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 #860

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860. From these considerations it also becomes clear that all regeneration advances from evening to morning, as is mentioned six times in Genesis 1 where the regeneration of man is the subject. Here the evening is described in verses 2-3, the morning in verses 4-5. The present verse describes the first ray of light or the morning of this state as 'the tops of the mountains appearing'.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #658

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658. Their bodies three days and a half. 1 - That this signifies the complete extinction of Divine Truth and Divine Good, is evident from the signification of bodies, namely, of the witnesses, as denoting those who have extinguished in themselves all Divine Truth and Divine Good. For the two witnesses, whom they slew, signify the goods of love and of charity and the truths of doctrine and of faith, see above (n. 228, 635); consequently their bodies, when slain, signify that these have been extinguished. But because the good of love and of charity and the truth of doctrine and of faith cannot be extinguished except with those who are in falsities of doctrine and in evils of life, therefore these are meant, since others do not see that the goods of love and the truths of doctrine are extinguished. For every one sees the things which are of the Lord, and thence the things which pertain to heaven and the church, according to the quality of his state, and it is from this that he sees, therefore he cannot see otherwise than in agreement with that quality. Thus he who denies the Lord and His Divine in heaven and in the church does not see them, because he regards them negatively, therefore he does not see the witnesses alive, but their bodies as carcases, that is, he considers the goods of love and truths of doctrine as nothing, consequently also extinguished. The above is evident from the signification of three days and a half, as denoting what is complete, in this case, a complete extinction.

[2] "Three and a half" denotes what is complete, because three signifies an entire period or duration from beginning to end, consequently, where the church is treated of, as in the present case, three and a half signifies even unto its end, and at the same time to a new beginning wherefore it is said that after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them and that they stood upon their feet, which signifies the beginning of a new church after the end of the old. For all the good of love and truth of doctrine is extinguished at the end of the church, but then there is a resuscitation which takes place with those in whom a new church is established by the Lord, which is also signified by the spirit of life which entered into them. A full or complete state is also signified by three days and a half, for the reason that this number has a similar signification to that of the number seven, for it is its half; and a number halved, like a number doubled, has a signification similar to that of the number itself that is halved or doubled; and the number seven signifies all, also what is full and complete, and it is used in reference to what is holy pertaining to heaven and the church. The signification of this number may be seen treated of above (n. 20, 24, 257, 300). That the greater numbers, as they are composed of smaller numbers, have a signification similar to that of the simple numbers from which they arise by multiplication, may be also seen above (n. 430:1-4), and that three signifies an entire period greater or less from beginning to end may be seen above (n. 532).

Footnotes:

1. Note in Photolithographic copy- "3 1:2: - 1 Kings xvii; viii; Luke 4:25."

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