iniquity
Folly, iniquity, hypocrisy, and error, as in Isaiah 32:6: Folly has respect to the false, iniquity signifies evil, hypocrisy, the evils spoken against goods, and...
evil
'Wickedness' signifies evil, and 'iniquity' signifies falsities.
beds
A bed of ivory (Amos 6:4) are doctrines apparently from rational truths.
morning
Morning comes with the rising of the sun, and the sun – which gives life to the earth with its warmth and light – represents...
light
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...
hand
In Genesis 27:22, 'voice' relates to truth, and 'hand,' to good.
fields
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...
houses
A "house" is essentially a container - for a person, for a family, for several families or even for a large group with shared interests...
man
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
heritage
In Biblical times, possessions passed from fathers to sons, a patriarchal system that would not be accepted in today's society – but one that is...
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...
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...
family
Families (Gen 8:19) signify goodnesses and truths arranged in man by the Lord, according to order. Families have respect to truths. (Nahum 3:4)
remove
As with many verbs, the meaning of "remove" in the Bible varies a good bit depending on context. It generally involves a separation of spiritual...
necks
'The neck' signifies influx and the communication of interior and exterior levels and the following conjunction. The inmost or third heaven has reference to the...
walk
To walk in the Bible represents living, and usually means living according to the true things taught to us by the Lord -- to "walk...
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...
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...
spoiled
'A spoiler,' as in Jeremiah 48:32, signifies evil and its derivative falsity.
lot
On the most internal level, the stories of Abraham tell us about the Lord's development in his own childhood, with Abraham representing the Lord's spiritual...
congregation
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...
Jacob
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...
words
'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...
risen up
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...
enemy
An enemy in the Bible refers to people who are in the love of evil and the false thinking that springs from evil. On a...
strip
As in Micah 1:8, 'to be stripped' signifies being without goods, and 'to be naked' signifies being without truths.
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...
women
The word "woman" is used a number of different ways in the Bible – as a simple description, as someone connected to a man ("his...
ever
'Perpetual' in the literal sense, means to the end of one’s life, after death, and eternity.
wind
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...
falsehood
When people lie or speak falsely in the Bible, It represents what Swedenborg calls "falsity of faith" and the resulting "evil of faith." This is...
wine
In Revelation 18:13, 'wine, oil, flour, and wheat' signify celestial principles of worship.
Strong drink
Strong drink' signifies the truth of the natural self.
people
"Man" is a tricky word to discuss, because the Hebrew of the Old Testament uses six different words that are generally translated as "man," with...
gather
To gather, as in Genesis 6:21, refers to those things which are in the memory of man, where they are gathered. It also implies that...
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...
Put
'To put' has reference to order, arrangement, application, and influx.
sheep
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...
Bozrah
'Holon, Jahazah, Mephaath, Dibon, Nebo, Beth-diblathaim, Kiriathaim, Beth-gamu, Beth-meon, Kerioth, Bozrah,' as mentioned in Jeremiah 48:21-26, signify the kinds of the false principle, whereby those...
midst
'Middle' denotes what is primary, principal, or inmost.
multitude
A company, congregation, and a multitude, in the Word, are predicated of truths.
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...
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...
gate
"Gates" in ancient times had a significance that does not hold in the modern world. Cities then were enclosed by walls for protection; gates in...
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....
