came to pass
The phrase “it came to pass,” often also translated as “it happened,” generally indicates the end of one spiritual state and the beginning of a...
pass
'To pass,' as in Genesis 31:52, signifies flowing in. 'To pass the night,' as in Genesis 24:54, signifies having peace. 'To pass through,' as in...
the kings of
The kings of Media and Persia' represent people who are in faith separate from charity.
kings
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...
jordan
The river Jordan separates the land of Canaan from the lands to the east. This separation represents the division of the human mind into an internal...
sea
'The sea and the waves roaring' means heresy and controversies in the church and individual.
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...
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...
dried
'Withering and drying up,' as in Ezekiel 17:10, referring to the east wind, signifies when there is no good or truth.
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...
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
Jacob is told twice that his name will now be Israel. The first time is when he wrestles with an angel on his journey to...
passed
'To pass,' as in Genesis 31:52, signifies flowing in. 'To pass the night,' as in Genesis 24:54, signifies having peace. 'To pass through,' as in...
melted
'To melt' denotes vanishing before the heat of lust.
Time
Time is an aspect of the physical world, but according to Swedenborg is not an aspect of the spiritual world. The same is true 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...
joshua
Joshua is first mentioned in Exodus 17, where he is told to select men to fight for the children of Israel against the Amalekites in...
circumcise
The Writings teach that all parts of the human body correspond to spiritual things. That includes the sex organs of both men and women, which...
circumcised
The Writings teach that all parts of the human body correspond to spiritual things. That includes the sex organs of both men and women, which...
egypt
In the Bible, Egypt means knowledge and the love of knowledge. In a good sense that means knowledge of truth from the Lord through the...
war
War in the Word represents the combat of temptation when what is good is assaulted by what is evil or false. The evil that attacks...
died
Dead (Gen. 23:8) signifies night, in respect to the goodnesses and truths of faith.
wilderness
'The wilderness of Sin,' as in Exodus 16, signifies the good from truth in a state of temptation.
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...
walked
To walk in the Bible represents living, and usually means living according to the true things taught to us by the Lord -- to "walk...
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...
nation
'Nations' signify people who are in the good of love and charity from the Lord. Two nations in the womb,' as in Genesis 25:23, signify...
voice
In Genesis 27:22, 'voice' relates to truth, and 'hand,' to good.
sworn
'To sware' is a binding.
show
'Shew' signifies instruction to the life.
land
Is there any difference in meaning between “earth” and “ground”? At first it doesn’t seem so; both refer to the soil making up the land...
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...
give
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...
us
Angels do give us guidance, but they are mere helpers; the Lord alone governs us, through angels and spirits. Since angels have their assisting role,...
milk
Water represents true ideas about day-to-day life, and other drinks and liquids in general represent different forms of truth. Milk is a drink that contains...
honey
'Honey' signifies the delight derived from good and truth or from the affection thereof, and specifically the external delight. Thus it signifies the delight of...
uncircumcised
'The uncircumcised,' as in Ezekiel 31:18, signifies people lacking the good of charity.
camp
Camps in the Bible represent spiritual order – a person’s (or a church community’s) whole collection of desires for good and true ideas on how...
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...
reproach
To revile something – or "reproach," as it is often translated – represents making a direct and deliberate attack on what is spiritually true, in...
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...
place
'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...
called
'To proclaim' signifies exploration from influx of the Lord.
gilgal
Gilgal signifies the doctrine of natural truth, serving for introduction into the church.
encamped
'Pitch,' as in Genesis 14:10, denotes lusts. 'Burning pitch,' as in Isaiah 34:9, signifies direful fantasies.
passover
'The Passover,' in Exodus 12, 27, signifies the presence of the Lord and His liberation from damnation of the people of the spiritual church. 'The...
fourteenth
Fourteen, as in Genesis 31:40, signifies a first period of time. The fourteenth year, as in Genesis 14:5, signifies the first temptation of the Lord...
day of
'Day of vengeance' signifies a state of damnation.
month
'A month' has respect to the state of truth in a person. 'A month' signifies a full state. Month,' as in Genesis 29, signifies the...
plains
'A plain' signifies good and truth in the natural self, because 'the people who dwell in plains,' or 'beneath mountains and hills' are in the...
jericho
Jericho' signifies instruction and also the good of life because no one can be instructed in the truths of doctrine but he who is in...
ate
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...
unleavened
For something to be “unleavened” means that it's been made without yeast. Since yeast is what makes bread rise and take on its airy texture,...
roasted
To roast something is, in Biblical culinary terms, to cook it over a fire. Fire represents the Lord’s infinite love for all things, so roasting...
manna
'Manna' signifies the good of celestial love conjoined to wisdom. 'Manna' signifies the good of truth. 'Manna' signifies celestial and spiritual good. Hidden manna,' as...
eaten
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...
old
'Old waste places' signify the celestial aspects of faith.
canaan
Canaan signifies a worship in things external without internals, which arose out of the internal church corrupted, called Ham. Thus it is that Ham is...
lifted
The idea of "lifting" is used in a number of different ways in the Bible. In general, it means connecting with a higher spiritual state...
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...
stood
'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...
man
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
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...
hand
Scientists believe that one of the most crucial developments in the evolution of humans was bipedalism – walking on two legs. That left our hands...
captain
In the Bible, “captains,” “commanders” and “chiefs”, and the armies they lead, represent large collections of spiritual desires and large collections of spiritual ideas. The...
army
A host and an army come from the same Hebrew word and mean the same thing in Bible; when the Children of Israel were numbered...
come
As with common verbs in general, the meaning of “come” in the Bible is highly dependent on context – its meaning is determined largely by...
fell
Like other common verbs, the meaning of "fall" is highly dependent on context in regular language, and is highly dependent on context in a spiritual...
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...
earth
'Lands' of different nations are used in the Word to signify the different kinds of love prevalent in the inhabitants.
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...
my lord
Characters in the Bible will often address others using the term “my lord,” and it seems to be no more than an expression of respect....
lord
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...
servant
“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...
jehovah's
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...
sandal
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...
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...
standest
'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...
holy
'Sanctuary' signifies the truth of heaven and the church. 'Sanctuary,' as in Ezekiel 24:21, signifies the Word.
