The Bible

 

John 6

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1 After these things Jesus went·​·away across the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias.

2 And a crowd of many followed Him, because they saw His signs which He was doing on those who were·​·sick.

3 And Jesus came up into a mountain, and there sat with His disciples.

4 And the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.

5 Jesus then, lifting·​·up His eyes and observing that a crowd of many comes to Him, says to Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?

6 But this He said, testing him, for He Himself knew what He was·​·about to do.

7 Philip answered Him, Two·​·hundred denarii of bread is not sufficient for them, that each of them may take a very·​·little.

8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, says to Him,

9 There is one little·​·boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two little·​·fishes; but what are these to so many?

10 And Jesus said, Make the men* recline. And there was much grass in the place. Then the men* reclined, in number about five thousand.

11 And Jesus took the loaves of bread, and having given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were sitting; and likewise of the little·​·fishes, as much as they desired.

12 But when they were filled, He says to His disciples, Gather the excess fragments, lest anything be lost.

13 Then they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments from the five loaves of barley bread, which were left over by those who had eaten.

14 Then the men*, seeing the sign that Jesus did, said, This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.

15 Then Jesus, knowing that they are·​·about to come and seize Him that they might make Him a king, departed again into the mountain Himself alone.

16 And when it became evening, His disciples stepped·​·down to the sea,

17 and having stepped into the ship, they were coming across the sea toward Capernaum. And darkness had already fallen, and Jesus had not come to them.

18 And, a great wind blowing, the sea was awakened.

19 Then having rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia*, they behold Jesus walking on the sea and coming near to the ship; and they were afraid.

20 But He says to them, I am; be not afraid.

21 Then they desired to receive Him into the ship, and straightway the ship came·​·to·​·be at the land to which they were going.

22 On·​·the·​·morrow, the crowd standing across the sea, having seen that there was no other boat there except that one into which His disciples had stepped, and that Jesus went· not ·with· His disciples ·into the boat, but His disciples went·​·away alone;

23 but other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate the bread, when the Lord had given thanks;

24 when the crowd therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also stepped into the ships, and came into Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

25 And having found Him across the sea, they said to Him, Rabbi, when camest Thou hither?

26 Jesus answered them, and said, Amen, Amen, I say to you, You seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the bread, and were·​·satisfied.

27 Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give to you; for Him the Father, God, has sealed.

28 Then said they to Him, What shall we do that we may work the works of God?

29 Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.

30 They said therefore to Him, What sign doest Thou then, that we may see and believe Thee? What workest Thou?

31 Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness, as it is written, He gave them bread out·​·of heaven to eat.

32 Then Jesus said to them, Amen, Amen, I say to you, Moses gave you not the bread out·​·of heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread out·​·of heaven.

33 For the Bread of God is He who comes·​·down out·​·of heaven, and gives life to the world.

34 Then said they to Him, Lord, always give us this bread.

35 And Jesus said to them, I am the Bread of Life; he who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

36 But I said to you that you also have seen Me, and do not believe.

37 All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and him who comes to Me I will not cast·​·out.

38 For I came·​·down out·​·of heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

39 And this is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all which He has given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it again in the last day.

40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who beholds the Son, and believes in Him, should have eternal life, and I will raise him again at the last day.

41 The Jews then murmured about Him, because He said, I am the bread which came·​·down out·​·of heaven.

42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then says he, I came·​·down out·​·of heaven?

43 Then Jesus answered and said to them, Murmur not among yourselves.

44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draw him; and I will raise him again at the last day.

45 It is written in the Prophets, And they shall all be taught by God*. Everyone therefore who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me;

46 not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is with God; He has seen the Father.

47 Amen, Amen, I say to you, He who believes in Me has eternal life.

48 I am the Bread of Life.

49 Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and died.

50 This is the bread which comes·​·down out·​·of heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.

51 I am the Living Bread which came·​·down out·​·of heaven; if anyone eat of this Bread, he shall live forever; and the Bread also that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can He give us His flesh to eat?

53 Then Jesus said to them, Amen, Amen, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.

54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him again at the last day.

55 For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink.

56 He who eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, remains in Me, and I in him.

57 As the living Father has sent Me, and·​·I live by the Father, so he who eats Me, he·​·also shall live by Me.

58 This is the bread that came·​·down out·​·of heaven, not as your fathers ate manna and died; he who eats of this bread shall live forever.

59 These things said He in the synagogue, teaching in Capernaum.

60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they had heard, said, This word is hard; who can hear it?

61 But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples are murmuring about this, said to them, Does this cause· you ·to·​·stumble?

62 Then what if you behold the Son of Man ascending up where He was before?

63 It is the spirit that makes·​·alive; the flesh profits nothing; the sayings which I speak to you are spirit, and are life.

64 But there are some of you who believe not. For from the beginning, Jesus knew who they are who believe not, and who it is who would betray Him.

65 And He said, On·​·account·​·of this I said to you that no·​·one can come to Me unless it be given him by My Father.

66 From this time many of His disciples went·​·away into things behind*, and walked no·​·more with Him.

67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, do you also will to go·​·away?

68 Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the sayings of eternal life.

