The Bible

 

1 Mosebok 2

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1 Så blevo nu himmelen och jorden fullbordade med hela sin härskara.

2 Och Gud fullbordade på sjunde dagen det verk som han hade gjort; och han vilade på sjunde dagen från allt det verk som han hade gjort.

3 Och Gud välsignade den sjunde dagen och helgade den, därför att han på den dagen vilade från allt sitt verk, det som Gud hade gjort, när han skapade.

4 Detta är berättelsen om den ordning i vilken allt blev till på himmelen och jorden, när de skapades, då när HERREN Gud gjorde jord och himmel.

5 Då bar jorden ännu ingen buske på marken, och ingen ört hade ännu skjutit upp på marken, ty HERREN Gud hade icke låtit regna på jorden, och ingen människa fanns, som kunde bruka jorden;

6 men en dimma steg upp från jorden och vattnade hela marken.

7 Och HERREN Gud danade människan av stoft från jorden och inblåste livsande i hennes näsa, och så blev människan en levande varelse.

8 Och HERREN Gud planterade en lustgård i Eden österut och satte däri människan som han hade danat.

9 HERREN Gud lät nämligen alla slags träd som voro ljuvliga att se på och goda att äta av växa upp ur marken, och livets träd mitt i lustgården, så ock kunskapens trädgott och ont.

10 Och från Eden gick en flod ut, som vattnade lustgården; sedan delade den sig i fyra grenar.

11 Den första heter Pison; det är den som flyter omkring hela landet Havila, där guld finnes,

12 och det landets guld är gott; där finnes ock bdelliumharts och onyxsten.

13 Den andra floden heter Gihon; det är den som flyter omkring hela landet Kus.

14 Den tredje floden heter Hiddekel; det är den som har sitt lopp öster om Assyrien. Den fjärde floden är Frat.

15 Så tog nu HERREN Gud mannen och satte honom i Edens lustgård, till att bruka och bevara den.

16 Och HERREN Gud bjöd mannen och sade: »Av alla andra träd i lustgården må du fritt äta,

17 men av kunskapens trädgott och ont skall du icke äta, ty när du äter därav, skall du döden

18 Och HERREN Gud sade: »Det är icke gott att mannen är allena. Jag vill göra åt honom en hjälp, en sådan som honom höves.»

19 Och HERREN Gud danade av jord alla markens djur och alla himmelens fåglar, och förde dem fram till mannen för att se huru denne skulle kalla dem; ty såsom mannen kallade var levande varelse, så skulle den heta.

20 Och mannen gav namn åt alla boskapsdjur, åt fåglarna under himmelen och åt alla markens djur. Men för Adam fann han icke någon hjälp, sådan som honom hövdes.

21 Då lät HERREN Gud en tung sömn falla på mannen, och när han hade somnat, tog han ut ett av hans revben och fyllde dess plats med kött.

22 Och HERREN Gud byggde en kvinna av revbenet som han hade tagit av mannen, och förde henne fram till mannen.

23 Då sade mannen: »Ja, denna är nu ben av mina ben och kött av mitt kött. Hon skall heta maninna, ty av man är hon tagen.»

24 Fördenskull skall en man övergiva sin fader och sin moder och hålla sig till sin hustru, och de skola varda ett kött.

25 Och mannen och hans hustru voro båda nakna och blygdes icke för varandra.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #155

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155. The words “a rib was built into a woman” have more things inmostly concealed in them than it is possible for anyone ever to discover from the letter; for the Word of the Lord is such that its inmost contents regard the Lord Himself and His kingdom, and from this comes all the life of the Word. And so in the passage before us, it is the heavenly marriage that is regarded in its inmost contents. The heavenly marriage is of such a nature that it exists in the Own, which, when vivified by the Lord, is called the “bride and wife” of the Lord. Man’s Own thus vivified has a perception of all the good of love and truth of faith, and consequently possesses all wisdom and intelligence conjoined with inexpressible happiness. But the nature of this vivified Own, which is called the “bride and wife” of the Lord, cannot be concisely explained. Suffice it therefore to observe that the angels perceive that they live from the Lord, although when not reflecting on the subject they know no other than that they live from themselves; but there is a general affection of such a nature that at the least departure from the good of love and truth of faith they perceive a change, and consequently they are in the enjoyment of their peace and happiness, which is inexpressible, while they are in their general perception that they live from the Lord. It is this Own also that is meant in Jeremiah, where it is said:

Jehovah hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man (Jeremiah 31:22)

It is the heavenly marriage that is signified in this passage also, where by a “woman” is meant the Own vivified by the Lord, of which woman the expression “to compass” is predicated, because this Own is such that it encompasses, as a rib made flesh encompasses the heart.

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

The Bible

 

Genesis 2

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1 The heavens and the earth were finished, and all their vast array.

2 On the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work which he had created and made.

4 This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made the earth and the heavens.

5 No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground,

6 but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground.

7 Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

8 Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became four heads.

11 The name of the first is Pishon: this is the one which flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

12 and the gold of that land is good. There is aromatic resin and the onyx stone.

13 The name of the second river is Gihon: the same river that flows through the whole land of Cush.

14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel: this is the one which flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

16 Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;

17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die."

18 Yahweh God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

19 Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

20 The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper suitable for him.

21 Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.

22 He made the rib, which Yahweh God had taken from the man, into a woman, and brought her to the man.

23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called 'woman,' because she was taken out of man."

24 Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.

25 They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.