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Genesis 2

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1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #1210

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1210. Saying, Praise God, all ye his servants.- That this signifies the worship of the Lord by those who are in truths, is evident from the signification of praising God, as denoting to confess and worship Him, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of the servants of God, as denoting those who are in truths from the Lord, concerning which see above (n. 6, 409). In many passages in the Word, mention is made of praising God, which signifies to confess Him with the heart and mouth, thus also to worship Him. By praising God is signified the same as by Halleluja, for Halleluja signifies Praise ye God; that this is the voice of joy and gladness in confessions and in the worship of God, has been stated before.

The reason why praising God signifies to confess and worship, is, that the Lord does not desire to be praised or glorified from any love for Himself, but from His love for man. For a man cannot do otherwise than praise and glorify the Lord, or give praise and glory to Him, when he acknowledges in heart that there is nothing good in himself, and that he can do nothing from himself, and on the other hand that all good is from the Lord, and that the Lord can do all things. When man is in this acknowledgment he then puts away his proprium, whose origin is the love of self, opens the whole of his mind, and thus enables the Divine to enter by influx with good and with power. It is therefore necessary that a man be in humiliation before the Lord, and that such humiliation be from no other source than the acknowledgment of his own [nature] and the acknowledgment of the Lord; according to these things reception takes place. That to give praise to God, and to praise God, is to confess Him, and from confession of heart to worship Him, is evident from many passages in the Word, as Matthew 21:16; Luke 2:13, 14, 20; 5:25, 26; 7:16; 13:13; 18:43; 19:28-40; 24:52, 53; also Psalm 148:1-5, 7, 13; and elsewhere.

[2] Continuation [concerning the Life of Plants].- 5. Plants and animals also - both those which appear in heaven, and those which are in the world - exist from the Spiritual, by means of these forces.

The reason why these also exist in heaven is, that these forces are inherent in the Spiritual, in the greatest and least things, in primaries and in ultimates; thus in that which is spiritual both in heaven and in the world, its first beginnings being in the former, its ultimate developments in the latter. For there are degrees of spiritual things, and every degree is distinct from another, a prior or higher degree being more perfect than that which is posterior or lower. This may be shown from the light and heat in the heavens, and from the wisdom of the angels derived from these. The light in the highest or third heaven, through being of a flaming quality, is so bright that it surpasses a thousand times the mid-day light of the world. In the middle or second heaven there is a light less clear, but still it surpasses a hundred times the mid-day light of the world. In the ultimate or first heaven there is a light similar to the mid-day light of the world. There are also degrees of heat, which in heaven is love, and according to them the angels possess their wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge. All that is spiritual belongs to the light and heat which proceed from the Lord as the Sun, and from these are wisdom and intelligence.

[3] There are also as many degrees of spiritual things existing beneath the heavens, or in nature, these being lower degrees. This is evident from man's natural mind, also from his rationality, and his sensuality. Rational men are in the first, sensual men in the last, while some are in the intermediate degree; all the thought and affection, moreover, of the natural mind are spiritual. These three forces, the active, the creative, and the formative, are inherent in the Spiritual, in every degree of it, but with a difference of perfection. Since however there is nothing but has its own ultimate, in which it terminates and stops, so also has the Spiritual; its ultimate being in the lands and waters of the earth. From this ultimate again the Spiritual produces plants of every kind, from the tree to the blade of grass, and in these it remains, manifesting itself merely in that kind of resemblance to living beings, of which we have treated above.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Psalms 148:7

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7 Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: