The Bible

 

Genesis 12

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1 καὶ εἶπεν κύριος τῷ αβραμ ἔξελθε ἐκ τῆς γῆς σου καὶ ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας σου καὶ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου εἰς τὴν γῆν ἣν ἄν σοι δείξω

2 καὶ ποιήσω σε εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καὶ εὐλογήσω σε καὶ μεγαλυνῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου καὶ ἔσῃ εὐλογητός

3 καὶ εὐλογήσω τοὺς εὐλογοῦντάς σε καὶ τοὺς καταρωμένους σε καταράσομαι καὶ ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς

4 καὶ ἐπορεύθη αβραμ καθάπερ ἐλάλησεν αὐτῷ κύριος καὶ ὤ|χετο μετ' αὐτοῦ λωτ αβραμ δὲ ἦν ἐτῶν ἑβδομήκοντα πέντε ὅτε ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ χαρραν

5 καὶ ἔλαβεν αβραμ τὴν σαραν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν λωτ υἱὸν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ πάντα τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὐτῶν ὅσα ἐκτήσαντο καὶ πᾶσαν ψυχήν ἣν ἐκτήσαντο ἐν χαρραν καὶ ἐξήλθοσαν πορευθῆναι εἰς γῆν χανααν καὶ ἦλθον εἰς γῆν χανααν

6 καὶ διώδευσεν αβραμ τὴν γῆν εἰς τὸ μῆκος αὐτῆς ἕως τοῦ τόπου συχεμ ἐπὶ τὴν δρῦν τὴν ὑψηλήν οἱ δὲ χαναναῖοι τότε κατῴκουν τὴν γῆν

7 καὶ ὤφθη κύριος τῷ αβραμ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ τῷ σπέρματί σου δώσω τὴν γῆν ταύτην καὶ ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐκεῖ αβραμ θυσιαστήριον κυρίῳ τῷ ὀφθέντι αὐτῷ

8 καὶ ἀπέστη ἐκεῖθεν εἰς τὸ ὄρος κατ' ἀνατολὰς βαιθηλ καὶ ἔστησεν ἐκεῖ τὴν σκηνὴν αὐτοῦ βαιθηλ κατὰ θάλασσαν καὶ αγγαι κατ' ἀνατολάς καὶ ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐκεῖ θυσιαστήριον τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ ἐπεκαλέσατο ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι κυρίου

9 καὶ ἀπῆρεν αβραμ καὶ πορευθεὶς ἐστρατοπέδευσεν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ

10 καὶ ἐγένετο λιμὸς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ κατέβη αβραμ εἰς αἴγυπτον παροικῆσαι ἐκεῖ ὅτι ἐνίσχυσεν ὁ λιμὸς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς

11 ἐγένετο δὲ ἡνίκα ἤγγισεν αβραμ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς αἴγυπτον εἶπεν αβραμ σαρα τῇ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ γινώσκω ἐγὼ ὅτι γυνὴ εὐπρόσωπος εἶ

12 ἔσται οὖν ὡς ἂν ἴδωσίν σε οἱ αἰγύπτιοι ἐροῦσιν ὅτι γυνὴ αὐτοῦ αὕτη καὶ ἀποκτενοῦσίν με σὲ δὲ περιποιήσονται

13 εἰπὸν οὖν ὅτι ἀδελφὴ αὐτοῦ εἰμι ὅπως ἂν εὖ μοι γένηται διὰ σέ καὶ ζήσεται ἡ ψυχή μου ἕνεκεν σοῦ

14 ἐγένετο δὲ ἡνίκα εἰσῆλθεν αβραμ εἰς αἴγυπτον ἰδόντες οἱ αἰγύπτιοι τὴν γυναῖκα ὅτι καλὴ ἦν σφόδρα

15 καὶ εἶδον αὐτὴν οἱ ἄρχοντες φαραω καὶ ἐπῄνεσαν αὐτὴν πρὸς φαραω καὶ εἰσήγαγον αὐτὴν εἰς τὸν οἶκον φαραω

16 καὶ τῷ αβραμ εὖ ἐχρήσαντο δι' αὐτήν καὶ ἐγένοντο αὐτῷ πρόβατα καὶ μόσχοι καὶ ὄνοι παῖδες καὶ παιδίσκαι ἡμίονοι καὶ κάμηλοι

17 καὶ ἤτασεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν φαραω ἐτασμοῖς μεγάλοις καὶ πονηροῖς καὶ τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ περὶ σαρας τῆς γυναικὸς αβραμ

18 καλέσας δὲ φαραω τὸν αβραμ εἶπεν τί τοῦτο ἐποίησάς μοι ὅτι οὐκ ἀπήγγειλάς μοι ὅτι γυνή σού ἐστιν

19 ἵνα τί εἶπας ὅτι ἀδελφή μού ἐστιν καὶ ἔλαβον αὐτὴν ἐμαυτῷ εἰς γυναῖκα καὶ νῦν ἰδοὺ ἡ γυνή σου ἐναντίον σου λαβὼν ἀπότρεχε

20 καὶ ἐνετείλατο φαραω ἀνδράσιν περὶ αβραμ συμπροπέμψαι αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἦν αὐτῷ καὶ λωτ μετ' αὐτοῦ

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1540

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1540. THE INTERNAL SENSE

The true historicals of the Word began, as before said, with the foregoing chapter-the twelfth. Up to that point, or rather to Eber, they were made-up historicals. In the internal sense, the historicals here continued respecting Abram are significative of the Lord, and in fact of His first life, such as it was before His external man had been conjoined with the internal so as to make one thing; that is, before His external man had been in like manner made celestial and Divine. The historicals are what represent the Lord; the words themselves are significative of the things that are represented. But being historical, the mind of the reader cannot but be held in them; especially at this day, when most persons, and indeed nearly all, do not believe that there is an internal sense, and still less that it exists in every word; and it may be that in spite of the fact that the internal sense has been so plainly shown thus far, they will not even now acknowledge its existence, and this for the reason that the internal sense appears to recede so far from the sense of the letter as to be scarcely recognized in it. And yet that these historicals cannot be the Word they might know from the mere fact that when separated from the internal sense there is no more of the Divine in them than in any other history; whereas the internal sense makes the Word to be Divine.

[2] That the internal sense is the Word itself, is evident from many things that have been revealed, as, “Out of Egypt have I called My son” (Matthew 2:15); besides many others. The Lord Himself also, after His resurrection, taught the disciples what had been written concerning Him in Moses and the Prophets (Luke 24:27); and thus that there is nothing written in the Word that does not regard Him, His kingdom, and the church. These are the spiritual and celestial things of the Word; but the things contained in the literal sense are for the most part worldly, corporeal, and earthly; which cannot possibly make the Word of the Lord. At this day men are of such a character that they perceive nothing but such things; and what spiritual and heavenly things are, they scarcely know. It was otherwise with the men of the Most Ancient and of the Ancient Church, who, had they lived at this day, and had read the Word, would not have attended at all to the sense of the letter, which they would look upon as nothing, but to the internal sense. They wonder greatly that anyone perceives the Word in any other way. All the books of the Ancients were therefore so written as to have in their interior sense a different meaning from that in the letter.

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