The Bible

 

Genesis 16

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1 σαρα δὲ ἡ γυνὴ αβραμ οὐκ ἔτικτεν αὐτῷ ἦν δὲ αὐτῇ παιδίσκη αἰγυπτία ᾗ ὄνομα αγαρ

2 εἶπεν δὲ σαρα πρὸς αβραμ ἰδοὺ συνέκλεισέν με κύριος τοῦ μὴ τίκτειν εἴσελθε οὖν πρὸς τὴν παιδίσκην μου ἵνα τεκνοποιήσῃς ἐξ αὐτῆς ὑπήκουσεν δὲ αβραμ τῆς φωνῆς σαρας

3 καὶ λαβοῦσα σαρα ἡ γυνὴ αβραμ αγαρ τὴν αἰγυπτίαν τὴν ἑαυτῆς παιδίσκην μετὰ δέκα ἔτη τοῦ οἰκῆσαι αβραμ ἐν γῇ χανααν καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὴν αβραμ τῷ ἀνδρὶ αὐτῆς αὐτῷ γυναῖκα

4 καὶ εἰσῆλθεν πρὸς αγαρ καὶ συνέλαβεν καὶ εἶδεν ὅτι ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχει καὶ ἠτιμάσθη ἡ κυρία ἐναντίον αὐτῆς

5 εἶπεν δὲ σαρα πρὸς αβραμ ἀδικοῦμαι ἐκ σοῦ ἐγὼ δέδωκα τὴν παιδίσκην μου εἰς τὸν κόλπον σου ἰδοῦσα δὲ ὅτι ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχει ἠτιμάσθην ἐναντίον αὐτῆς κρίναι ὁ θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον ἐμοῦ καὶ σοῦ

6 εἶπεν δὲ αβραμ πρὸς σαραν ἰδοὺ ἡ παιδίσκη σου ἐν ταῖς χερσίν σου χρῶ αὐτῇ ὡς ἄν σοι ἀρεστὸν ᾖ καὶ ἐκάκωσεν αὐτὴν σαρα καὶ ἀπέδρα ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτῆς

7 εὗρεν δὲ αὐτὴν ἄγγελος κυρίου ἐπὶ τῆς πηγῆς τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἐπὶ τῆς πηγῆς ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ σουρ

8 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ ὁ ἄγγελος κυρίου αγαρ παιδίσκη σαρας πόθεν ἔρχῃ καὶ ποῦ πορεύῃ καὶ εἶπεν ἀπὸ προσώπου σαρας τῆς κυρίας μου ἐγὼ ἀποδιδράσκω

9 εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῇ ὁ ἄγγελος κυρίου ἀποστράφητι πρὸς τὴν κυρίαν σου καὶ ταπεινώθητι ὑπὸ τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῆς

10 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ ὁ ἄγγελος κυρίου πληθύνων πληθυνῶ τὸ σπέρμα σου καὶ οὐκ ἀριθμηθήσεται ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους

11 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ ὁ ἄγγελος κυρίου ἰδοὺ σὺ ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχεις καὶ τέξῃ υἱὸν καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ισμαηλ ὅτι ἐπήκουσεν κύριος τῇ ταπεινώσει σου

12 οὗτος ἔσται ἄγροικος ἄνθρωπος αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ πάντας καὶ αἱ χεῖρες πάντων ἐπ' αὐτόν καὶ κατὰ πρόσωπον πάντων τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ κατοικήσει

13 καὶ ἐκάλεσεν αγαρ τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου τοῦ λαλοῦντος πρὸς αὐτήν σὺ ὁ θεὸς ὁ ἐπιδών με ὅτι εἶπεν καὶ γὰρ ἐνώπιον εἶδον ὀφθέντα μοι

14 ἕνεκεν τούτου ἐκάλεσεν τὸ φρέαρ φρέαρ οὗ ἐνώπιον εἶδον ἰδοὺ ἀνὰ μέσον καδης καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον βαραδ

15 καὶ ἔτεκεν αγαρ τῷ αβραμ υἱόν καὶ ἐκάλεσεν αβραμ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ ὃν ἔτεκεν αὐτῷ αγαρ ισμαηλ

16 αβραμ δὲ ἦν ὀγδοήκοντα ἓξ ἐτῶν ἡνίκα ἔτεκεν αγαρ τὸν ισμαηλ τῷ αβραμ

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1955

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1955. 'For she said, Have I not also here seen after Him who sees me?' means influx into the life of the exterior man without the rational serving as a go-between. This is clear from 'seeing after one who sees'. 'Seeing after one who sees' is seeing from that which is interior or higher. In the internal sense that which is inward or higher is expressed in the sense of the letter as after when what is inside or higher is manifesting itself in what is outward or lower. It is Hagar who is speaking here, and she, as shown already, means the life possessed by knowledge and belonging to the exterior man. Since it was that life from which the first rational sprang, the Lord therefore saw the reason why it did so; He saw it from His Interior Man within the Exterior Man, and without the Rational serving as a go-between. Anyone may see that these words embody arcana, if only from the consideration that nobody is able to know what is meant by seeing after Him who sees me except from the internal sense, where matters such as this are present which cannot be explained intelligibly except by means of ideas like those that angels have. These ideas do not fall into words, only into the sense conveyed by words - abstractedly, quite apart from the material ideas out of which the ideas come that belong to the sense conveyed by the words. These matters, which seem so obscure to man, present to the angels ideas so clear and distinct, ideas enriched by so many representations, that if anyone wrote about just a tiny fraction of them he would fill a whole book.

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