The Bible

 

Postanak 13

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1 Tako otide Avram iz Misira gore na jug, on i žena mu i sve što imaše, takođe i Lot s njim.

2 A beše Avram vrlo bogat stokom, srebrom i zlatom.

3 I iđaše svojim putevima od juga sve do Vetilja, do mesta gde mu prvo beše šator, između Vetilja i Gaja,

4 Do mesta, gde pre beše načinio žrtvenik; i onde prizva Avram ime Gospodnje.

5 A i Lot koji iđaše s Avramom imaše ovaca i goveda i šatora.

6 I zemlja ne mogaše ih nositi zajedno, jer blago njihovo beše veliko da ne mogoše živeti zajedno,

7 I beše svađa među pastirima Avramove stoke i pastirima Lotove stoke. A u to vreme živehu Hananeji i Ferezeji u onoj zemlji.

8 Pa Avram reče Lotu: Nemoj da se svađamo ja i ti, ni moji pastiri i tvoji pastiri; jer smo braća.

9 Nije li ti otvorena cela zemlja? Odeli se od mene. Ako ćeš ti na levo, ja ću na desno; ako li ćeš ti na desno ja ću na levo.

10 Tada Lot podiže oči svoje i sagleda svu ravnicu jordansku, kako celu natapaše reka, beše kao vrt Gospodnji, kao zemlja misirska, sve do Zagora, pre nego Gospod zatre Sodom i Gomor.

11 I Lot izabra sebi svu ravnicu jordansku, i otide Lot na istok; i razdeliše se jedan od drugog:

12 Avram življaše u zemlji hananskoj, a Lot življaše po gradovima u onoj ravnici premeštajući svoje šatore do Sodoma.

13 A ljudi u Sodomu behu nevaljali, i grešahu Gospodu veoma.

14 A Gospod reče Avramu, pošto se Lot odeli od njega: Podigni sada oči svoje, pa pogledaj s mesta gde si na sever i na jug i na istok i na zapad.

15 Jer svu zemlju što vidiš tebi ću dati i semenu tvom do veka.

16 I učiniću da semena tvog bude kao praha na zemlji; ako ko uzmože izbrojati prah na zemlji, moći će izbrojati i seme tvoje.

17 Ustani, i prolazi tu zemlju u dužinu i u širinu; jer ću je tebi dati.

18 I Avram diže šatore, i dođe i naseli se u ravnici mamrijskoj, koja je kod Hevrona, i onde načini žrtvenik Gospodu.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1588

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1588. 'Like the garden of Jehovah' means the rational concepts in the external man. This is clear from the meaning of 'the garden of Jehovah' as intelligence, dealt with in 100, consequently the rational which comes in between the internal man and the external man. The rational is intelligence as it exists in the external man. It is called 'the garden of Jehovah' when the rational is celestial, that is, when it has a celestial origin, as was the case with the Most Ancient Church. This is described in Isaiah as follows,

Jehovah will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of ]Jehovah. Joy and gladness will be found in her, confession and the voice of song. Isaiah 51:3.

When however the rational is spiritual, that is, when it has a spiritual origin, as was the case with the Ancient Church, the expression 'the garden of God' is used, as in Ezekiel,

Full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty, you were in Eden, the garden of God. Ezekiel 28:12-13.

A person's rational is compared to a garden because this is how it is represented in heaven. It is man's rational that manifests itself in just this way when that which is celestial-spiritual flows into it from the Lord. Indeed it is this which presents to view the paradise gardens whose magnificence and beauty surpass everything the human mind can imagine. This is the effect which the influx of celestial-spiritual light from the Lord produces, as dealt with already in 1042, 1043. It is not the loveliness and beauty of these gardens that stir the emotions but the celestial-spiritual elements that live within them.

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