The Bible

 

Genesis 1:3

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3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #23

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23. Nothing is more common in the Word than for the word 'day' to be used to mean the particular time at which events take place, as in Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah is near. Behold, the day of Jehovah comes. I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, on the day of My fierce anger. Its time is close at hand, and its days will not be prolonged. Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22.

And in the same prophet,

Her antiquity is in the days of antiquity. On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. Isaiah 23:7, 15.

Since 'day' stands for the particular time it also stands for the state associated with that particular time, as in Jeremiah, Woe to us, for the day has declined, for the shadows of evening have lengthened! Jeremiah 6:4

And in the same prophet,

If you break My covenant that is for the day and My covenant that is for the night, so that there is neither daytime nor night at their appointed time. Jeremiah 33:20, 25.

Also,

Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.

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

Commentary

 

Thirst

  
This stained-glass window in St. Peter’s, Clapham, London, is one of eight depicting the Beatitudes.

Food in the Bible generally relates to the desire for good, and drink generally relates to ideas of what is true. It makes sense then, that being hungry represents a lack of good intentions and a desire for them, while thirsting or being thirsty represents a lack of knowledge and a desire to learn what is true about life, the Lord, and what we are called to do and be.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 480; Apocalypse Revealed 381, 889, 956; Arcana Coelestia 4017, 8568)