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1 Mosebok 3

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1 Men slangen var listigere enn alle dyr på marken som Gud Herren hadde gjort, og den sa til kvinnen: Har Gud virkelig sagt: I skal ikke ete av noget tre i haven?

2 Og kvinnen sa til slangen: Vi kan ete av frukten på trærne i haven;

3 men om frukten på det tre som er midt i haven, har Gud sagt: I skal ikke ete av den og ikke røre ved den, for da skal I .

4 Da sa slangen til kvinnen: I skal visselig ikke ;

5 for Gud vet at på den dag I eter av det, skal eders øine åpnes, og I skal bli likesom Gud og kjenne godt og ondt.

6 Og kvinnen så at treet var godt å ete av, og at det var en lyst for øinene, og at det var et prektig tre, siden en kunde få forstand av det, og hun tok av frukten og åt; og hun gav sin mann med sig, og han åt.

7 Da blev begges øine åpnet, og de blev var at de var nakne, og de heftet fikenblad sammen og bandt dem om livet.

8 Og de hørte Gud Herren som vandret i haven, da dagen var blitt kjølig; og Adam og hans hustru skjulte sig for Gud Herrens åsyn mellem trærne i haven.

9 Da kalte Gud Herren på Adam og sa til ham: Hvor er du?

10 Og han svarte: Jeg hørte dig i haven; da blev jeg redd, fordi jeg var naken, og jeg skulte mig.

11 Da sa han: Hvem har sagt dig at du er naken? Har du ett av det tre som jeg forbød dig å ete av?

12 Og Adam sa: Kvinnen som du gav mig til å være hos mig, hun gav mig av treet, og jeg åt.

13 Da sa Gud Herren til kvinnen: Hvad er det du har gjort! Og kvinnen sa: Slangen dåret mig, og jeg åt.

14 Da sa Gud Herren til slangen: Fordi du gjorde dette, så skal du være forbannet blandt alt feet og blandt alle de ville dyr. På din buk skal du krype, og støv skal du ete alle ditt livs dager.

15 Og jeg vil sette fiendskap mellem dig og kvinnen og mellem din ætt og hennes ætt; den skal knuse ditt hode, men du skal knuse dens hæl.

16 Til kvinnen sa han: Jeg vil gjøre din møie stor i ditt svangerskap; med smerte skal du føde dine barn, og til din mann skal din attrå stå, og han skal råde over dig.

17 Og til Adam sa han: Fordi du lød din hustru og åt av det tre som jeg forbød dig å ete av, så skal jorden være forbannet for din skyld! Med møie skal du nære dig av den alle ditt livs dager.

18 Torner og tistler skal den bære dig, og du skal ete urtene på marken.

19 I ditt ansikts sved skal du ete ditt brød, inntil du vender tilbake til jorden, for av den er du tatt; for støv er du, og til støv skal du vende tilbake.

20 Og Adam kalte sin hustru Eva, fordi hun er alle levendes mor.

21 Og Gud Herren gjorde kjortler av skinn til Adam og hans hustru og klædde dem med.

22 Og Gud Herren sa: Se, mennesket er blitt som en av oss til å kjenne godt og ondt; bare han nu ikke rekker ut sin hånd og tar også av livsens tre og eter og lever til evig tid!

23 Så viste Gud Herren ham ut av Edens have og satte ham til å dyrke jorden, som han var tatt av.

24 Og han drev mennesket ut, og foran Edens have satte han kjerubene med det luende sverd som vendte sig hit og dit, for å vokte veien til livsens tre.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #508

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508. The sixth experience.

One day a magnificent church building appeared to me; it was square in plan with a roof like a crown, with arches above and a raised parapet running around. Its walls were all windows made of crystal, its door of a pearly substance. Inside on the south side towards the west there was a platform, on which the open Word lay at the right surrounded by a blaze of light, so bright as to spread round and light up the whole platform. In the middle of the church was a shrine with a curtain in front of it; but this was now raised and there stood a golden cherub with a sword which he brandished in all directions in his hand.

[2] When I caught sight of all this, as I meditated, the meaning of each of the details came flooding into my mind. The church meant the new church; the door of a pearly substance, entry into it; the windows of crystal the truths which enlighten it; the platform the priesthood and their preaching; the Word on it, open and lighting up the top of the platform, the revelation of its internal, or spiritual, sense; the shrine in the middle of the church the link of that church with the heaven of angels; the golden cherub there the Word in its literal sense; the sword brandished in his hand meant that this sense can be twisted in different ways, so long as it is made to refer to some truth. The lifting of the curtain in front of the cherub meant that now the Word was laid open.

[3] Later, when I got closer, I saw there was an inscription over the door: NOW IT IS PERMITTED. This meant that now it is permitted to enter with the understanding into the mysteries of faith. Seeing this inscription led me to think that it is extremely dangerous to enter with the understanding into the dogmas of faith which have been put together out of one's own intelligence and the falsities it produces, and even more so to seek to support them by quoting the Word. This has the effect of shutting off the understanding at the top and little by little also at the bottom, to such an extent that theology is not only disliked but actually wiped out, like the writing on a paper being destroyed by book-worms, or the wool of a piece of cloth by grubs. His understanding then concerns itself only with political affairs which affect his life in the country where he lives, and with civil affairs relating to his official duties, and with domestic affairs of his household; and in all of these he constantly embraces nature, being led by the enticement of its pleasures to love it, as an idolater does the golden image in his lap.

[4] Now since the dogmas of present-day Christian churches are put together not from the Word, but from people's own intelligence and the false ideas that come from that, and also by means of some ideas supported from the Word, for this reason the Lord's Divine providence has seen to it that among Roman Catholics the Word has been taken away from laymen, while among Protestants it remains open, though shut off by their frequent saying that the understanding must be kept in obedience to their faith.

[5] But in the new church the opposite happens; here it is permitted with the understanding to approach and penetrate all its secrets, and also to support them from the Word. The reason is that its doctrines are a series of truths revealed by the Lord through the Word; and proving them by rational argument causes the understanding to be opened up above more and more. This lifts it into the light enjoyed by the angels of heaven; and that light is in essence truth, and it makes the acknowledgment of the Lord as the God of heaven and earth shine out in all its glory. This is what the inscription 'NOW IT IS PERMITTED' over the door means; and the removal of the curtain of the shrine in front of the cherub has the same meaning. It is a rule in the new church that falsities shut off the understanding, and truths open it up.

[6] After this I saw what looked like a child overhead, holding a paper in his hand. As he approached me, he grew in size until he was a man of average height. He was an angel from the third heaven; all there look at a distance like children. When he reached me, he held the paper out to me. But since it was written in the rounded script customary in that heaven, I gave it back and asked them to expound the meaning of what was written on it in words I could comprehend in my thinking.

'What is written here,' he replied, 'is: FROM NOW ON ENTER INTO THE MYSTERIES OF THE WORD WHICH HAVE SO FAR BEEN HIDDEN: FOR EACH ONE OF ITS TRUTHS IS A MIRROR IN WHICH WE SEE THE LORD.'

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