The Bible

 

Postanak 8

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1 A Bog se opomenu Noja i svih zveri i sve stoke što behu s njim u kovčegu; i posla Bog vetar na zemlju da uzbije vodu.

2 I zatvoriše se izvori bezdanu i ustave nebeske, i dažd s neba prestade.

3 I stade voda opadati na zemlji, i jednako opadaše posle sto pedeset dana;

4 Te se ustavi kovčeg sedmog meseca dana sedamnaestog na planini Araratu.

5 I voda opadaše sve većma do desetog meseca; i prvog dana desetog meseca pokazaše se vrhovi od brda.

6 A posle četrdeset dana otvori Noje prozor na kovčegu, koji beše načinio;

7 I ispusti gavrana, koji jednako odletaše i doletaše dokle ne presahnu voda na zemlji.

8 Pa pusti i golubicu da bi video je li opala voda sa zemlje.

9 A golubica ne našavši gde bi stala nogom svojom vrati se k njemu u kovčeg, jer još beše voda po svoj zemlji; i Noje pruživši ruku uhvati je i uze k sebi u kovčeg.

10 I počeka još sedam dana, pa opet ispusti golubicu iz kovčega.

11 I pred veče vrati se k njemu golubica, i gle, u kljunu joj list maslinov, koji beše otkinula; tako pozna Noje da je opala voda sa zemlje.

12 Ali počeka još sedam dana, pa opet ispusti golubicu, a ona mu se više ne vrati.

13 Šest stotina prve godine veka Nojevog prvi dan prvog meseca usahnu voda na zemlji; i Noje otkri krov na kovčegu, i ugleda zemlju suvu.

14 A drugog meseca dvadeset sedmog dana beše sva zemlja suva.

15 Tada reče Bog Noju govoreći:

16 Izađi iz kovčega ti i žena tvoja i sinovi tvoji i žene sinova tvojih s tobom;

17 Sve zveri što su sa tobom od svakog tela, ptice i stoku i šta god gamiže po zemlji, izvedi sa sobom, neka se raziđu po zemlji, i neka se plode i množe na zemlji.

18 I iziđe Noje i sinovi njegovi i žena njegova i žene sinova njegovih s njim.

19 Sve zveri, sve sitne životinje, sve ptice i sve što se miče po zemlji po svojim vrstama iziđoše iz kovčega.

20 I načini Noje žrtvenik Gospodu, i uze od svake čiste stoke i od svih ptica čistih, i prinese na žrtveniku žrtve paljenice.

21 I Gospod omirisa miris ugodni, i reče u srcu svom: Neću više kleti zemlje s ljudi, što je misao srca čovečijeg zla od malena; niti ću više ubijati sve što živi, kao što učinih.

22 Od sada dokle bude zemlje, neće nestajati setve ni žetve, studeni ni vrućine, leta ni zime, dana ni noći.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #737

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737. 'Noah was a son of six hundred years' means his initial state of temptation. This is clear from the fact from here down to Eber in Chapter 11 nothing else is meant by numbers, years of age, or names than real things, as was the case also with the ages and names of all those mentioned in Chapter 5. Here 'six hundred years' means the initial state of temptation. This becomes clear from its prime factors which are ten and six multiplied again by ten. When the same factors are involved it makes no difference whether the number arrived at is large or small. As for ten, this has been shown already at 6:3 to mean remnants, while the meaning of six here as labour and conflict is clear from places throughout the Word. For the situation is this: What has gone before dealt with man's preparation for temptation, that is to say, he was supplied by the Lord with truths of the understanding and with goods of the will. These truths and goods are remnants, but they are not brought forth so as to be acknowledged until man is being regenerated. In the case of those who are being regenerated by means of temptations the remnants existing with any man are for the angels present with him. From these remnants they draw out those things with which they protect him against the evil spirits who activate falsities with him and in this way attack him. It is because remnants are meant by 'ten' and conflict by 'six' that six hundred years are spoken of, a number in which ten and six are the prime factors and which means a state of temptation.

[2] As regards conflict being the particular meaning of 'six', this is clear from Genesis 1, which describes the six days of man's regeneration prior to his becoming celestial. During those six days there was constant conflict, but on the seventh day came rest. Consequently there are six days of labour, and the seventh is the sabbath, a word which means rest. This also is why a Hebrew slave was to serve for six years and in the seventh was to go free, Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12; Jeremiah 34:14, and why for six years they were to sow the land and gather in the produce, but in the seventh they were to leave it alone, Exodus 23:10-12. The same applied to a vineyard. It is also the reason why in the seventh year the land was to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to Jehovah, Leviticus 25:3-4. Because 'six' means labour and conflict it also means the dispersion of falsity, as in Ezekiel,

Behold, six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which looks towards the north, every man with a weapon of dispersion in his hand. Ezekiel 9:2.

And in the same prophet, against Gog,

I will cause you to turn about, and I will split you into six, and cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north. Ezekiel 39:2.

Here 'six' and 'splitting into six' stand for dispersion, 'the north' for falsities, and 'Gog' for people who seize on doctrinal matters based on things of an external nature with which they destroy internal worship. From Job,

He will deliver you in six troubles, and in a seventh no evil will touch you. Job 5:19.

This stands for the conflict that constitutes temptations.

[3] 'Six' occurs in other parts of the Word where it does not mean labour, conflict, or the dispersion of falsity, but the holiness of faith. In these instances it is related to twelve, which means faith and all things of faith in their entirety, and to three which means that which is holy. Consequently there is also a genuine derivative meaning to the number six, as in Ezekiel 40:5, where the man's measuring rod with which he measured the holy city of Israel was six cubits long; and in other places. The reason for this derivative is that in the conflict of temptation the holiness of faith is present, and also that six days of labour and conflict look forward to the holy seventh day.

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