The Bible

 

Genesis 4

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1 αδαμ δὲ ἔγνω ευαν τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ συλλαβοῦσα ἔτεκεν τὸν καιν καὶ εἶπεν ἐκτησάμην ἄνθρωπον διὰ τοῦ θεοῦ

2 καὶ προσέθηκεν τεκεῖν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν αβελ καὶ ἐγένετο αβελ ποιμὴν προβάτων καιν δὲ ἦν ἐργαζόμενος τὴν γῆν

3 καὶ ἐγένετο μεθ' ἡμέρας ἤνεγκεν καιν ἀπὸ τῶν καρπῶν τῆς γῆς θυσίαν τῷ κυρίῳ

4 καὶ αβελ ἤνεγκεν καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπὸ τῶν πρωτοτόκων τῶν προβάτων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν στεάτων αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπεῖδεν ὁ θεὸς ἐπὶ αβελ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς δώροις αὐτοῦ

5 ἐπὶ δὲ καιν καὶ ἐπὶ ταῖς θυσίαις αὐτοῦ οὐ προσέσχεν καὶ ἐλύπησεν τὸν καιν λίαν καὶ συνέπεσεν τῷ προσώπῳ

6 καὶ εἶπεν κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῷ καιν ἵνα τί περίλυπος ἐγένου καὶ ἵνα τί συνέπεσεν τὸ πρόσωπόν σου

7 οὐκ ἐὰν ὀρθῶς προσενέγκῃς ὀρθῶς δὲ μὴ διέλῃς ἥμαρτες ἡσύχασον πρὸς σὲ ἡ ἀποστροφὴ αὐτοῦ καὶ σὺ ἄρξεις αὐτοῦ

8 καὶ εἶπεν καιν πρὸς αβελ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ διέλθωμεν εἰς τὸ πεδίον καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ εἶναι αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ καὶ ἀνέστη καιν ἐπὶ αβελ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπέκτεινεν αὐτόν

9 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸς καιν ποῦ ἐστιν αβελ ὁ ἀδελφός σου ὁ δὲ εἶπεν οὐ γινώσκω μὴ φύλαξ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ μού εἰμι ἐγώ

10 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός τί ἐποίησας φωνὴ αἵματος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου βοᾷ πρός με ἐκ τῆς γῆς

11 καὶ νῦν ἐπικατάρατος σὺ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἣ ἔχανεν τὸ στόμα αὐτῆς δέξασθαι τὸ αἷμα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου ἐκ τῆς χειρός σου

12 ὅτι ἐργᾷ τὴν γῆν καὶ οὐ προσθήσει τὴν ἰσχὺν αὐτῆς δοῦναί σοι στένων καὶ τρέμων ἔσῃ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς

13 καὶ εἶπεν καιν πρὸς τὸν κύριον μείζων ἡ αἰτία μου τοῦ ἀφεθῆναί με

14 εἰ ἐκβάλλεις με σήμερον ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς γῆς καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου σου κρυβήσομαι καὶ ἔσομαι στένων καὶ τρέμων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἔσται πᾶς ὁ εὑρίσκων με ἀποκτενεῖ με

15 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ κύριος ὁ θεός οὐχ οὕτως πᾶς ὁ ἀποκτείνας καιν ἑπτὰ ἐκδικούμενα παραλύσει καὶ ἔθετο κύριος ὁ θεὸς σημεῖον τῷ καιν τοῦ μὴ ἀνελεῖν αὐτὸν πάντα τὸν εὑρίσκοντα αὐτόν

16 ἐξῆλθεν δὲ καιν ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ὤ|κησεν ἐν γῇ ναιδ κατέναντι εδεμ

17 καὶ ἔγνω καιν τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ συλλαβοῦσα ἔτεκεν τὸν ενωχ καὶ ἦν οἰκοδομῶν πόλιν καὶ ἐπωνόμασεν τὴν πόλιν ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ ενωχ

18 ἐγενήθη δὲ τῷ ενωχ γαιδαδ καὶ γαιδαδ ἐγέννησεν τὸν μαιηλ καὶ μαιηλ ἐγέννησεν τὸν μαθουσαλα καὶ μαθουσαλα ἐγέννησεν τὸν λαμεχ

