耶和華
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...
說
Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones – and ultimately...
亞伯拉罕
Abraham (or Abram, as he is named in the beginning of his story) is one of the major characters in the story of the sacred...
神
The Lord is love itself, expressed in the form of wisdom itself. Love, then, is His essence, His inmost. Wisdom - the loving understanding of...
兒子
'A son,' as in Genesis 5:28, signifies the rise of a new church. 'Son,' as in Genesis 24:3, signifies the Lord’s rationality regarding good. 'A...
叫
'To proclaim' signifies exploration from influx of the Lord.
以撒
'Isaac' represents spiritual love. 'Isaac,' in Genesis 17:19, signifies the rational divine. 'Isaac' signifies the Lord's divine rational in reference to divine good. Isaac' signifies...
八
According to Swedenborg, the number eight represents something that is complete within itself, in every respect. Two reasons are offered for this. First, eight is...
天
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...
割禮
Circumcision (Gen. 17:10) signifies purity.
出生
To beget or to be begotten is very similar in meaning to birth: It represents one spiritual state leading to the next spiritual state. "Beget,"...
百
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...
聽
'To hearken to father and mother,' as mentioned in Genesis 28:7, signifies obedience from affection. 'To hearken,' as mentioned in Genesis 30:22, signifies providence. See...
乳
To 'suckle' denotes taking in good, because 'a nurse,' or 'one who suckles' signifies implanting good. To 'suckle,' as in Genesis 21:7, signifies implanting the...
大
The word "great" is used in the Bible to represent a state with a strong degree of love and affection, of the desire for good;...
斷奶的
'To wean,' as in Genesis 21:8, signifies separation, as infants are from their mother’s breasts.
看
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...
早
Morning comes with the rising of the sun, and the sun – which gives life to the earth with its warmth and light – represents...
起來
It is common in the Bible for people to "rise up," and it would be easy to pass over the phrase as simply describing a...
水
'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...
給
Like other common verbs, the meaning of "give" in the Bible is affected by context: who is giving what to whom? In general, though, giving...
一
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...
下
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...
死
Dead (Gen. 23:8) signifies night, in respect to the goodnesses and truths of faith.
坐著
If you think about sitting, it seems fair to say that where you're sitting is more important than that you're sitting. Sitting in a movie...
害怕
The fearful signify people who have no faith.
開了
To open,' as in Revelation 9, signifies communication and conjunction.
眼睛
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...
住
Many people were nomadic in Biblical times, especially the times of the Old Testament, and lived in tents that could be struck, moved and re-raised...
弓
A bow signifies falsity of doctrine destroying truth, and spear, the falsity of evil destroying good. (Jer. 6:23.)
母親
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...
埃及
'Mizraim' signifies the same thing as Egypt.
妻子
The Hebrew of the Old Testament has six different common words which are generally translated as "wife," which largely overlap but have different nuances. Swedenborg...
僕人
“Servant” literally means “a person who serves another,"" and its meaning is similar in reference to the spiritual meaninngs of the Bible. Our lives in...
知道
Like so many common verbs, the meaning of "know" in the Bible is varied and dependent on context. And in some cases – when it...
告訴
'To tell' signifies perceiving, because in the spiritual world, or in heaven, they do not need to tell what they think because they communicate every...
二
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...
羊群
A flock, as in Genesis 26, denotes interior or rational good. A flock signifies those who are in spiritual good. A flock signifies natural interior...
七
The number 'seven' was considered holy, as is well known, because of the six days of creation, and the seventh, which is the celestial self,...
手
Scientists believe that one of the most crucial developments in the evolution of humans was bipedalism – walking on two legs. That left our hands...
好
In Genesis 21, 'wells' signify doctrines, both those disputed and not disputed. Without this significance digging wells and disputing about them would have been too...
挖
In general, digging in the Bible means applying your own mind, your own faculties to find or create spiritual things. This is reflected in common...
地方
'A dry place,' as in Luke 11:24, signifies states of evil and falsity which are in the life of someone who does the work of...
非利士人
The Philistines play a large role in the Bible as one of the longest-standing and most bitter rivals of the people of Israel, clashing with...
許多
Intellectual things – ideas, knowledge, facts, even insight and understanding – are more separate and free-standing than emotional things, and it’s easier to imagine numbering...
