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,...
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...
wood
To ask counsel at their stocks,' as in Hosea 4:12, signifies the good of the delight that comes from some lusts.
Square
'Square' signifies righteousness.
Five
Five also signifies all things of one part.
Long
'Long' and thence to prolong, refer to good.
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...
High
'Height' signifies what is inward, and also heaven.
Put
'To put' has reference to order, arrangement, application, and influx.
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...
Brass
Brass and iron as in Isaiah 48:4 and Daniel 7:19 signify what is hard.
Vessels
'Vessels,' in the internal sense, signify things serving as a receptacle, as scientific ideas and knowledges are to truths, and as truths themselves are to...
dust
'Powder' or 'dust' refers to love of self and the world.
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...
meat
'Provision' or 'meat,' as in Genesis 42:25 and Psalm 78:25, signifies support from truth and good.
Rings
'Rings' signify the conjunction of good and truth. In Exodus 25:12, 'rings' particularly signify divine truth with divine good.
Net
To cast the net on the right side,' as in John 21:6, signifies teaching the good of life.
under
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...
Round
Something 'round' relates to good. 'A small round thing,' as in Exodus 16:14, refers to the good of truth in its first formation. This is...
comes
As with common verbs in general, the meaning of “come” in the Bible is highly dependent on context – its meaning is determined largely by...
Half
Half and double in reference to numbers in the world have a similar signification as the numbers themselves.
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...
two
The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see...
Sides
'Sides' signify the interior or middle between the inmost and the extremes. The word 'rib' is used to mean sides, they denote truths, but sides...
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...
mountain
The Writings tell us that the Lord's love is the sun of heaven, and it is natural for us to look above ourselves to the...
Open
To open,' as in Revelation 9, signifies communication and conjunction.
South
'South' denotes truth in light.
Side
'Side' signifies good or spiritual love.
linen
The instruction not make clothing that mixes 'Woolen and linen' threads means, in the internal sense, that people's spiritual states of good and truth should...
hundred
It's a landmark for a young child to count to 100; it sort of covers all the "ordinary" numbers. One hundred is obviously significant for...
Twenty
'Twenty,' when referring to a quantity, signifies everything or fullness, because it is ten twice. 'Twenty,' as in Genesis 18:31, like all numbers occurring in...
pillars
The images of Beth-Shemesh (the house of the sun), as in Jeremiah 43:13, signify self worship.
silver
'Spoil of gold, and silver, and cattle' signifies falsified truths.
North
'North' signifies people who are in obscurity regarding truth. North,' in Isaiah 14:31, signifies hell. The North,' as in Jeremiah 3:12, signifies people who are...
West
'The west' signifies people in obscured good, and in an opposite sense, people in evil. 'The west' signifies the affection of truth.
fifty
God rested on the seventh day of creation. That represents a state of holiness and tranquility that was preserved in the form of the sabbath....
ten
Most places in Swedenborg identify “ten” as representing “all,” or in some cases “many” or “much.” The Ten Commandments represent all the guidance we get...
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...
one side
Generally when things in the Bible are described as having two sides – especially when the two sides are equal – it has to do...
Fifteen
Fifteen, as in Genesis 7:20, signifies so few as to be scarce anything.
Veil
'A veil,' as in Genesis 38:19, signifies obscurity of the truth. The first vail of the tabernacle, which was the screen in front of the...
Needlework
'Needlework,' as in Exodus 26:36, signifies the scientific principle.
Blue
Blue and purple signify celestial goods and truths, and scarlet double-dyed and fine-twined linen, spiritual goods and truths. (Exod. 28:33.) Blue and purple from the...
Purple
'Purple' corresponds to divine celestial good. 'Purple' signifies genuine good.
Instruments
Instruments of music,' according to correspondences, signify the pleasant and delightful affection of spiritual and celestial things. Therefore, also in many of the Psalms of...
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....
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...
Olive
'An olive,' as in Isaiah 17:6, signifies celestial remains. 'An olive' signifies love and charity, because 'the olive tree' signifies the celestial church, and so...
oil
In Revelation 18:13, 'wine, oil, flour, and wheat' signify celestial principles of worship.
lights
Nov. 4, 1879: Thomas Edison filed a patent for a long-burning light bulb. Nov. 5, 1879: The light bulb was universally accepted as the symbol...
aaron
Aaron was the brother of Moses. He symbolizes two things, one during the first part of the exodus, when he was Moses' spokesperson, and another...
Sons
'Sons of Canaan,' as in Genesis 10, are people who kept external worship separate from internal.
evening
Since the light and warmth of the sun represent the Lord’s wisdom and love, it makes sense that evening, a time when the light and...
morning
Morning comes with the rising of the sun, and the sun – which gives life to the earth with its warmth and light – represents...
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...
the Lord
The Bible refers to the Lord in many different ways, which from the text seem indistinguishable and interchangeable. Understood in the internal sense, though, there...
Tent
'Tent' is used in the Word to signify the celestial and holy aspects of love, because in ancient time they performed holy worship in their...
meeting
In natural language, to "meet" someone can be positive or negative: it can be a welcoming and greeting, or it can be "meeting" them in...
generation
To “generate” something is to create it, and that idea underpins the meaning of a “generation” of people – it is a group that was...
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...