19 καὶ ἔλαβεν ἑαυτῷ λαμεχ δύο γυναῖκας ὄνομα τῇ μιᾷ αδα καὶ ὄνομα τῇ δευτέρᾳ σελλα

20 καὶ ἔτεκεν αδα τὸν ιωβελ οὗτος ἦν ὁ πατὴρ οἰκούντων ἐν σκηναῖς κτηνοτρόφων

21 καὶ ὄνομα τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ ιουβαλ οὗτος ἦν ὁ καταδείξας ψαλτήριον καὶ κιθάραν

22 σελλα δὲ ἔτεκεν καὶ αὐτὴ τὸν θοβελ καὶ ἦν σφυροκόπος χαλκεὺς χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου ἀδελφὴ δὲ θοβελ νοεμα

23 εἶπεν δὲ λαμεχ ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ γυναιξίν αδα καὶ σελλα ἀκούσατέ μου τῆς φωνῆς γυναῖκες λαμεχ ἐνωτίσασθέ μου τοὺς λόγους ὅτι ἄνδρα ἀπέκτεινα εἰς τραῦμα ἐμοὶ καὶ νεανίσκον εἰς μώλωπα ἐμοί

24 ὅτι ἑπτάκις ἐκδεδίκηται ἐκ καιν ἐκ δὲ λαμεχ ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά

25 ἔγνω δὲ αδαμ ευαν τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ συλλαβοῦσα ἔτεκεν υἱὸν καὶ ἐπωνόμασεν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ σηθ λέγουσα ἐξανέστησεν γάρ μοι ὁ θεὸς σπέρμα ἕτερον ἀντὶ αβελ ὃν ἀπέκτεινεν καιν

26 καὶ τῷ σηθ ἐγένετο υἱός ἐπωνόμασεν δὲ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ενως οὗτος ἤλπισεν ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #424

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424. 'A craftsman' in the Word means a person who has wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge. Here 'a craftsman in bronze and iron' means people who have a knowledge of natural good and truth. In John,

Babylon the great city will be thrown down with violence and will be found no more; and the sound of harpers, and minstrels, and flute players, and trumpeters will be heard in you 1 no more. And every craftsman of every craft will be found in you 1 no more. Revelation 18:21-22.

As previously, 'harpers' stands for truths, 'trumpeters' for the goods of faith. A 'craftsman of every craft' stands for one who has knowledge, that is, knowledge of truth and good. In Isaiah,

The craftsman casts an idol, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts silver chains for it. He seeks for himself a wise craftsman to make ready an idol, that is immovable. Isaiah 40:19-20.

This stands for people who fabricate falsity - an idol - for themselves out of delusions and teach it in such a way that it looks like truth. In Jeremiah,

They are at one and the same time foolish and stupid; that wood is a way of learning vanities! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, gold from Uphaz; the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the moulder. Their clothing is violet and [purple]. These are all the work of the wise. Jeremiah 10:3, 8-9.

These statements mean the person who teaches falsities and who compiles material from the Word to produce some figment of the imagination. This is why it is called 'a way of learning vanities' and the 'work of the wise'. In the past such people were represented as craftsmen fashioning idols (falsities) which they decorated with 'gold' (imitation good) and with 'silver' (imitation truth) and with 'violet and [purple] clothing' (natural things which are seemingly in agreement).

Footnotes:

1. The Latin here means in it but at Revelation 18:22 in AE and AR it means in you in accord with the original Greek.

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

The Bible

 

Isaiah 40

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1 "Comfort, Comfort my people," says your God.

2 "Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh's hand double for all her sins."

3 The voice of one who calls out, "Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.

5 The glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it."

6 The voice of one saying, "Cry!" One said, "What shall I cry?" "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh's breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever."

9 You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Don't be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold, your God!"

10 Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

13 Who has directed the Spirit of Yahweh, or has taught him as his counselor?

14 Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?

19 A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.

20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved.

21 Haven't you known? Haven't you heard, yet? Haven't you been told from the beginning? Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;

23 who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless.

24 They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

25 "To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking.

27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, "My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?"

28 Haven't you known? Haven't you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't faint. He isn't weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.

30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;

31 But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.