圣经文本

 

Genesis第25章

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1 Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.

2 And she bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.

3 And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim and Leummim.

4 And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

5 And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.

6 But to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son (while he yet lived) eastward, to the east country.

7 And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, a hundred and seventy five years.

8 Then Abraham expired, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;

10 The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.

11 And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac: and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi.

12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bore to Abraham.

13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: The first-born of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,

14 And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,

15 Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:

16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.

17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael; a hundred and thirty and seven years: and he expired and died, and was gathered to his people.

18 And they dwelt from Havilah to Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest towards Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.

19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begat Isaac:

20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

21 And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

22 And the children struggled together within her: and she said, If it is so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD.

23 And the LORD said to her, Two nations are in thy womb, and Two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels: and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

25 And the first was born red, all over like a hairy garment: and they called his name Esau.

26 And after that his brother was born, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents.

28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 And Jacob boiled pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint.

30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

31 And Jacob said, Sell to me this day thy birth-right.

32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birth-right bring to me?

33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he swore to him: and he sold his birth-right to Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way: thus Esau despised his birth-right.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

The Last Judgement#13

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13. Every work of God reflects infinity and eternity. There are many proofs of this among things to be seen both in heaven and on earth. In either place there is never anything exactly like or identical with another. There is not a face exactly like or identical with another, nor will there ever be. Equally one person's character is not exactly like another's. Consequently there are as many faces and as many characters as there are human beings and angels. In one person, who contains countless parts making up the body and countless affections making up the character, there is never one thing which is exactly like and identical with another's. That is why every individual lives a life different from anyone else's. The situation is similar in every detail of Nature.

Such an infinite variety in details is caused by the fact that all things owe their origin to the Divine, who is infinite. There is thus a certain image of the infinite everywhere, so that all things may be looked upon by the Divine as His work, and at the same time that all things may reflect the Divine as being His work.

A rather trivial example may serve to illustrate how everything in Nature reflects infinity and eternity. Every seed, whether the fruit of a tree, a cereal or a flower, is so created that it is capable of infinite multiplication and eternal duration. For a single seed may produce many more, perhaps five or ten or twenty or a hundred, and each of these may produce as many more. If the fruitfulness of a single seed continued without a break, it might in only a hundred years cover the surface of not merely one planet, but of tens of thousands of planets. The seeds too are so created that they can continue in existence for ever. So it is plain how these contain the idea of infinity and eternity; and likewise other things.

The heaven of angels is the reason why everything in the universe has been created. For the heaven of angels is the purpose for which the human race was created, and the human race is the purpose for which the visible heavens and the planets it contains were created. Consequently that work of God, the heaven of angels, primarily has regard to infinity and eternity, and thence to its unlimited reproduction, for it is there the Divine Himself resides. From this it may be established that the human race will never come to an end; for if it did, the work of God would be restricted to a fixed number, and thus would cease to reflect infinity.

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