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Génesis 8

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1 Y ACORDOSE Dios de Noé, y de todos los animales, y de todas las bestias que estaban con él en el arca; é hizo pasar Dios un viento sobre la tierra, y disminuyeron las aguas.

2 Y se cerraron las fuentes del abismo, y las cataratas de los cielos; y la lluvia de los cielos fué detenida.

3 Y tornáronse las aguas de sobre la tierra, yendo y volviendo: y decrecieron las aguas al cabo de ciento y cincuenta días.

4 Y reposó el arca en el mes séptimo, á dicisiete días del mes, sobre los montes de Armenia.

5 Y las aguas fueron decreciendo hasta el mes décimo: en el décimo, al primero del mes, se descubrieron las cimas de los montes.

6 Y sucedió que, al cabo de cuarenta días, abrió Noé la ventana del arca que había hecho,

7 Y envió al cuervo, el cual salió, y estuvo yendo y tornando hasta que las aguas se secaron de sobre la tierra.

8 Envió también de sí á la paloma, para ver si las aguas se habían retirado de sobre la faz de la tierra;

9 Y no halló la paloma donde sentar la planta de su pie, y volvióse á él al arca, porque las aguas estaban aún sobre la faz de toda la tierra: entonces él extendió su mano y cogiéndola, hízola entrar consigo en el arca.

10 Y esperó aún otros siete días, y volvió á enviar la paloma fuera del arca.

11 Y la paloma volvió á él á la hora de la tarde: y he aquí que traía una hoja de oliva tomada en su pico: y entendió Noé que las aguas se habían retirado de sobre la tierra.

12 Y esperó aún otros siete días, y envió la paloma, la cual no volvió ya más á él.

13 Y sucedió que en el año seiscientos y uno de Noé, en el mes primero, al primero del mes, las aguas se enjugaron de sobre la tierra y quitó Noé la cubierta del arca, y miró, y he aquí que la faz de la tierra estaba enjuta.

14 Y en el mes segundo, á los veintisiete días del mes, se secó la tierra.

15 Y habló Dios á Noé diciendo:

16 Sal del arca tú, y tu mujer, y tus hijos, y las mujeres de tus hijos contigo.

17 Todos los animales que están contigo de toda carne, de aves y de bestias y de todo reptil que anda arrastrando sobre la tierra, sacarás contigo; y vayan por la tierra, y fructifiquen, y multiplíquense sobre la tierra.

18 Entonces salió Noé, y sus hijos, y su mujer, y las mujeres de sus hijos con él.

19 Todos los animales, y todo reptil y toda ave, todo lo que se mueve sobre la tierra según sus especies, salieron del arca.

20 Y edificó Noé un altar á Jehová y tomó de todo animal limpio y de toda ave limpia, y ofreció holocausto en el altar.

21 Y percibió Jehová olor de suavidad; y dijo Jehová en su corazón: No tornaré más á maldecir la tierra por causa del hombre; porque el intento del corazón del hombre es malo desde su juventud: ni volveré más á destruir todo viviente, como he hecho.

22 Todavía serán todos los tiempos de la tierra; la sementera y la siega, y el frío y calor, verano é invierno, y día y noche, no cesarán.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #868

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868. 'Until the waters dried up from over the earth' means the apparent dispersal of falsities. This is clear from a person's state when he is being regenerated. Nowadays everyone imagines that evils and falsities with a person are totally dispersed and done away with when he is being regenerated, so that when he has been regenerated no evil or falsity is left, and he is therefore clean and righteous, like someone washed and made clean with water. But this is completely false. Not a single evil nor a single falsity is ever dispersed so as to be done away with. Instead everything fixed in him by heredity since infancy and everything he has acquired through his own actions remains. As a consequence, even though he has been regenerated a person is still nothing but evil and falsity, as is forcibly demonstrated to souls after death. From this it also becomes quite clear that no one has any good or any truth at all unless it derives from the Lord, and that all a person's evil and falsity derive from the proprium, and that man, a spirit too, and even an angel, if left in the smallest degree to himself, of himself rushes headlong towards hell. This also is why in the Word it is said that heaven is not pure. 1 This the angels acknowledge, and anyone who does not do so cannot be among them. It is the Lord's mercy alone which gives them freedom, indeed it raises them up from hell, and withholds them from it and from rushing back there if left to themselves. The fact that they are withheld by the Lord to prevent them rushing into hell, angels perceive clearly, as also do good spirits to a limited extent. Evil spirits however, like men, do not believe this, even though they have been shown it many times, as in the Lord's Divine mercy will be described from experience further on.

[2] Man's state therefore being such that no evil or falsity can possibly be so dispersed as to be done away with, because the life which is his own consists in evil and falsity, the Lord in His Divine mercy so subdues a person's evils and falsities by means of temptations while He is regenerating him that they do seem to be dead. They are not dead however, only subdued so that they are unable to fight against the goods and truths that have been derived from the Lord. At that time by means of temptations the Lord also gives him a new ability to receive goods and truths. He does so by granting him ideas of and affections for good and truth towards which evils and falsities can be turned, and by instilling into his general concepts of things - dealt with already - the details and the finer points to such details, which have been stored away in the individual and of which he knows nothing at all, since they are interior to the sphere of his comprehension and perception. The nature of these things is such that they are able to serve as receptacles or vessels, so that charity can be instilled in them by the Lord, and innocence in charity. Through the remarkable combination of these things with a man, spirit, or angel, a kind of rainbow can be represented, and this is why the rainbow became a sign of the covenant, see Chapter 9:12-16, to be dealt with, in the Lord's Divine mercy, when those verses are explained. When a person has been so formed he is said to be regenerated. All his evils and falsities still remain, as also do all his truths and goods that have been preserved. In the case of an evil person, all his evils and falsities, exactly as these existed with him during his lifetime, reappear in the next life and are converted into delusions and hellish punishments. But in the case of a good person, all his states of good and truth, such as those of friendship, charity, and innocence, together with their joys and delights - now increased and multiplied immensely - are recalled in the next life. These are the things meant by 'the waters drying up', namely the apparent dispersal of falsities.

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