saith
As with many common verbs, the meaning of “to say” in the Bible is highly dependent on context. Who is speaking? Who is hearing? What...
jehovah
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...
three
The Writings talk about many aspects of life using the philosophical terms "end," "cause" and "effect." The "end" is someone’s goal or purpose, the ultimate...
Transgressions
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...
moab
Ammonite and Moabite ('Deuteronomy 23:3'), signify the profanation of the celestial and spiritual things of faith.
four
The number "four" in the Bible represents things being linked together or joined. This is partly because four is two times two, and two represents...
turn
Swedenborg says that the Lord is the sun of heaven, and like the natural sun of our world shines on everyone, good or evil. What...
punishment
Punishment' is the consummation of evil, because after punishment, reformation succeeds. This is why it says in Deuteronomy 25:3, 'that no more than forty stripes...
bones
Bones are strong and supportive, providing a framework for our bodies and making motion and action possible. They are also the least "alive" part of...
edom
'Edom' or 'Idumea,' as in Isaiah 34:5, signifies those who are in evil and in falsities thence derived.
send
'To send' signifies revealing.
fire
Just as natural fire can be both comforting in keeping you warm or scary in burning down your house, so fire in the spiritual sense...
devour
When we eat, our bodies break down the food and get from it both energy and materials for building and repairing the body. The process...
palaces
'A palace,' as in Psalm 144:12, represents the understanding in which truths have a beautiful form. They have a beautiful form when they are from...
Kerioth
'Holon, Jahazah, Mephaath, Dibon, Nebo, Beth-diblathaim, Kiriathaim, Beth-gamu, Beth-meon, Kerioth, Bozrah,' as mentioned in Jeremiah 48:21-26, signify the kinds of the false principle, whereby those...
die
Dead (Gen. 23:8) signifies night, in respect to the goodnesses and truths of faith.
tumult
'A tumult,' as in Isaiah 8:4, signifies eager desire to combat against truths.
shouting
'Shouting, singing, and playing' have respect to spiritual things.
Cut off
To be cut off, as in Genesis 41:36, signifies to perish.
judge
It’s easy to see the connection between judging and truth. In a court of law, the judge’s whole purpose is to find the truth. In...
slay
'To slay a man to his wounding,' means extinguishing faith, and 'to slay a young man to his hurt,' signifies extinguishing charity, as in Genesis...
princes
Captains and Rulers (Jer. 51:23) signifies principal evils and falsities. Captains and Rulers (Ezek 33:6) signifies principal truths. See Chief Captains.
judah
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.
kept
"Keeping" in the Bible generally has to do with controlling the actual actions of life, though in some cases it can mean holding something away...
lies
When people lie or speak falsely in the Bible, It represents what Swedenborg calls "falsity of faith" and the resulting "evil of faith." This is...
after
Behind, or after, (Gen. 16:13), signifies within or above, or an interior or superior principle.
fathers
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...
walk
To walk in the Bible represents living, and usually means living according to the true things taught to us by the Lord -- to "walk...
jerusalem
Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, signifies the doctrine of love to the Lord, and how it governs your life. Jerusalem first comes to our attention in...
israel
'Israel,' in Jeremiah 23:8, signifies the spiritual natural church. The children of Israel dispersed all the literal sense of the Word by falsities. 'The children...
sold
'To sell,' as in Genesis 41:56, means transferring to another as their own, because what is sold becomes the property of the one who buys...
righteous
He is said to be 'just' in a spiritual sense, who lives according to divine laws. They on the right hand being called 'just,' as...
silver
'Money' relates to truth.
needy
In most cases, those described as "needy" in the Bible are those who lack true knowledge of the Lord and his teachings, but have a...
shoes
In the Word, 'the sole of the foot' and 'the heel' signifies the ultimate natural. 'The shoe' is what clothes the sole of the foot...
dust
'Powder' or 'dust' refers to love of self and the world.
earth
Generally in the Bible a "country" means a political subdivision ruled by a king, or sometimes a tribe with a territory ruled by a king...
head
The head is the part of us that is highest, which means in a representative sense that it is what is closest to the Lord....
way
'To set a way,' as in Genesis 30:36, signifies being separated.
