The Bible

 

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

 

Arcana Coelestia #7147

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7147. 'And your people have sinned' means that for this reason they are guilty of having done what is evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'sinning' as becoming guilty of evil; and, if guilty, as receiving deserved punishment. What the situation is in general regarding the matters contained in this verse and in those that come before it must be stated. Those who are on the lower earth are molested by the falsities and evils introduced by the surrounding hells. Such molestation takes place in order that evils and falsities may be removed and truths and forms of good may be instilled, as a result of which they are brought into a state in which they can be raised to heaven, see 7090, 7122. But near the end they are molested more harshly than ever before, for at that stage truths are taken away from them and utter falsities are allowed to molest them, even until they are made to despair. For it is in accordance with Divine order that despair should be the final stage of molestation and temptation, see 1787, 2694, 5279, 5280. In order that this state experienced by those belonging to the spiritual Church might be represented by the children of Israel, Pharaoh acted as the narrative describes here. He did what he did when the molestations were near the end, that is to say, when the children of Israel were about to be set free and led to the land of Canaan.

[2] It should be recognized that molestations take place in the following way: Falsities and evils are introduced into a person's thoughts by the hells, and truths and forms of good by heaven, that is, by the Lord through heaven; and that introduction takes place in him because no man or spirit has any thought that originates in himself. Rather, everything flows in from without. Although this is entirely contrary to anyone's perception of what is going on inside him and for that reason seems impossible to believe, it is nevertheless absolutely true. See what has already been brought forward and shown from experience on the matter in 2886, 4151, 4249, 5846, 5854, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626. From these places one may know how to understand the idea that molestations are effected by the introduction of falsities, and are increased until a person is made to despair.

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