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

 

Marriage #20

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20. (7) Heavenly joy is founded upon conjugial love.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #6232

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6232. And I will make you into a congregation of peoples' means an increase without limit. This is clear from the meaning of 'a congregation of peoples' as truths from good without limit; for 'peoples' means truths, 1259, 1260, 3295, and 'a congregation an abundance. Consequently 'making into a congregation of peoples' means causing truths to increase abundantly. That increase is without limit for the reason that all things in the spiritual world, which spring from the Infinite, as truths and forms of good do, are capable of unending multiplication and increase. The expression 'without limit' denotes that which cannot be described and comprehended numerically; yet that which is without limit is finite when compared with the Infinite, so that there is no way of measuring one against the other.

[2] The reason why truths and forms of good can increase without limit is that they derive from the Lord who is Infinite. One may see that this is what truths and forms of good are like from the consideration that truth and good reign throughout the whole of heaven and yet are never exactly the same with one person as with another; and this would still be so even if heaven were millions of times larger. It can likewise be seen from the consideration that angels are forever becoming more perfect, that is, they grow constantly in goodness and truth; yet they cannot possibly attain a full degree of perfection. Unlimited possibility for growth always remains; for truths have no numerical limit, each truth has unlimited facets, and so on.

[3] The same thing can be seen even better from those living in the natural world. Even if the human race increased without limit, still no one would have a face identical with another's; no one would have an internal face, that is, a personality, identical with another's, nor even an identical sound of voice. From this it is evident that variety without limit exists in all things and that one thing is never identical with another. Variety even more unlimited exists among the truths and forms of good that belong to the spiritual world; for one thing in the natural world corresponds to millions in the spiritual world. Therefore the more interior things are, the more they are without limit.

[4] The reason why such things without limit are a feature of everything in the spiritual world and also in the natural world is that they have their origin in the Infinite, as stated above; for if they did not have their origin there they could not possibly be without limit. Furthermore the things that are without limit in both worlds also make it quite evident that the Divine is Infinite.

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