25. Spreading out the earth 1 and stretching out the heavens is a customary formula used by the prophets when they speak of our regeneration. In Isaiah, for example:
This is what Jehovah has said, your Redeemer and the one who formed you from the womb: "I am Jehovah, making all things, stretching the heavens out on my own and spreading the earth out by myself." (Isaiah 44:24)
Again, where the Lord's Coming is spoken of openly:
A crushed reed he does not break, and smoldering flax he does not quench; he propels judgment toward truth. [In other words, he does not break our illusions or extinguish our cravings but bends them toward truth and goodness. It continues:] 2 God Jehovah creates the heavens and stretches them out. He spreads out the earth and the things it produces. He gives a soul to the people on it and spirit to everyone walking on it. (Isaiah 42:3, 4, 5) 3
Several other places could be cited as well. 4
Footnotes:
1. The Latin word represented here by "spreading out" (expandere) and the one represented by "expanse" in the preceding verse (expansum) are forms of the same word. In other words, the "expanse" is what is "spread out." [LHC]
2. This bracketed interpolation is Swedenborg's. [LHC]
3. Though Isaiah 42:4 is cited, it is not in fact represented in the quotation. Swedenborg frequently gives the numbers of such extra verses in the context of the material he actually quotes; they constitute a kind of "see also" reference. In general, such citation anomalies are not noted further in the annotations to this work. See the discussion of Swedenborg's quotation practices in the translator's preface, pages 8-11. [JSR, SS]
4. In §9596:4, 6 Swedenborg quotes the following verses, which speak of stretching out the heavens: Psalms 104:2; Isaiah 40:22; 45:12; 51:15; 54:2; Zechariah 12:1. [LHC]
