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.

4544. 'Remove the gods of the foreigner which are in the midst of you' means that falsities were to be cast aside. This is clear from the meaning of 'removing' as casting aside, and from the meaning of 'the gods of the foreigner' as falsities; for in the Word 'gods' means truths and in the contrary sense falsities, 4402. Those people were called 'foreigners' who were outside the Church and therefore those who were subject to falsities and evils, 2049, 2115; and this explains why 'the gods of the foreigner' means falsities.