if the upright are denied it, it is in order that such things may not divert them from what is good. And since a person thinks that Divine blessings consist in worldly kinds of goodness and bliss, his weakness leads him into errors about God's providence when He sees the opposite taking place. He also draws conclusions from present circumstances as he sees them. He gives no thought to the idea that Divine Providence has what is eternal in view, working especially to bring all things into a state of order in heaven, and also in hell, and so to ensure that heaven will unceasingly resemble a single human being, hell will exist opposite it, and equilibrium will therefore result. He gives no thought to the idea that these things cannot be brought about at all except by means of Divine providence at work in the most specific details of all, thus unless the Divine is constantly governing and directing people's freedom.

[4] For anything further on the subject see what has been stated and shown already regarding Divine providence:

The Lord's providence cannot be overall unless it is present in the most specific details, 1919 (end), 4319, 5122 (end), 5894 (end), 6481-6486, 6490.

The Lord's providence has in view what is eternal, 5264, 6490.

The Lord foresees what is evil and makes provision for what is good, 5155, 5195, 6489.

The Lord turns evil that He foresees into good, 6574.

Things that happen by chance are all part of providence, 5508, 6493, 6494.

One's own prudence is like dust thinly distributed in the air, while providence is, like the entire atmosphere, 6485.

Quite a number of mistaken ideas deny the presence of Divine providence in specific details, 6481.

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