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Genesis 6

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1 And it cometh to pass that mankind have begun to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters have been born to them,

2 and sons of God see the daughters of men that they [are] fair, and they take to themselves women of all whom they have chosen.

3 And Jehovah saith, `My Spirit doth not strive in man -- to the age; in their erring they [are] flesh:' and his days have been an hundred and twenty years.

4 The fallen ones were in the earth in those days, and even afterwards when sons of God come in unto daughters of men, and they have borne to them -- they [are] the heroes, who, from of old, [are] the men of name.

5 And Jehovah seeth that abundant [is] the wickedness of man in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil all the day;

6 and Jehovah repenteth that He hath made man in the earth, and He grieveth Himself -- unto His heart.

7 And Jehovah saith, `I wipe away man whom I have prepared from off the face of the ground, from man unto beast, unto creeping thing, and unto fowl of the heavens, for I have repented that I have made them.'

8 And Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah.

9 These [are] births of Noah: Noah [is] a righteous man; perfect he hath been among his generations; with God hath Noah walked habitually.

10 And Noah begetteth three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 And the earth is corrupt before God, and the earth is filled [with] violence.

12 And God seeth the earth, and lo, it hath been corrupted, for all flesh hath corrupted its way on the earth.

13 And God said to Noah, `An end of all flesh hath come before Me, for the earth hath been full of violence from their presence; and lo, I am destroying them with the earth.

14 `Make for thyself an ark of gopher-wood; rooms dost thou make with the ark, and thou hast covered it within and without with cypress;

15 and this [is] that which thou dost with it: three hundred cubits [is] the length of the ark, fifty cubits its breadth, and thirty cubits its height;

16 a window dost thou make for the ark, and unto a cubit thou dost restrain it from above; and the opening of the ark thou dost put in its side, -- lower, second, and third [stories] dost thou make it.

17 `And I, lo, I am bringing in the deluge of waters on the earth to destroy all flesh, in which [is] a living spirit, from under the heavens; all that [is] in the earth doth expire.

18 `And I have established My covenant with thee, and thou hast come in unto the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy son's wives with thee;

19 and of all that liveth, of all flesh, two of every [sort] thou dost bring in unto the ark, to keep alive with thee; male and female are they.

20 Of the fowl after its kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every [sort] they come in unto thee, to keep alive.

21 `And thou, take to thyself of all food that is eaten; and thou hast gathered unto thyself, and it hath been to thee and to them for food.'

22 And Noah doth according to all that God hath commanded him; so hath he done.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #612

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612. Noah was a man righteous, and perfect 1 in his generations. That this signifies that he was such that he could be endowed with charity, is evident from the signification of “just and perfect” “just” (or “righteous”) having regard to the good of charity, and “perfect” to the truth of charity; and also from the essential of that church being charity, concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter. That “just” (or “righteous”) has regard to the good of charity, and “perfect” to the truth of charity, is evident from the Word, as in Isaiah:

They will seek Me daily and desire knowledge of My ways, as a nation that doeth righteousness, and forsaketh not the judgment of their God; they will ask of Me the judgments of righteousness, and will long for the approach of God (Isaiah 58:2).

Here “judgment” denotes the things which are of truth, and “righteousness” those which are of good. “Doing judgment and righteousness” became as it were an established formula for doing what is true and good (as in Isaiah 56:1; Jeremiah 22:3, 13, 15; 23:5; 33:14, 16, 19). The Lord said:

The righteous 2 shall shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of My father (Matthew 13:43),

“the righteous” meaning those who are endowed with charity; and concerning the consummation of the age He said:

The angels shall go forth and shall sever the wicked from among the righteous (Matthew 13:49).

Here also the “righteous” denote those who are in the good of charity.

[2] But “perfect” signifies the truth which is from charity, for there is truth from many another origin; but that which is from the good of charity from the Lord is called “perfect” and a “perfect man” as in David:

Who shall sojourn in Thy tent, who shall dwell in the mountain of Thy holiness? He that walketh perfect, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart (Psalms 15:1-2).

The “perfect” [or “complete”] man is here described. Again:

With the holy Thou wilt show Thyself holy; with the perfect man Thou wilt show Thyself perfect (Psalms 18:25),

where the “perfect man” is one who is so from holiness, or the good of charity. And again:

Jehovah will withhold no good from them that walk in perfectness [integritate] (Psalms 84:11).

[3] That a “perfect man” is one who is true from good, or who speaks and does truth from charity, is evident from the words “walk” and “way” being often applied to what is perfect, that is, to wholeness or entirety, and also the words “upright” or “uprightness” which words pertain to truth. As in David:

I will teach the perfect in the way how far he shall come unto me. I will walk within my house in the perfectness of my heart (Psalms 101:2);

and in the sixth verse:

He that walketh in the way of the perfect, he shall minister unto me (Psalms 101:6).

Again:

Blessed are the perfect in the way, who walk in the law of Jehovah (Psalms 119:1).

And again:

Perfectness and uprightness shall guard me (Psalms 25:21).

And in another place:

Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace (Psalms 37:37).

It is evident from these passages that he is called “righteous” who does what is good, and that he is called “perfect” who does what is true therefrom, which also is to “do righteousness and judgment.” “Holiness” and “righteousness” are the celestial of faith; “perfectness” and “judgment” are the spiritual thence derived.

Footnotes:

1. “Perfect” is used here in the sense of “whole,” “entire.” Swedenborg’s word is integer. [Reviser.]

2. The Latin has only one word for our two English words “just” and “righteous” and it is the same with “justice” and “righteousness.” [Reviser.]

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