meek
The word "meek" is used just a handful of times in the Bible, but it is attributed several times to the Lord and is used...
man
"Man" is a tricky word to discuss, because the Hebrew of the Old Testament uses six different words that are generally translated as "man," with...
father
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...
maiden
The damsels of Rebecca, in Genesis 24:61, signify subservient affections. See Daughter.
holy
'Sanctuary' signifies the truth of heaven and the church. 'Sanctuary,' as in Ezekiel 24:21, signifies the Word.
name
It's easy to see that names are important in the Bible. Jehovah changed Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah, changed Jacob to Israel and...
altar
The first altar mentioned in the Word was built by Noah after he came out of the ark. On that altar, he sacrificed clean animals...
clothes
It is said, in Deuteronomy 22:11, "Thou shalt not wear a garment of diverse sorts; as of woolen and linen together…”. This means that the...
house
A "house" is essentially a container - for a person, for a family, for several families or even for a large group with shared interests...
God
When the Bible speaks of "Jehovah," it is representing love itself, the inmost love that is the essence of the Lord. That divine love is...
drink
Food in the Bible represents the desire for good, and water and other drinks represent the understanding and true ideas we need to recognize what...
Wine
In Revelation 18:13, 'wine, oil, flour, and wheat' signify celestial principles of worship.
before
In most cases, the meaning of "before" is pretty straightforward, both as a way of assessing relative time, and in its use meaning "in someone's...
cedars
'Libanus' signifies the spiritual church. The glory of Libanus,' as in Isaiah 9:13, signifies the celestial spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom and church.
strong
In the Word, people who trust to themselves and their own intelligence are sometimes called 'strong,' as in Isaiah 1:31. This is because they suppose...
fruit
We tend to think of "fruit" in two ways in natural language. One is as food that grows on trees and vines, sweet and delicious,...
roots
'A root,' as in Malachi 4:1, signifies charity. The dried up root,' as in Hosea 9:16, 17, signifies charity which could not bear fruit.
beneath
In the Bible, things that are lower down, or under, physically, generally represent things that are lower or more external spiritually. In some cases, the...
land
"Earth" in the Bible can mean a person or a group of like-minded people as in a church. But it refers specifically to the external...
egypt
'Mizraim' signifies the same thing as Egypt.
led
'To be led by the Lord' is to be in a state of essential liberty, blessedness, and happiness.
forty
'Forty' means completeness because 'four' means what is complete, as does 'ten.' Forty is the product of four and ten. Compound numbers have a meaning...
wilderness
'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...
prophets
The idea of a "prophet" is very closely tied to the idea of the Bible itself, since the Bible was largely written by prophets. At...
nazirites
'A Nazarite' represents the celestial self.
children
A child is a young boy or girl in the care of parents, older than a suckling or an infant, but not yet an adolescent....
commanded
To command is to give an order that something must be done, and is directed to an individual, or a group. It is an imperative,...
prophesy
The idea of a "prophet" is very closely tied to the idea of the Bible itself, since the Bible was largely written by prophets. At...
press
These verbs in the Bible indicate a conflict between two spiritual states, and the effort it takes to attain the higher state. It's easy to...
presseth
These verbs in the Bible indicate a conflict between two spiritual states, and the effort it takes to attain the higher state. It's easy to...
Full
'To satiate' relates to the extent of a person's will, for good or evil.
mighty
'Might' denotes the forces or power of truth.
stand
'To sit before Jehovah' is to be with Him, and so, it also means willing and acting from Him. 'To stand before Him,' is to...
bow
A bow signifies falsity of doctrine destroying truth, and spear, the falsity of evil destroying good. (Jer. 6:23.)
foot
Our feet are the lowest and most utilitarian parts of our bodies, and in the Bible they represent the lowest and most utilitarian part of...
horse
'A horse' signifies knowledges or understanding of the Word. In an opposite sense it signifies the understanding of the Word falsified by reasonings, and likewise...
flee
To flee signifies to escape, and be rescued. To flee signifies to be overcome.
naked
Clothing in general represents day-to-day knowledge about spiritual things, held in the memory so it can be used for the goodness of life. For someone...
day
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...
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