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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 #1038

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1038. This is the sign of the covenant. That this signifies an indication of the presence of the Lord in charity, is evident from the signification of a “covenant” and of a “sign of a covenant.” That a “covenant” signifies the presence of the Lord in charity, has been shown before (Genesis 6:18, and above in the present chapter, verse 9). That a “covenant” is the presence of the Lord in love and charity, is evident from the nature of a covenant. Every covenant is for the sake of conjunction, that is, for the sake of living in mutual friendship, or love. Marriage also is for this reason called a covenant. There is no conjunction of the Lord with man except in love and charity; for the Lord is love and mercy itself. He wills to save everyone and to draw him with mighty power to heaven, that is, to Himself. From this everyone may know and conclude that no one can ever be conjoined with the Lord except through that which He Himself is, that is, except by becoming like or making one with Him-in other words, by loving the Lord in return and loving the neighbor as himself. By this alone is the conjunction effected. This is the veriest essence of a covenant. When there is conjunction from this, it then follows manifestly that the Lord is present. There is indeed the very presence of the Lord with every man, but it is nearer or more remote exactly according to the approach to love or the distance from love.

[2] Because the “covenant” is the conjunction of the Lord with man by love, or what is the same, the presence of the Lord with man in love and charity, it is called in the Word the “covenant of peace;” for “peace” signifies the kingdom of the Lord, and the kingdom of the Lord consists in mutual love, in which alone is peace. As in Isaiah:

For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My mercy shall not depart from thee, neither shall My covenant of peace be removed, saith Jehovah that hath mercy on thee (Isaiah 54:10), where mercy, which is of love, is called a “covenant of peace.”

In Ezekiel:

I will raise up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd; and I will make with them a covenant of peace (Ezekiel 34:23, 25), where by “David” is plainly meant the Lord; and His presence with the regenerate man is described by His feeding” them.

[3] Again:

My servant David shall be king over them; and there shall be to them all one shepherd, and I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will set them, and will cause them to multiply, and will put My sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people (Ezekiel 37:24, 26-27), where in like manner the Lord is meant by “David;” love, by “His sanctuary in the midst of them;” the presence and conjunction of the Lord in love, by “His being their God and by their being His people” which is called a “covenant of peace” and an “everlasting covenant.”

In Malachi:

Ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that My covenant might be with Levi, saith Jehovah of armies; My covenant was with him of lives and peace; and I gave them to him in fear, and he shall fear Me (Malachi 2:4-5).

“Levi” in the supreme sense is the Lord, and hence the man who has love and charity, and therefore the covenant of lives and peace with Leviticus is in love and charity.

[4] In Moses, speaking of Phinehas:

Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace; and it shall be unto him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an eternal priesthood (Numbers 25:12-13), where by “Phinehas” is not meant Phinehas, but the priesthood which was represented by him, which signifies love and what is of love, as does all the priesthood of that church. Everyone knows that Phinehas did not have an eternal priesthood.

Again:

Jehovah thy God, He is God; the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments, to the thousandth generation (Deuteronomy 7:9, 12), where it is plain that the presence of the Lord with man in love is the “covenant” for it is said that He keepeth it with them that love Him and keep His commandments.

[5] Since a “covenant” is the conjunction of the Lord with man by love, it follows that it is also by all things that pertain to love, which are the truths of faith, and are called precepts; for all precepts, indeed the Law and the Prophets, are founded on the one Law, to love the Lord above all things and the neighbor as oneself, as is evident from the words of the Lord (Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34). And therefore the tables on which were written the ten commandments, are called the “Tables of the Covenant.” Since a covenant, or conjunction, is effected through the laws or precepts of love, it was effected also through the laws of society given by the Lord in the Jewish Church, which are called “testimonies;” and also through the rites of the church enjoined by the Lord, called “statutes.” All these things are said to be of the “covenant” because they regard love and charity, as we read of Josiah the king:

The king stood upon the pillar, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep His commandments, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all the heart and with all the soul, to establish the words of this covenant (2 Kings 23:3).

