圣经文本

 

Genesis第4章

学习

   

1 And Man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have acquired a Man with Jehovah.

2 And she further bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a shepherd, but Cain was a husbandman.

3 And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to Jehovah.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat. And Jehovah looked upon Abel, and on his offering;

5 and upon Cain, and on his offering, he did not look. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

6 And Jehovah said to Cain, Why art thou angry, and Why is thy countenance fallen?

7 If thou doest well, will not [thy countenance] look up [with confidence]? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door; and unto thee [shall be] his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

8 And Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

9 And Jehovah said to Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: am I my brother's keeper?

10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.

11 And now be thou cursed from the ground, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.

12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield thee its strength; a wanderer and fugitive shalt thou be on the earth.

13 And Cain said to Jehovah, My punishment is too great to be borne.

14 Behold, thou hast driven me this day from the face of the ground, and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a wanderer and fugitive on the earth; and it will come to pass, [that] every one who finds me will slay me.

15 And Jehovah said to him, Therefore, whoever slayeth Cain, it shall be revenged sevenfold. And Jehovah set a mark on Cain, lest any finding him should smite him.

16 And Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah, and dwelt in the land of Nod, toward the east of Eden.

17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city; and he called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch.

18 And to Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael; and Mehujael begot Methushael; and Methushael begot Lemech.

19 And Lemech took two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the second, Zillah.

20 And Adah bore Jabal: he was the father of those who dwell in tents, and [breed] cattle.

21 And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of those who handle the harp and pipe.

22 And Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, the forger of every kind of tool of brass and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

23 And Lemech said to his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice, Ye wives of Lemech, listen to my speech. For I have slain a man for my wound, and a youth for my bruise.

24 If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold; Lemech seventy and seven fold.

25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and called his name Seth: ... For God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, because Cain has slain him.

26 And to Seth, to him also was born a son; and he called his name Enosh. Then people began to call on the name of Jehovah.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#337

学习本章节

  
/10837  
  

337. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Since the subject in this chapter is the degeneration of the Most Ancient Church - that is, the falsification of doctrine - and consequently the heresies and sects which the names of Cain and his descendants cover, it must be realized that nobody can begin to understand how doctrine was falsified, that is, understand the nature of the heresies and sects of that Church, unless he has a proper knowledge of the nature of the true Church. From the latter the nature of those heresies and sects can be recognized. The Most Ancient Church has been dealt with quite extensively already; and it has been shown that it was the celestial man, and that it acknowledged no other faith than faith that originated in love to the Lord and towards the neighbour. It was through that love from the Lord that they possessed faith, that is, a perception of everything that was a matter of faith. Consequently they were not even willing to mention faith for fear of separating it from love, as shown already in 200-203.

[2] Such is the nature of the celestial man, that nature being described also by means of representatives in David where the Lord is referred to as 'the King', and the celestial man as 'the King's son',

Give the King Your judgements, and the King's son Your righteousness. The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the hills, in righteousness. They will fear You with the sun and towards the face 1 of the moon, a generation of generations. In his days the righteous man will flourish, and much peace, until the moon will be no more. Psalms 72:1, 3, 5, 7.

'The sun' means love, 'the moon' faith, 'mountains' and 'hills' the Most Ancient Church. 'A generation of generations' means the Church that came after the Flood. The statement 'until the moon will be no more' is made because faith will then be love. See also what is written in Isaiah 30:26.

[3] Such was the nature of the Most Ancient Church and such its doctrine. Nowadays things are altogether different, for now faith comes first. But by means of faith the Lord imparts charity, at which point charity becomes the chief thing. Consequently doctrine in most ancient times was falsified when people made profession of faith and in so doing separated faith from love. People who falsified doctrine in this way, or who separated faith from love, that is, made profession of faith alone, were at that time called 'Cain'; and such a thing with them was a gross error.

脚注:

1. literally, faces

  
/10837  
  

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