The Bible

 

Genesis 8

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1 And God remembereth Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle which [are] with him in the ark, and God causeth a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subside,

2 and closed are the fountains of the deep and the net-work of the heavens, and restrained is the shower from the heavens.

3 And turn back do the waters from off the earth, going on and returning; and the waters are lacking at the end of a hundred and fifty days.

4 And the ark resteth, in the seventh month, in the seventeenth day of the month, on mountains of Ararat;

5 and the waters have been going and becoming lacking till the tenth month; in the tenth [month], on the first of the month, appeared the heads of the mountains.

6 And it cometh to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah openeth the window of the ark which he made,

7 and he sendeth forth the raven, and it goeth out, going out and turning back till the drying of the waters from off the earth.

8 And he sendeth forth the dove from him to see whether the waters have been lightened from off the face of the ground,

9 and the dove hath not found rest for the sole of her foot, and she turneth back unto him, unto the ark, for waters [are] on the face of all the earth, and he putteth out his hand, and taketh her, and bringeth her in unto him, unto the ark.

10 And he stayeth yet other seven days, and addeth to send forth the dove from the ark;

11 and the dove cometh in unto him at even-time, and lo, an olive leaf torn off in her mouth; and Noah knoweth that the waters have been lightened from off the earth.

12 And he stayeth yet other seven days, and sendeth forth the dove, and it added not to turn back unto him any more.

13 And it cometh to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first [month], in the first of the month, the waters have been dried from off the earth; and Noah turneth aside the covering of the ark, and looketh, and lo, the face of the ground hath been dried.

14 And in the second month, in the seven and twentieth day of the month, the earth hath become dry.

15 And God speaketh unto Noah, saying, `Go out from the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee;

16 every living thing that [is] with thee, of all flesh, among fowl, and among cattle, and among every creeping thing which is creeping on the earth, bring out with thee;

17 and they have teemed in the earth, and been fruitful, and have multiplied on the earth.'

18 And Noah goeth out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him;

19 every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl; every creeping thing on the earth, after their families, have gone out from the ark.

20 And Noah buildeth an altar to Jehovah, and taketh of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and causeth burnt-offerings to ascend on the altar;

21 and Jehovah smelleth the sweet fragrance, and Jehovah saith unto His heart, `I continue not to disesteem any more the ground because of man, though the imagination of the heart of man [is] evil from his youth; and I continue not to smite any more all living, as I have done;

22 during all days of the earth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, do not cease.'

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #701

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701. Genesis 7

1. And Jehovah said to Noah, Enter, you and all your house, into the ark, for I have seen you to be a righteous man before Me in this generation.

2. Of every clean beast you shall take for yourself seven and seven of each, male and its mate, 1 and of beasts that are not clean, pairs of each, male and its mate. 1

3. Also of the birds of the air 2 seven and seven of each, male and female, to keep their seed alive over the face 3 of the whole earth.

4. For in seven days' time I am making it rain over the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe out everything 4 I have made from over the face 3 of the ground.

5. And Noah did according to all that Jehovah commanded him.

6. And Noah was a son of six hundred years, and a flood of waters came to be over the earth.

7. And Noah went into the ark, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, from before the waters of the flood.

8. Of the clean beast, and of the beast that is not clean, and of the bird, and of everything that creeps over the ground.

9. Two and two they went to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

10. And there were seven days, and the waters of the flood were over the earth.

11. In the six hundredth year of the years of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were split open, and the floodgates of heaven were opened.

12. And there was rain over the earth for forty days and forty nights.

13. On that very day Noah went in, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, Noah's sons, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark.

14. They, and every wild animal according to its kind, and every beast according to its kind, and every creeping thing that creeps over the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every flying thing, and every winged thing.

15. And they went in to Noah into the ark, two and two from all flesh in which there was the spirit of life. 5

16. And those who were going in, male and female of all flesh, went in, as God had commanded him; and Jehovah closed the way behind him.

17. And the flood was forty days over the earth, and the waters increased and raised the ark and lifted it above the earth.

18. And the waters grew stronger and increased greatly over the earth; and the ark went over the face 3 of the waters.

19. And the waters grew stronger and stronger over the earth, and all the high mountains beneath the whole sky were covered.

20. For fifteen cubits upwards the waters prevailed and covered the mountains.

21. And all flesh creeping over the earth breathed its last - birds, beasts, wild animals, and every creeping thing that creeps over the earth; and every man.

22. Everything which had the breath of the spirit of life 5 in its nostrils, everything that was on the dry land, died.

23. And He wiped out every being 4 which was on the face 3 of the ground, from man to beasts, to creeping things, and to birds of the air; 2 and they were wiped out from the earth; and Noah alone remained and that which was with him in the ark.

24. And the waters became more and more over the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

CONTENTS

Here the subject in general is the preparation of the Church. Just as the subject previously was the things of the understanding, so here verses 1-5 deal with those of its will.

Footnotes:

1. literally, man and his wife

2. literally, bird of the heavens (or the skies)

3. literally, over the faces

4. literally, every substance

5. literally, of lives

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