[6] From these things it is now evident what a “covenant” is, and that the covenant is internal; for the conjunction of the Lord with man takes place by what is internal, and never by what is external separate from what is internal. External things are only types and representatives of internal, as the action of a man is a type representative of his thought and will; and as the work of charity is a type representative of the charity which is within, in the heart and mind. So all the rites of the Jewish Church were types representative of the Lord, consequently of love and charity, and of all things therefrom. Wherefore it is through the internals of man that a covenant and conjunction is made, and externals are only signs of the covenant, as indeed they are called. That a covenant and conjunction is made through internals is plainly evident, as in Jeremiah:

Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, forasmuch as they made vain My covenant but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days, saith Jehovah; I will put My law in their inward parts and write it on their heart (Jeremiah 31:31-33), where a new church is treated of. It is clearly stated that the veriest covenant is through the internals, and indeed in conscience on which the Law is inscribed, all of which is of love, as has been said.

[7] That external things are not the “covenant” unless internal things are adjoined to them, and thus by union act as one and the same cause; but are only “signs” of the covenant by means of which as by representative types the Lord might be kept in remembrance, is evident from the fact that the Sabbath and circumcision are called “signs” of the covenant. That the Sabbath is so called, we read in Moses:

The sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant; it is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel eternally (Exodus 31:16-17).

And that circumcision also is so called, in the same:

This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee; that every male be circumcised unto you; and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and you (Genesis 17:10-11).

Hence also blood is called the “blood of the covenant” (Exodus 24:7-8).

[8] External rites are called “signs of a covenant” for the reason chiefly that interior things may be kept in mind by them, that is, the things signified by them. All the rites of the Jewish Church were nothing else. And for this reason they were also called “signs” that the people might be reminded by them of interior things-as for instance, the binding of the chief commandment on the hand and on the forehead, as in Moses:

Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might; and these words thou shalt bind for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes (Deuteronomy 6:5, 8; 11:13, 18).

Here “hand” signifies the will because it signifies power, for power is of the will; “frontlets between the eyes” signify the understanding; thus the “sign” signifies remembrance of the chief commandment, or of the Law in sum, that it may be continually in the will and in the thought, that is, that the presence of the Lord and of love may be in all the will and in all the thought. Such is the presence of the Lord and of mutual love from Him with the angels, which continual presence will be further described, by the Divine mercy of the Lord, hereafter. In like manner, in the present verse its being said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you: I have set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth” signifies no other sign than an indication of the presence of the Lord in charity, thus the remembrance of Him in man. But how there is thence, or from the bow in the cloud, a sign and remembrance, will be told, of the Lord’s Divine mercy, in what follows.

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

The Bible

 

Jeremiah 31

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1 At that time, says Yahweh, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

2 Thus says Yahweh, The people who were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

3 Yahweh appeared of old to me, [saying], Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.

4 Again will I build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: again you shall be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry.

5 Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy [its fruit].

6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise, and let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our God.

7 For thus says Yahweh, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish, praise, and say, Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel.

8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, [and] with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together: a great company shall they return here.

9 They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

10 Hear the word of Yahweh, you nations, and declare it in the islands afar off; and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as shepherd does his flock.

11 For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.

12 They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says Yahweh.

15 Thus says Yahweh: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.

16 Thus says Yahweh: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says Yahweh; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

17 There is hope for your latter end, says Yahweh; and [your] children shall come again to their own border.

18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus], You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed [to the yoke]: turn me, and I shall be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.

19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I struck on my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.

20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says Yahweh.

21 Set up road signs, make guideposts; set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went: turn again, virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities.

22 How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? for Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall encompass a man.

23 Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall bring again their captivity: Yahweh bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.

24 Judah and all its cities shall dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.

25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul have I replenished.

26 On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.

27 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of animal.

28 It shall happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant, says Yahweh.

29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh.

33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:

34 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all Know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.

35 Thus says Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; Yahweh of Armies is his name:

36 If these ordinances depart from before me, says Yahweh, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.

37 Thus says Yahweh: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Yahweh.

38 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that the city shall be built to Yahweh from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.

39 The measuring line shall go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and shall turn about to Goah.

40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy to Yahweh; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever.

   

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