8942. 'For if you move your chisel over it' means if a product of the proprium or self. This is clear from the meaning of 'chisel' as counterfeit truth, thus a product of the self. For a chisel is a piece of iron used to carve and shape figures out of stones, and therefore the human self is meant here since this shapes things which are to compose religion, to make them look like the truth. Instead of the word 'chisel' some places elsewhere have '[a piece of] iron', while others elsewhere have 'axe', as in Deuteronomy 27:5; Joshua 8:30-31; 1 Kings 6:7; Isaiah 44:10-12; Hosea 13:2; Jeremiah 10:3-4; and these tools mean such things as are implements of self-intelligence used for fabrication.

4017. 'In the troughs of water where the flocks came to drink' means affections for truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'water' as cognitions and facts, which are the truths of the natural, dealt with in 28, 2702, 3058; from the meaning of 'troughs' or water-holders, which, since they are containers of water, in the internal sense mean the goods that go with truth, for these goods are the holders of truth, dealt with in 3095- and from the meaning of 'coming to drink' as the affection for truth. The reason why 'coming to drink' means the affection for truth is that it implies thirst, and 'thirst' in the Word means appetite and desire, and so the affection for knowing and taking in truth. It has this meaning because 'water' means truth in general. 'Hunger' however means appetite and desire, and so the affection for assimilating good. It does so because 'bread', which is used to denote food in general, 2165, means good. From this it is evident that these words mean affections for truth.