Preface

27. Therefore GOD said: it repents me that I have made man original: "Genes. 6, 6." refers to Genesis 6:6 and stirred nature so that all flesh died that lived on dry land, down to the root and stem, which remained standing: and with this He fertilized and tended the wild tree, so that it should bear better fruits. But when it turned green again, it soon brought forth good and evil fruits again among the sons of Noah; there soon appeared mockers and despisers of God again, and hardly a single good branch grew in the tree that brought forth holy, good fruits; the other branches bore and brought forth the wild heathens.

28. But when God saw that man was thus dead in his knowledge The author implies a loss of the spiritual "recognition" or "awareness" of the divine presence within nature., He moved nature once again and showed man how within it there were both evil and good, so that they might flee the evil and live in the good; and He let fire fall out of nature, and ignited Sodom and Gomorrah as a terrible example to the world.

29. But when man’s blindness gained the upper hand, and they would not let themselves be taught by God’s Spirit, He gave them laws and teachings on how they should conduct themselves, and confirmed these with wonders and signs, so that the knowledge of the true God might not be extinguished.

30. But even with this, the light would not come to light The author uses "an Tag kommen" (to come to day), meaning to manifest or become visible., for the darkness and wrath in nature increased, and its prince Referring to Lucifer or the personification of the "dark" quality of nature. ruled powerfully.

31. But when the tree of nature reached its middle age Böhme uses "Mittelalter" (middle age) here as a biological metaphor for the middle stage of the tree's growth, rather than the historical Medieval period., it then began to bear some mild, sweet fruits, to show that henceforth it would bear lovely fruits. For then the holy prophets were born from the sweet branch of the tree, who taught and preached of the light, which in the future would overcome the wrath in nature.

32. Also among the heathens a light arose within nature, so that they recognized nature and its workings, although this was only a light within wild nature, and not yet the holy light. For the wild nature was not yet overcome, and light and darkness wrestled with one another until the Sun rose, and forced this tree with its heat so that it bore lovely, sweet fruits.

33. That is, until the Prince of Light came from the heart of GOD, and became a man in nature, and wrestled in his human body, by the power of the divine light, within wild nature.