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 #8892

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8892. 'And all that is in them' means of all that are there, that is to say, vivifying them. This is clear without explanation.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9227

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9227. 'On the eighth day you shall give it to Me' means that in the initial phase of the following state when they lead a life of good they dwell with the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'the eighth day' as the initial phase of the following state, dealt with in 2044, 8400 (end); and from the meaning of 'giving to Jehovah' as giving to the Lord since 'Jehovah' is used in the Word to mean the Lord, 1736, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6303, 6945, 6956, 8274, 8864. The reason why when they lead a life of good they dwell with the Lord is meant is that the internal sense deals with both states experienced by a person who is being regenerated. The first state is when the person is led by means of the truths of faith towards the good of charity, and the second state is when he has come into that good. Since the person then dwells with the Lord, these things are therefore meant by 'you shall give it to Me'.

A person has two states while being regenerated, the first when he is led by means of the truths of faith towards the good of charity, and the second when he has come into the good of charity, see 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701.

A person is in heaven and so dwells with the Lord when he has come into the good of charity, 8516, 8539, 8722, 8772, 9139.

[2] Something more must be stated briefly concerning the nature of these two states with a person who is being regenerated. It has been shown already in 9224 that truths which are called matters of faith enter by the external route with a person, and that good which is the good of charity and love enters by the internal route. The external route lies through hearing into the memory, and from the memory into the person's understanding, the understanding being a person's inward sight. The truths which are to become matters of faith enter by the external route to the end that they may be introduced into the will and so be made the person's own. The good which flows in from the Lord by the internal route flows into the will, for the will is the person's inward self. The good coming from the Lord meets, in the outer reaches of the will, the truths that have entered by the external route, and by joining itself to them causes the truths to be converted into good. And to the extent that this takes place order is turned around, that is, the person is not led by truths but by good, consequently is led by the Lord.

[3] From all this one may see the way in which a person is raised from the world to heaven when being regenerated. For everything that enters through hearing enters in from the world; and the things that have been deposited in the memory, then come from the memory and present themselves to the understanding, are seen in the light of the world, which is called natural illumination. But the things which enter the will or come to belong to the will are in the light of heaven, the light of heaven being the truth of good from the Lord. When these things go out of the will into actions they go back into the light of the world; but they now take on in this light a completely different appearance. For initially the world was present within each one of those things, but afterwards heaven is present within each one. These considerations also show why a person is not in heaven until he does truths because he wills them, and so because he has charity and affection for them.

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