The Bible

 

Genesis 3

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1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #290

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290. It was called 'the mother of all living' from its faith in the Lord, who is Life itself. This too becomes clear from what has been shown already. There cannot possibly be more than one Life from which everyone's life derives, nor can life which really is life possibly exist unless it comes by way of faith in the Lord, who is Life. Neither can faith exist which has life within it unless it comes from Him, and so has Him within it. This is why in the Word the Lord is called the only Living, and the LIVING JEHOVAH, in Jeremiah 5:2; 12:16; 16:14-15; 23:7; Ezekiel 5:11; the One living forever, in Daniel 4:34; Revelation 4:10; 5:14; 10:6; in David, the fountain of life, Psalms 36:9; in Jeremiah, the fount of living waters, 17:13. Heaven which derives its life from Him is called 'the land of the living' in Isaiah 38:11; 53:8; Ezekiel 26:20; 32:23-27, 32; Psalms 27:13; 52:5; 142:5. And those who have faith in the Lord are called 'the living', as in David,

Who has kept our soul among the living. Psalms 66:9.

It is also said that those who have faith appear in the Book of Lives, Psalms 69:28, and in the Book of Life, Revelation 13:8; 17:8; 20:15. This also is why it is said of those who receive faith in Him that they are made alive, Hosea 6:2; Psalms 85:6. Conversely those who have no faith were in consequence called 'the dead', as also in Isaiah,

The dead will not live, the Rephaim will not rise. To that end You have visited them and wiped them out. Isaiah 26:14.

This stands for people who are puffed up with self-love. 'Rising up means entering into life. They are also called 'the slain' 1 in Ezekiel 32:23-26, 28-31; and hell is called 'death' in Isaiah 25:8; 28:15. The Lord too refers to them as 'the dead' in Matthew 4:16; John 5:24; 8:21, 24, 51-52.

Footnotes:

1. literally, the pierced

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

The Bible

 

Ezekiel 32:23-27

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23 whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her company is around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the living.

24 There is Elam and all her multitude around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who are gone down uncircumcised into the lower parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit.

25 They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude; her graves are around her; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of those who are slain.

26 There is Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude; their graves are around them; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they caused their terror in the land of the living.

27 They shall not lie with the mighty who are fallen of the uncircumcised, who are gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war, and have laid their swords under their heads, and their iniquities are on their bones; for [they were] the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.