69 And we have come to believe and know that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

70 Jesus answered them, Have I not chosen you twelve? And one of you is a devil.

71 And He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he was about to betray Him, being one of the twelve.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9410

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9410. 'He did not lay a hand' means that truth in its power is not present there. This is clear from the meaning of 'hand' as the power which comes through truth. For the meaning of 'hand' as power, see 878, 3091, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 5544, 6947, 7011, 7188, 7189, 7518, 7673, 8050, 8153, 8281, 9025, 9133; for its coming through truth, 3091, 3503, 6344, 6423, 8304; and for the fact that truth derives all its power from good, that is, from the Lord through good, 6948, 8200, 9327. From all this it is evident that 'He did not lay a hand towards the children of Israel who had been set apart' means that truth in its power is not present with those restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward. The reason why truth is not present with them in its power is that they are separated from heaven and so from the Lord; for the Word joins a person to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord, because all the things constituting the sense of the letter of the Word correspond to the spiritual and celestial realities which exist with angels. There is no connection with the angels if the Word is understood according to the letter alone and not at the same time according to some teaching of the Church on the inner level of the Word.

[2] Take for example the Lord's words to Peter,

You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:18-19.

In like manner to the disciples,

Truly I say to you, Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 18:18.

Those who are restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward, thus those who are separated from the true teachings of the Church, convince themselves that such power was given to Peter by the Lord, and also to the rest of the Lord's disciples. This conviction leads to the hellish heresy that certain people possess the power to let into or shut out of heaven whomsoever they please, when in fact according to the true teachings of the Church, which lie on the inward level of the Word, the Lord alone has that power. Those therefore who know the outward sense of the Word and at the same time its inward sense understand that these things spoken by the Lord had regard to faith and the truths of faith which are received from the Lord, and that such faith received from the Lord possesses that power, thus the Lord Himself, and not at all any mere human being.

[3] The truth of this may be recognized from the representation of Peter and of the twelve disciples, also from the meaning of 'rock', and from the meaning of 'keys' as well. Peter represented faith, see Prefaces to Genesis 18, 22, also 3750, 4738, 6000, 6073 (end); the Lord's twelve disciples, like the twelve tribes of Israel, represented all aspects of faith and love, 3488, 3858, 6397; 'rock' means the Lord in respect of faith, and so faith which is received from the Lord, 8581; and 'keys' means power, as is clear from places in the Word where keys are mentioned, such as in John,

I am the First and the Last, He who lives; and I was dead, but behold, I am alive for ever and ever, and have the keys of hell and of death. Revelation 1:17-18.

In the same book,

These things says the One who is Holy, the One who is True, He who has the key of David, He who opens in order that no one may close, and closes in order that no one may open ... Revelation 3:7-8.

And in Isaiah,

I will place the key of the house of David on His shoulder, in order that He may open and none shut, and He may shut and none open. Isaiah 22:22.

In these places it is evident that 'key' means power and that the Lord alone possesses it.

[4] From all this one can see what those people are like who are restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward, namely people who are not at all joined to heaven, nor thus to the Lord. This is so with those who explain those words addressed by the Lord to Peter and to the disciples according to their literal meaning, in that they arrogate to themselves the power to save the human race and make themselves the gods of heaven and earth, which they do on account of their insane self-love and love of the world. Anyone sound in mind may see and appreciate that a mere human being cannot absolve any sin at all, because no sin is absolved except through the development of a new life, that is, through being regenerated by the Lord. Regeneration continues right on to the end of a person's life in the world, and after that for evermore, see 8548-8553, 8635-8640, 8742-8747, 8853-8858, 8958-8968.

[5] What truth in its power is must also be stated briefly. In the Word angels are called 'powers'; and it is also well known in the Church that they are such. Yet they are not powers by virtue of anything their own, only by virtue of the Lord; for they are recipients of God's truth which emanates from the Lord. The power they have from the Lord is such that one of them can drive away a thousand of the devil's crew, confine them to the hells, and keep them in check. For God's truth emanating from the Lord fills the heavens and forms them; and if you are willing to believe it, all things were made and created through that truth. The Word which was in the beginning with God and which was God, and through which all things were created and the world was made, spoken of in John 1:1-14, is Divine Truth. Divine Truth is the one true substance from which all things come into being; but this is something few are able to understand, because at the present day the idea which people have of Divine Truth is no different from that of words coming from the lips of one who rules over all, whose orders are carried out according to those words. As for the kind of idea people ought in fact to have of Divine Truth, see 9407 (end). The omnipotence of Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is described in many places in the Word, and especially in John, in the Book of Revelation,

War took place in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels, but they did not prevail, nor was their place found any longer in heaven. They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Revelation 12:7-8, 11.

'The blood of the Lamb', it is evident, is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Human, see 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127, 9393, 9395; and 'the word of their testimony' is God's truth which has found acceptance.

[6] People who are restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward, that is, those who are separated from the true teachings of the Church, understand these words of prophecy in solely a literal way. That is to say, they take 'blood' to mean blood, thus the Lord's passion, when in fact Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is what is meant in those words by 'blood'. People with the true teachings of the Church are able to know that they are saved not by blood but by hearing God's truth and doing it, thus [that all are saved] who allow the Lord to regenerate them by means of Divine Truth. All who receive enlightenment from the Lord are able to know, understand, see, and perceive this, thus all who are governed by the good of charity and faith are able to do so, since it is they who receive enlightenment. I myself can certainly say that when I read the blood of the Lamb and think of the Lord's blood the angels present with me know no other than that Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is what I read and that that Truth is what I think of. But let simple people hold on to the teaching they have that they are saved by the Lord's blood, so long as they are leading a life in keeping with His Divine Truth; for those who lead such a life receive enlightenment in the next life.

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