HERE
The Lord, in the simplest terms, is love itself expressed as wisdom itself. In philosophic terms, love is the Lord's substance and wisdom is His...
ons
Angels do give us guidance, but they are mere helpers; the Lord alone governs us, through angels and spirits. Since angels have their assisting role,...
sien
To look,' as in Genesis 18:22, signifies thinking, because seeing denotes understanding. Look not back behind thee,' as in Genesis 19:17, means that Lot, who...
huise
A "house" is essentially a container - for a person, for a family, for several families or even for a large group with shared interests...
wese
'Orphans' signify people who are in a state of innocence and charity, and desire to know and to do what is good but are not...
moeders
In general, mothers in the Bible represent the Lord's church on earth, or the church among those who know and follow the Lord. In some...
water
'Waters' signify truths in the natural self, and in the opposite sense, falsities. 'Waters' signify particularly the spiritual parts of a person, or the intellectual...
drink
To be drunken without wine (Isa. 29:9), are they who are unconcerned about the Word, and the truths of faith, and thus have no inclination...
geld
'Silver,' in the internal sense of the Word, signifies truth, but also falsity. 'Silver' means the truth of faith, or the truth acquired from selfhood,...
hout
'Wood' signifies good, as well the good of love to the Lord as the good of charity towards our neighbor.
kom
Coming (Gen. 41:14) denotes communication by influx.
nek
'The neck' signifies influx and the communication of interior and exterior levels and the following conjunction. The inmost or third heaven has reference to the...
Egipte
'Mizraim' signifies the same thing as Egypt.
hand
Scientists believe that one of the most crucial developments in the evolution of humans was bipedalism – walking on two legs. That left our hands...
brood
Just as natural food feeds the natural body, so spiritual food feeds the spiritual body. And since our spiritual body is the expression of what...
versadig
'What satisfies' is what nourishes the soul.
vaders
Father in the Word means what is most interior, and in those things that are following the Lord's order, it means what is good. In...
ongeregtighede
In the Word three terms are used to mean bad things that are done. These three are transgression, iniquity, and sin, and they are here...
bring
As with common verbs in general, the meaning of “bring” is highly dependent on context, but in general it represents an introduction to a new...
swaard
A 'sword,' in the Word, signifies the truth of faith combating and the vastation of truth. In an opposite sense, it signifies falsity combating and...
woestyn
'Wilderness' signifies something with little life in it, as described in the internal sense in Luke 1:80 'Wilderness' signifies somewhere there is no good because...
vel
'Skin' corresponds to truth or to falsity in the extremes. 'The skin,' as relates to the grand human, means the natural self. There are spirits...
oond
'An oven,' as in Malachi 4:1, signifies hell, where the people live who confirm themselves in false doctrines and evils of life from earthly and...
vroue
'Women,' as in Genesis 45:19, signify the affections of truth. But in Genesis 31:50, 'women' signify affections of not genuine truth, so not of the...
jonkvroue
'Virgins,' as in Revelation 14:4, signify people who love truths because they are truths, so from a spiritual affection. 'Virgin' signifies the church as a...
stede
Cities of the mountain and cities of the plain (Jer. 33:13) signify doctrines of charity and faith.
Juda
City of Judah,' as in Isaiah 40:9, signifies the doctrine of love towards the Lord and love towards our neighbor in its whole extent.
vorste
Captains and Rulers (Jer. 51:23) signifies principal evils and falsities. Captains and Rulers (Ezek 33:6) signifies principal truths. See Chief Captains.
opgehang
'To hang,' as mentioned in Genesis 41:13, signifies rejecting. 'Hanging' represents the damnation of profanation.
seuns
"Youths" or "Young men" generally represent intelligence or the understanding of truth. This is fitting, since adolescent boys tend to be more advanced intellectually than...
struikel
To 'stumble' denotes being scandalized or offended, and falling, as a result, from truths into falsities.
onder
Generally speaking things that are seen as lower physically in the Bible represent things that are lower or more external spiritually. In some cases this...
poort
"Gates" in ancient times had a significance that does not hold in the modern world. Cities then were enclosed by walls for protection; gates in...
hart
The heart means love. A good heart means love to the Lord and to the neighbor while a hard or stony heart means the love...
oë
It’s common to say “I see” when we understand something. And indeed, “seeing” in the Bible represents grasping and understanding spiritual things. So it makes...
berg
'Hills' signify the good of charity.
jakkalse
If man closes up the middle natural degree, which corresponds to the middle spiritual, he becomes, with respect to love, like a fox, and with...
vir ewig
'Perpetual' in the literal sense, means to the end of one’s life, after death, and eternity.
troon
'The Lord's throne' signifies, in general, the whole heaven, and specifically, the spiritual heaven, and by extension, divine truth proceeding, and so, everything of heaven...
vergeet
To forget, in the internal sense, signifies nothing else but removal and apparent privation.
lengte
'Length' symbolizes goodness, here, the goodness of the church, for the same reason that 'breadth' symbolizes truth. This is because 'length means the sweep of...
dae
The expression 'even to this day' or 'today' sometimes appears in the Word, as in Genesis 19:37-38, 22:14, 26:33, 32:32, 35:20, and 47:26. In a...