The Bible

 

Genesis 1

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1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God's Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

3 God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.

5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." There was evening and there was morning, one day.

6 God said, "Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

7 God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.

8 God called the expanse "sky." There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9 God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;" and it was so.

10 God called the dry land "earth," and the gathering together of the waters he called "seas." God saw that it was good.

11 God said, "Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth;" and it was so.

12 The earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14 God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;

15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth;" and it was so.

16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.

17 God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth,

18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.

19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

20 God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky."

21 God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.

22 God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."

23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24 God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;" and it was so.

25 God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.

26 God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

27 God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

29 God said, "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.

30 To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;" and it was so.

31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3623

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3623. Wherefore have I lives? That this signifies that thus there would not be conjunction, is evident from the signification of “lives,” as being conjunction through truths and goods; for when no truth from a common stock or genuine source could be adjoined to natural truth, then neither would there be the adjunction of the natural to the truth of the rational; thus to the rational its life would appear as no life (n. 3493, 3620); hence by the words, “wherefore have I lives?” is signified that thus there would not be conjunction. The reason why here and in other passages lives are spoken of in the plural, is that there are two faculties of life in man; one of which is called the understanding, and is of truth; and the other of which is called the will, and is of good; these two lives or faculties of life make a one when the understanding is of the will, or what is the same, when truth is of good. This is the reason why in the Hebrew tongue frequent mention is made of “life,” and also of “lives.” That mention is made of “lives,” is evident from the following passages in Genesis:

And Jehovah God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7).

And out of the ground made Jehovah God to grow every tree that is desirable to the sight, and good for food; and the tree of lives in the midst of the garden (Genesis 2:9).

Behold I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of lives (Genesis 6:17).

And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two, two, of all flesh wherein is the breath of lives (Genesis 7:15, n. 780).

All in whose nostrils was the breathing of the breath of lives died (Genesis 6:22).

And in David:

I believe to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of lives (Psalms 27:13).

Again:

What man is he that desireth lives, and loveth days that he may see good (Psalms 34:12)?

Again:

With Thee is the fountain of lives; in Thy light shall we see light (Psalms 36:9).

In Malachi:

My covenant was with Leviticus of lives and peace (Malachi 2:5).

In Jeremiah:

Thus saith Jehovah, Behold I set before you the way of lives, and the way of death (Jeremiah 21:8).

In Moses:

To love Jehovah thy God, and to obey His voice, and to cleave unto Him for He Is thy lives, and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land (Deuteronomy 30:20).

And again:

It is not a vain word from you, because it is your lives, and through this word ye shall prolong your days upon the land (Deuteronomy 32:47); and in other places.

“Lives” are spoken of in the plural because they are two, as was said, and yet a one; as also in the Hebrew tongue are “heavens,” which are many, and yet a one; in like manner “waters,” those above and those beneath (Genesis 1:6-7, 9), which are spiritual things pertaining to the rational and the natural, and which also are to be a one through conjunction. In respect to “lives,” they signify in the plural both what is of the will and what is of the understanding, consequently what is of good and what is of truth; for the life of man is nothing else than good and truth wherein is life from the Lord, inasmuch as man, without good and truth, and life therein, is no man; for man without these would not be able to will anything or think anything, all his faculty of willing being from what is good or what is not good, and his faculty of thinking from what is true or what is not true; hence man has lives, which are one life when his thinking is from his willing, that is, when the truth which is of faith is from the good which is of love.

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