Arcana Coelestia (Elliott): AC 5

5. But unless he has it from the Lord no human being can possibly know that this is the situation. By way of introductory remarks therefore it can be disclosed that in the Lord's Divine mercy I have been allowed constantly and without interruption for several years now to share the experiences of spirits and angels, to listen to them speaking and to speak to them myself. I have been allowed therefore to hear and see astounding things in the next life which have never come to any man's knowledge, nor even entered his imagination In that world I have learned about different kinds of spirits, about the state of souls after death, about hell (the miserable state of people who do not have faith), about heaven (the very happy state of those who do have faith), and above all else about the doctrine of the faith that is acknowledged in the whole of heaven. In the Lord's Divine mercy more will be told about these matters in what follows.

GENESIS 1

In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
And the earth was a void and an emptiness, and there was thick darkness over the face ^a of the deep; and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face ^a of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.
And God saw that the light was good; and God made a distinction between the light and the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters.
And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so.
And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening, and there was morning, a second day.
And God said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas; and God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let the earth cause tender plants to spring up, seed-bearing plants, fruit trees bearing fruit, each according to its kind, in which is its seed, upon the earth; and it was so.
And the earth brought forth tender herbs, seed-bearing plants, each according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.
And there was evening, and there was morning, a third day.
And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to make a distinction between the day and the night; and they will be for signs, and for set times, and for days and years.
And they will be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so.
And God made the two great lights, the greater light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser light to have dominion over the night; and the stars.
And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth;
And to have dominion over the day and the night, and to make a distinction between the light and the darkness; and God saw that it was good.
And there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.
And God said, Let the waters bring forth creeping things, living creatures; and let birds fly above the earth, upon the face ^a of the expanse of the heavens.
And God created the great sea monsters, and every living creature that creeps, which the waters produced abundantly according to their kinds; and all winged birds according to their kinds; and God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let birds be multiplied upon the earth.
And there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, beasts and creeping things and wild animals of the earth according to their kinds; and it was so.
And God made wild animals of the earth according to their kinds, and beasts according to their kinds, and everything that creeps along the ground according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air,^b and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air,^b and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.
And God said, Behold, I give you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face ^a of the whole earth, and every tree in which there is fruit, the tree producing seed will be for you for food.
And to every wild animal of the earth and to every bird of the air,^b and to everything creeping over the earth in which there is a living soul, [I give] every green plant for food; and it was so.
And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day.

Notes

^a lit. the faces
^b lit. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

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