serpent
Serpents in the Bible represent reasoning that is based on what we know through our senses. This is the lowest and most outward mode of...
subtle
The spiritual meaning of being deceitful is pretty close to the literal meaning: According to the Writings it means using false thinking and logic to...
beast
"Beasts" represent the affection for doing good things, a true desire to do them from the heart. In the negative sense, "beasts" stand for the...
field
When we have a desire to be good people and to do good things, the natural first questions are "What does that mean?" "What should...
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...
jehovah god
Many different names for the Lord appear in the Bible, and they all have different shades of meaning. “Jehovah” is the actual name of God,...
God
The Lord is love itself, expressed in the form of wisdom itself. Love, then, is His essence, His inmost. Wisdom - the loving understanding of...
said
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...
Woman
It is because of a celestial and angelic proprium, or selfhood, that the church is called 'a woman,' 'a wife,' 'a bride,' 'a virgin,' and...
eat
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...
tree
In general, plants in the Bible represent facts, thoughts and ideas – intellectual things. This makes sense: Plants are rooted in place, but can grow...
Garden
A garden and paradise signify intellect and wisdom.
Trees
'Trees,' in general, signify the perceptions when discussing the celestial self, but when related to the spiritual church, they signify knowledges. A person in the...
midst
The "midst" of something in the Bible represents the thing that is most central and most important to the spiritual state being described, the motivation...
touch
Imagine having your mother touch your cheek. Then imagine having your spouse or someone you love romantically touch your cheek. Then imagine having a baby...
die
'To perish,' or 'die,' relates to damnation, or the state in hell.
eyes
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...
knowing
Like so many common verbs, the meaning of "know" in the Bible is varied and dependent on context. And in some cases – when it...
good
It seems rather circular to say that “good” in the Bible represents good, but in a general sense it’s true! The case is this: The...
saw
The symbolic meaning of "seeing" is "understanding," which is obvious enough that it has become part of common language (think about it; you might see...
food
To give food, as in Genesis 41:48, signifies to store up.
Make
'To make,' as in Hosea 8:11, refers to good. In the opposite sense it refers to evil. To make heaven, and earth, and the sea,...
one
A company might have executives setting policy and strategy, engineers designing products, line workers building them, managers handling personnel and others handling various functions. They...
wise
At its heart, wisdom is love's imperative desire to take form. That's a tricky statement, but think of it this way: If you love someone,...
husband
In general, men are driven by intellect and women by affections, and because of this men in the Bible generally represent knowledge and truth and...
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...
fig
The Writings tell us that the fig tree represents the "natural human," which is our outward life in the world, and the thoughts and feelings...
Leaves
'Leaves' signify truths according to the different kinds of tree. 'The leaves of the olive tree and vine' signify rational truths from celestial and spiritual...
aprons
In a sense, the whole point of trying to accept the Lord and align ourselves with His love and His leading is so that we...
heard
Thanks to modern science, we now understand that hearing actually happens in the brain, not the ears. The ears collect vibrations in the air and...
Walking
In the prophetical writings, anything relating to faith is expressed as 'walking' and 'seeking' and anything relating to love is expressed as 'loving' and 'serving.'
man
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
called
To call someone or summon someone in the Bible represents a desire for conjunction between higher and lower states of life. For instance, imagine someone...
afraid
Fear of the unknown and fear of change are both common ideas, and together cover a broad spectrum of the fears we tend to have...
go
In the physical world, the places we inhabit and the distances between them are physical realities, and we have to get our physical bodies through...
cursed
The Lord is love itself, and his love for us never wavers and never changes. What does waver and change is the degree to which...
Cattle
Animals in the Bible generally refer to spiritual activity, the things we actually do on a spiritual level. "Cattle," as typically used in the Bible,...
Belly
The belly (Psalms 16:4) signifies the interior understanding.
dust
'Powder' or 'dust' refers to love of self and the world.
days
"Day" describes a state in which we are turned toward the Lord, and are receiving light (which is truth) and heat (which is a desire...
Put
'To put' has reference to order, arrangement, application, and influx.
Seed
'A seed' signifies love, and everyone who has love, as in Genesis 12:7. 8:15, 16. 'A seed' signifies faith grounded in charity. 'A seed' signifies...
bruise
'To tread down' or 'bruise,' as in Genesis 3:15, signifies depression. It has the same significance in Isaiah 26:5-6, and 28:2-3.
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....
Heel
'The heel' signifies natural things of the lowest order. 'The heel which the serpent should bruise,' as mentioned in Genesis 3:15, signifies the lowest natural...
multiply
'Spreading themselves on the earth,' as in Genesis 8:17, signifies the internal self operating on the external.
Pain
'Pain' signifies repugnant things arising from interior falsities, because what is repugnant is painful.
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...
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....
over
'Upon' or 'over' signifies being within.
adam
Adam is one of the most crucial and most controversial figures in the Bible, dividing even the faithful into camps: those who believe he literally...
ground
In Zechariah 8:12, 'the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground her increase,' signifies that the spiritual affection of truth produces the good of...
Thorns
'Thorns, briers, brambles, and thistles' signifies falsities of evil because of their stings or prickles.
Herb
Every herb in the Word signifies some species of scientifics. 'Herb bearing seed,' as mentioned in Genesis 1:29, signifies every truth which regards use. 'Green...
Sweat
'To sweat,' as in Ezekiel 44:18, denotes a person's proprium.
face
“The eyes are the windows of the soul.” That’s a sentiment with roots somewhere in murky antiquity, but one that has become hopelessly cliché because...
bread
The word “bread” is used two ways in the Bible. In some cases it means actual bread; in others it stands for food in general....
Eve
The name 'Eve' comes from the Hebrew word חַוָּה or 'Chava,' a form of the word for life, which is why she is called 'the...
mother
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...
Us
Because people are governed by angels and spirits, in Genesis 1:26 it says 'let us make man into our image.' But because the Lord alone...
hand
In Genesis 27:22, 'voice' relates to truth, and 'hand,' to good.
Tree of life
'The tree of life,' as in Revelation 2:7, signifies the essential celestial, and in the highest sense, the Lord Himself, because everything celestial is from...
Sent
'Being sent' everywhere signifies, in an internal sense, going forth, as in John 17:8. In similar manner, it is said of the holy of the...
Garden of Eden
A Garden in Eden eastward, as in Genesis 2:8... 'Garden' means intelligence, 'Eden' love, 'the east' the Lord. 'A garden in Eden, from the east'...
Eden
According to the Writings, “Eden” by itself means love, in most cases the love that comes from the Lord and our love for the Lord,...
Till the ground
'To till the ground,' as in Genesis 4:12, signifies cultivating division or heresy. 'A tiller of the ground' is someone without charity, but may be...
Till the ground from whence he was taken
'To till the ground from whence he was taken,' as in Genesis 3:23, signifies becoming bodily as before regeneration.
cherubim
A Cherub has as its first definition in the dictionary, “A winged heavenly creature.” Cherubim is the plural of cherub. In the Word, the words...
Flame
A flame signifies spiritual good, and the light of it truth from that good. A flame of fire, as in Revelation 1:14, signifies spiritual love,...
Sword
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...
turned
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...
Way
In John 14:6, 'the way is doctrine,' 'the truth' is every thing pertaining to doctrine, and 'the life' is the essential good which is the...
Way of the tree of life
'The way of the tree of life,' as in Genesis 3:21, signifies admission to the Lord, which people have from the Word.
