471、他们之所以单独居住，仅被划分为家庭、家族和民族，是因为通过这种方式，教会可以得到完整保存，所有家庭和家族都可以依靠其父母，爱和真正的敬拜由此继续留在他们当中。还值得注意的是，每个家庭都有使得它与众不同的显著特征。因为众所周知，子女，甚至以后的后代都从其父母那里获得显著特征，他们还继承了脸部的特征等等，凭这些特征而被分辨出来。因此，主乐意他们以这种方式居住，以避免不同性质的混合，在他们之间保持准确的区分。教会便以这种方式成为主国度的鲜活代表，因为主的国包括无数社群，每个社群都照着爱与信的不同而与众不同。如前所述，这就是“独居”和“住帐棚”的含义。出于同样的原因，主也乐意犹太教会被划分为家庭、家族和民族，每个人都在自己的家族内通婚。对此，蒙主的神性怜悯，容后再述。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]471. They lived this way, independently, divided only into households, clans, and nations, in order to preserve the church entire. The purpose was for all households and clans to evolve from one progenitor and so to persist in their love and their true worship.
In addition, each household had its own identity that distinguished it from the next. As everyone knows, children acquire their personality from their parents, as do future generations, and they also inherit characteristic traits of face, and so on, by which they can be recognized. Consequently it pleased the Lord to have them live this way in order to avoid the mingling of different natures and instead to maintain careful distinctions among them.
In this the church represented the Lord's kingdom with great fidelity, because the Lord's kingdom holds countless groups of people, each differing from the next in its love and faith.
This, as noted before [139], is to live alone and, as also noted [414], to live in tents. And this is what the Lord was pleased to have the Jewish church do too — live divided into households, clans, and tribes, marrying within the clan — and for the same reason. The subject will, by the Lord's divine mercy, be explored further in what follows.{*1}
Footnotes:
{*1} For Swedenborg's discussions later in the work on the reasons for the Israelite laws limiting marriage to one's own people (Numbers 36:6-9), and forbidding it with others (Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3-4), see Secrets of Heaven 3024:7, 3665:4, 4444:4-6, 8998. For more on the reasons why the earliest church followed this practice, see Secrets of Heaven 483:2, 1159:3, 1246. [LHC, JSR]
Potts(1905-1910) 471
471. The reason why they dwelt thus alone by themselves, distinguished only into houses, families, and nations, was that by this means the church might be preserved entire, that all the houses and families might be dependent on their parent, and thereby remain in love and in true worship. It is to be remarked also that each house was of a peculiar genius, distinct from every other; for it is well known that children, and even remote descendants, derive from their parents a particular genius, and such marked characteristics that they can be distinguished by the face, and by many other peculiarities. Therefore, in order that there might not be a confounding, but an exact distinction, it pleased the Lord that they should dwell in this manner. Thus the church was a living representative of the kingdom of the Lord; for in the Lord's kingdom there are innumerable societies, each one distinct from every other, according to the differences of love and faith. This, as observed above, is what is meant by "living alone" and by "dwelling in tents." For the same reason also it pleased the Lord that the Jewish Church should be distinguished into houses, families, and nations, and that everyone should contract marriage within his own family; but concerning this, of the Lord's Divine mercy hereafter.
Elliott(1983-1999) 471
471. The reason why they dwelt in this manner - that is to say, quite separately and divided solely into houses, families, and nations - was so that the Church might in this way be preserved intact, and so that every house and family might be dependent on their parent, and that love and true worship might consequently continue among them. And over and above this each house had distinctive traits that made it different from any other. For it is well known that children, and even later descendants, derive from their parents particular traits and such known characteristics as can be detected in the face and in many other ways. Therefore to guard against any intermingling of innate dispositions, and to preserve their precise differences, it pleased the Lord that they dwell in this manner. In this way the Church was a living representative of the Lord's kingdom, for the Lord's kingdom includes countless communities, with each one differing from every other according to differences of love and faith. This, as stated already, is 'living alone' and, as also stated, 'living in tents'. For the same reason it pleased the Lord to have the Jewish Church to do the same, that is, to be divided into houses, families, and nations, with each individual contracting a marriage inside his own family. These matters will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with later on.
Latin(1748-1756) 471
471. Quod ita habitaverint, nempe soli inter se, distincti modo in domos, familias, et gentes, causa erat ut integra sic conservaretur Ecclesia; ut omnes domus et familiae penderent a parente, et sic permanerent in amore et vero cultu; praeter etiam quod unaquaevis domus peculiarem genium distinctum ab altera habuit; nam notum est quod liberi, immo posteri, a parentibus suis trahant genium, et tales notas characteristicas ut ex facie et pluribus aliis dignosci queant; ne itaque indolum fieret confusio, sed distinctio accurata esset, beneplacuit Domino ut sic habitarent: ita Ecclesia repraesentabat ad vivum regnum Domini, nam in regno Domini sunt innumerabiles societates, quaelibet ab altera distincta secundum differentias amoris et fidei: hoc est, quod prius dictum, 'solus vivere'; et hoc est, quod etiam dictum, 'tentoria habitare': et hoc est quod beneplacuit Domino, ut Ecclesia Judaica quoque faceret, quod in domos, in familias, in gentes, distincti essent, et quisque matrimonium contraheret intra familias, eadem causa; de quibus, ex Divina Domini Misericordia, in sequentibus.