The Bible

 

Postanak 6

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1 A kad se ljudi počeše množiti na zemlji, i kćeri im se narodiše.

2 Videći sinovi Božji kćeri čovečije kako su lepe uzimaše ih za žene koje hteše.

3 A Gospod reče: Neće se duh moj do veka preti s ljudima, jer su telo; neka im još sto dvadeset godina.

4 A beše tada divova na zemlji; a i posle, kad se sinovi Božji sastajahu sa kćerima čovečijim, pa im one rađahu sinove; to behu silni ljudi, od starine na glasu.

5 I Gospod videći da je nevaljalstvo ljudsko veliko na zemlji, i da su sve misli srca njihovog svagda samo zle,

6 Pokaja se Gospod što je stvorio čoveka na zemlji, i bi mu žao u srcu.

7 I reče Gospod: Hoću da istrebim sa zemlje ljude, koje sam stvorio, od čoveka do stoke i do sitne životinje i do ptica nebeskih; jer se kajem što sam ih stvorio.

8 Ali Noje nađe milost pred Gospodom.

9 Ovo su događaji Nojevi: Noje beše čovek pravedan i bezazlen svog veka; po volji Božjoj svagda življaše Noje.

10 I rodi Noje tri sina: Sima, Hama i Jafeta.

11 A zemlja se pokvari pred Bogom, i napuni se zemlja bezakonja.

12 I pogleda Bog na zemlju, a ona beše pokvarena; jer svako telo pokvari put svoj na zemlji.

13 I reče Bog Noju: Kraj svakom telu dođe preda me, jer napuniše zemlju bezakonja; i evo hoću da ih zatrem sa zemljom.

14 Načini sebi kovčeg od drveta gofera, i načini pregratke u kovčegu; i zatopi ga smolom iznutra i spolja.

15 I načini ga ovako; u dužinu neka bude trista lakata, u širinu pedeset lakata, i u visinu trideset lakata;

16 Pusti dosta svetlosti u kovčeg; i krov mu svedi ozgo od lakta; i udari vrata kovčegu sa strane; i načini ga na tri boja: donji, drugi i treći.

17 Jer evo pustiću potop na zemlju da istrebim svako telo u kome ima živa duša pod nebom; šta je god na zemlji sve će izginuti.

18 Ali ću s tobom učiniti zavet svoj: i ući ćeš u kovčeg ti i sinovi tvoji i žena tvoja i žene sinova tvojih s tobom.

19 I od svega živog, od svakog tela, uzećeš u kovčeg po dvoje, da sačuvaš u životu sa sobom, a muško i žensko neka bude.

20 Od ptica po vrstama njihovim, od stoke po vrstama njenim, i od svega što se miče na zemlji po vrstama njegovim, od svega po dvoje neka uđe s tobom, da ih sačuvaš u životu.

21 I uzmi sa sobom svega što se jede, i čuvaj kod sebe, da bude hrane tebi i njima.

22 I Noje učini, kako mu zapovedi Bog, sve onako učini.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #904

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904. That 'God spoke to Noah' means the Lord's presence with the member of the Church becomes clear from the internal sense of the Word. The Lord speaks to everybody, for whatever good and truth a person wills and thinks comes from the Lord. With everyone there are at least two evil spirits and two angels. The former activate his evils whereas the latter instill goods and truths. Every good or truth that angels instill is the Lord's; in this way the Lord is constantly speaking to man, though quite differently from one person to the next. To people who allow themselves to be carried away by evil spirits the Lord speaks as though He were not present, or so far away that He can hardly be said to be speaking. But to those who are being led by the Lord, the Lord speaks as one who is quite present. This becomes clear enough from the fact that nobody can possibly think of anything good and true except from the Lord.

[2] The Lord's presence is relative to the state of love towards the neighbour and of faith present in a person. It is in love towards the neighbour that the Lord is present, for He is present in all good, and not so much in so-called faith that is devoid of love. Faith devoid of love and charity is something severed or disjoined. Wherever conjunction exists there has to be a conjoining agency, which is exclusively love and charity. This may become clear to anyone from the fact that the Lord has compassion on everybody, loves everyone, and wishes to make everyone eternally happy. A person therefore who is devoid of the kind of love that leads him to have compassion on others, to love them, and to wish to make them happy, cannot be joined to the Lord because he is not at all like Him, and is in no sense the image of Him. Looking to the Lord by means of that which goes by the name of faith while hating the neighbour amounts not only to standing a long way off, but also to having between himself and the Lord a hell-like chasm into which the person would fall if he wished to go any nearer. For it is hatred towards the neighbour that constitutes that intervening hell-like chasm.

[3] The Lord is present with a person the moment he starts to love the neighbour. It is in love that the Lord is present, and to the extent that a person has love the Lord is present. And to the extent that the Lord is present He speaks to man. No one knows anything other than that he thinks from himself. Yet he possesses not one single idea of thought, not even the shred of an idea, from himself. Rather that which is evil and false he possesses through evil spirits from hell, and that which is good and true through angels from the Lord. Such is influx, the channel by which a person's life comes and by which consequently his soul interacts with the body. All these considerations make clear what 'God spoke to Noah' means. 'Saying to someone' means one thing, as in Genesis 1:29; 3:13-14, 17; 4:6, 9, 15; 6:13; 7:1, while 'speaking to someone' means another. Here speaking to Noah' means His being present, for the subject now is the regenerate person, who has had charity conferred on him.

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