说
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...
以色列
'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...
儿子
'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...
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...
听
'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...
拉巴
Rabbath
火
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...
哀号
To howl' signifies grief caused by vastation.
爱
Hai, or Ai, signifies light derived from worldly things.
麻布
'Being clothed in sackcloth' signifies lamentation because of the devastation of truth in the church. 'Sackcloth,' as in Revelation 6:12, relates to destroyed good.
祭司
Priests' represent the Lord regarding His divine good. When they do not acknowledge the Lord, they lose their signification of the Lord.
山谷
Mountains in the Bible represent people's highest points, where we are closest to the Lord - our love of the Lord and the state of...
来
Coming (Gen. 41:14) denotes communication by influx.
主
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...
人
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
後
'A hind,' as mentioned in Genesis 49:21, signifies the affection of natural truth.
以东
'Edom' or 'Idumea,' as in Isaiah 34:5, signifies those who are in evil and in falsities thence derived.
转身
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...
逃跑
Flight, as in Matthew 14:20, signifies removal from a state of the good of love and innocence. Flight, as in Mark 8:18, signifies the last...
以扫
Esau (Gen. 28:5, etc.) signifies the truth of good in the natural principle. Esau (Gen. 32:3) signifies celestial good in the natural principle.
孤儿
'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...
喝
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...
永远
'Perpetual' in the literal sense, means to the end of one’s life, after death, and eternity.
聚集
A congregation is a group of people with common loves, interests, and purposes. It often refers to a church group. In the Word it is...
起来
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...
心
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...
鹰
Eagle wings, referred to in Daniel 7:3, signify rational principles grounded in man's proprium.
高
'Height' signifies what is inward, and also heaven.
下
"Down" is used many different ways in natural language, and its spiritual meaning in the Bible is highly dependent on context. Phrases like "bowing down,"...
所多玛
"Sodom" in the Bible represents the love of self and the love of ruling or dominating others springing from the love of self. This is...
狮子
'A lion' signifies the good of celestial love and the truth from that good.
站立
'To stand,' and 'come forth' as in Daniel 7:10, refers to truth. In Genesis 24:13, it signifies a state of conjunction of divine truth with...
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...
海
Water generally represents what Swedenborg calls “natural truth,” or true concepts about day-to-day matters and physical things. Since all water ultimately flows into the seas,...
翅膀
'Wings' signify spiritual truths. 'Wings,' when related to the Lord, signify the divine spiritual. In the opposite sense, 'wings' relate to falsities and rationalizations from...
妇人
'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...
平静
When something is described as quiet, still or calm in the Bible, it represents the state of peace that comes with being aligned with the...
宫殿
'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...
王
The human mind is composed of two parts, a will and an understanding, a seat of loves and affections, and a seat of wisdom and...
骆驼
A camel (Matt. 22:24) signifies scientific knowledge. Camels are confirming scientifics, and cattle are the knowledges of good and truth (Jer. 49:32.)
门
In a general sense, doors in the Bible represent the initial desires for good and concepts of truth that introduce people to new levels of...
居住
Inhabitants,' in Isaiah 26:9, signify the men of the church who are in good of doctrine, and thence in the good of life.
风
Because a nearer and stronger divine influx through the heavens disperses truths among the wicked, 'wind' signifies this dispersion of truth and the resulting conjunction...
犹大
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.
话
'Word,' as in Psalms 119:6-17, stands for doctrine in general. 'The Word,' as in Psalms 147:18, signifies divine good united with divine truth. 'Word,' as...
先知
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...
耶利米
Jeremiah, in the Book of Jeremiah 1:1 and what follows, represents the Lord. (Arcana Coelestia 2838 [2]). In Jeremiah 13:7, he signifies the state of...
弓
A bow signifies falsity of doctrine destroying truth, and spear, the falsity of evil destroying good. (Jer. 6:23.)
四
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...
天
Heavens are celestial and spiritual things. Consequently, they are inmost things, both of the Lord's kingdom in heaven the and in the earth. This also...
剑
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...
宝座
'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...
