The Bible

 

Genesis 16

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1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

2 And Sarai said to Abram, Behold, now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee go in to my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

3 And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

5 And Sarai said to Abram, my wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.

6 But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

7 And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

9 And the angel of the LORD said to her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

10 And the angel of the LORD said to her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11 And the angel of the LORD said to her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.

12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

13 And she called the name of the LORD that spoke to her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

14 Wherefore the well was called Beer-la-hai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 And Hagar bore Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bore, Ishmael.

16 And Abram was eighty six years old, when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1935

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1935. That 'the angel of Jehovah said' means the reply given by the Lord's Interior Man is clear from the meaning of 'the angel of Jehovah' as the Lord's interior thought, dealt with above in 1925; and because thought is meant, reply is meant as well. The Lord's interior thought sprang from the affection for intellectual truth, and that affection sprang from Divine Good itself. Such thought, as stated already, does not ever exist with anyone, nor can it do so. Even so, an interior type of thought exists in man which flows in from the Lord through his internal man into the interior rational. It exists in people who have conscience, as becomes clear from the fact that they are able to take notice of the evil and falsity that are present in their external man and that assault the good and truth in the interior man. But such thought comes far below, and is not in any way comparable to, the Lord's, which sprang from the affection for intellectual truth and was peculiarly His own. People however who do not have conscience cannot possess interior thought, and therefore they do not experience conflict, the reason being that the activity of their rational is one and the same as the activity of their physical senses. And although with them also there is a constant influx of good and truth from the Lord they nevertheless do not perceive it, for they instantly put a stop to it and smother it; and this is why they do not believe any truth of faith.

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