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.

5279. 'And the famine will consume the land' means even to the point of despair. This is clear from the meaning of 'famine' as an absence of religious knowledge or cognitions and a consequent deprivation of truth, dealt with above in 5277, 5278; and from the meaning of 'the land', in this case the land of Egypt, as the natural mind, also dealt with above, in 5276, 5278. The reason even to the point of despair is meant is that the words 'the famine will consume the land' are used. Since 'the land' means the natural mind, and 'famine' the deprivation of truth, nothing else than despair is meant, for at that time, in a spiritual manner, a consuming takes place. The description here is of a state of desolation owing to a deprivation of truth, the final stage of that state being despair. The reason despair is the final stage of that state is that despair is the means by which the delight that belongs to self-love and love of the world is removed, and the delight connected with the love of what is good and true is instilled in place of it. The despair experienced by those who are to be regenerated has to do with the attainment of spiritual life and with being deprived of truth and good. For when such people are deprived of truth and good they are in despair about the attainment of spiritual life; consequently they have feelings of delight and bliss when they come out of their despair.