The Bible

 

Genesis 1:17

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17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

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Apocalypse Explained #1120

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1120. For in her heart she saith, I sit a queen, signifies pride and boasting that heaven and the church are under their dominion. This is evident from the signification of "to say in their heart," as being boasting from pride, for "to say" signifies boasting, and "heart" signifies the love of self, thus also pride. Also from the signification of "sitting a queen," as being that heaven and the church are under their dominion. This is meant by "sitting a queen," because when the Lord is called "King" then "queen" means heaven and the church; just as when the Lord is called "Bridegroom and Husband" heaven and the church are meant by "bride and wife." It is said heaven, but the church in heaven is meant, that is, the church with the angels of heaven, which makes one with the church that is with men on earth; for there are governments in the heavens as on the earth, and consequently there are economical, civil, and ecclesiastical affairs as on the earth, though in a more perfect degree; therefore the church in the heavens is meant by "bride and wife," and when the Lord is referred to as King, then the church, which is the King's wife, is meant by "queen. "

[2] "Queen" means the church in David:

Kings' daughters are among thy precious ones, at thy right hand doth stand the queen in the best gold of Ophir (Psalms 45:9).

This Psalm treats of the Lord and His Kingdom; and "kings' daughters" among the precious ones signify the affections of truth, which are said to be "among the precious ones" because "precious" is predicated in the Word of truths; "the queen who stands at the right hand in gold of Ophir," signifies the church from the reception of good from the Lord; for all things with man that belong to his right side have reference to good from which is truth, and those belonging to the left side have reference to truth from good, and this is why it is said that "the queen stands at the right hand." Also "the gold of Ophir" signifies good. That things on the right side with man have reference to good, and those on the left side to truth, may be seen above n. 600; and that "gold" signifies the good of love n. 242. Moreover, woman is born to be affection which belongs to love, and man [vir] is born to be understanding; thus the woman is born to be good, for every good is of affection which belongs to love, and man [vir] is born to be truth, for every truth is of the understanding. Since, then, good belongs to the right side of man, and truth to his left, it follows that it is according to Divine order for the wife to be on the right.

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith and respecting the Lord)

[3] It has been said that the Lord is the only Man, and that all are men according to their reception of Divine good and Divine truth from Him. The Lord is the only Man because He is life itself; while all others are recipients of life because they are men from Him. Between the Man who is life and the man who is a recipient of life there is a difference like that between the uncreate and the created, or between the infinite and the finite, a difference that admits of no ratio, for there is no possible ratio between the infinite and the finite, thus there is none between God as Man and any other as a man, whether angel or spirit or a man in the world.

[4] That the Lord is Life He Himself teaches in John:

The Word was with God, and the God was Word; in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word became flesh (John 1:1, 4, 14).

In the same:

As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26).

In the same:

As the living Father hath sent Me, and I also live through the Father (John 6:57).

In the same:

I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25).

In the same:

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).

As the Lord is life, so elsewhere in the Word He is called "the Bread of life," "the Light of life," and "the Tree of life," also "the Living God," and "He that liveth."

[5] As He is life, and every man is a recipient of life from Him, He also teaches that He gives life and makes alive, as in John:

As the Father makes alive, the Son also makes alive (John 5:21).

In the same:

I am the bread of God that cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world (John 6:33).

In the same:

Because I live ye shall live also (John 14:19).

Also in many passages, that He gives life to those who believe in Him. And for this reason God is called "the fountain of life" (Psalms 36:9), and elsewhere, "Creator," "Maker," "Former," also "Potter," and we "the clay, and the work of His hands." As God is life, it follows that in Him we live, move, and have our being.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Genesis 7

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1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.

6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,

9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;

14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.

15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.

16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.

17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.

18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.

19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.

20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:

22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.

23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.

24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.