lie
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...
hand
In Genesis 27:22, 'voice' relates to truth, and 'hand,' to good.
witness
In court, a witness is someone who saw a crime being committed, or observed something that could help determine the guilt or innocence of the...
Wicked
'The wicked' or 'unrighteous' denotes being not in truth of faith.
person
"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...
follow
To go after or to follow, as in Genesis 24:8, signifies to be separated from the natural, and conjoined to the rational principle.
Multitude
'A multitude' relates to truths.
Judgment
Judgement' pertains to the Lord's divine human and holy proceeding. Judgment' has two sides, a principle of good, and a principle of truth. The faithful...
truth
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...
Poor
The poor, maimed, lame, and blind,' as in Luke 14:21, signify the uninstructed Gentiles who were in lives of good.
man
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
meet
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...
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...
Ox
'The son of a cow' signifies the celestial natural level and natural exterior good.
going
In the physical world, the places we inhabit and the distances between them are physical realities, and we have to get our physical bodies through...
bring
As with common verbs in general, the meaning of “bring” is highly dependent on context, but in general it represents an introduction to a new...
back
There are many instances in the Bible which describe people turning back, looking back or going back. In most cases it is a negative, sometimes...
see
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...
Underneath
'Underneath' or 'below,' in the internal sense, signifies being outside.
Burden
A burden (Jer. 17:4) signifies that which is from the proprium of man.
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...
Fly
To fly, when spoken of the Lord, signifies to foresee and to provide. To fly, when predicated of the Lord, also signifies omnipresence. To fly...
Just
He is said to be 'just' in a spiritual sense, who lives according to divine laws. They on the right hand being called 'just,' as...
Put
'To put' has reference to order, arrangement, application, and influx.
the wise
'Wise men,' as in Matthew 23:34, signify the good of doctrine. 'The wise' signify people who teach the Word. 'They that be wise' signify being...
Pervert
'To pervert' signifies turning truth into falsity, and good into evil.
Words
'Words,' as in Exodus 34:28, signify everything pertaining to doctrine.
stranger
'A sojourner' or 'stranger,' as in Matthew 25:32, signifies someone who is willing to be instructed.
know
Like so many common verbs, the meaning of "know" in the Bible is varied and dependent on context. And in some cases – when it...
hearts
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...
Strangers
In Ezekiel 28:7, 'strangers' signify falsities which destroy truths, and 'the terrible of the nations,' evils which destroy good.
Land
Land' in the Word, denotes the church, for the things which signify the church also signify the things relating to the church, for these constitute...
land of
'The land of Rameses,' as in Genesis 47:11, signifies the inmost of the spiritual principle in the natural mind.
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...
six
Like most numbers in the Bible, "six" can have various meanings depending on context, but has a couple that are primary. When used in relation...
Sow
'To sow,' as in Isaiah 28:24, signifies learning. 'To sow beside all waters,' as in Isaiah 32:20, relates to people who allow themselves to be...
ground
In Zechariah 8:12, 'the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground her increase,' signifies that the spiritual affection of truth produces the good of...
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...
Corn
Corn,' as in Genesis 42:2, here stands for a word in the original language which means 'breaking,' and also for a similar word meaning to...
rest
'To slumber' and 'sleep' denotes the state of a person who is not in truths, as in Jeremiah 51:39, 57, Psalm 8:3 and 76:5, and...
people
The Bible generally uses two different terms for large groups: “people” and “nation.” When it uses the term “nation,” it is talking about a group...
eat
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...
beasts
"Beasts" represent the affection for doing good things, a true desire to do them from the heart. In the negative sense, "beasts" stand for the...
field
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...
vineyard
A vineyard signifies the church where the Word is, by which the Lord is known. (Apocalypse Revealed 650)
Six days
The six days' or periods of time, are the various consecutive states in a person's regeneration. They are, in general, as follows: The first state...
days
"Day" describes a state in which we are turned toward the Lord, and are receiving light (which is truth) and heat (which is a desire...
Son
'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...
handmaid
'A handmaid' signifies the affection of rational and scientific things. 'A handmaid,' as mentioned in Genesis 30:3, signifies the affirming medium of conjoining inner truths...
all things
The Lord is life itself, is the Creator of the universe, and is the source of life on an ongoing basis. So in a literal...
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...
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...
Strange gods
The phrase 'strange gods' denotes falsities.
gods
The Lord is called "Jehovah" in the Bible when the text is referring to his essence, which is love itself. He is called "God" when...
Swear
The Lord swearing by himself signifies that divine truth testifies, for He is divine truth itself, and this testifies from itself and means itself. It...
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...
mouth
In most cases, "mouth" in the Bible represents thought and logic, especially the kind of active, concrete thought that is connected with speech. The reason...
feasts
There are two kinds of feasts mentioned in the Bible. Some were held to commemorate specific, one-time events, such as the feast Abraham held to...
keep
"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...
feast of
'The feast of weeks' signifies the implanting of truth in good.
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,...
Unleavened bread
'Unleavened bread' signifies the holiness of love, or the holy of holies, so, pure love. The baking of unleavened bread is purification.
bread
The word “bread” is used two ways in the Bible. In some cases it means actual bread; in others it stands for food in general....
Seven
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
harvest
'A sickle,' as in Revelation 14, signifies the divine truth of the Word, because 'a harvest' signifies the state of the church regarding divine truth...
thrice
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...
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...
God
The Lord is love itself, expressed in the form of wisdom itself. Love, then, is His essence, His inmost. Wisdom - the loving understanding of...
blood
The internal meaning of “blood” is a little tricky, because Swedenborg gives two meanings that seem quite different. In most cases, Swedenborg links blood with...
upon
'Upon' or 'over' signifies being within.
Leaven
Leaven' signifies evil and falsity, which should not be mixed with good and true things. In Leviticus 2:11, it says, 'no meat offering which ye...
Fat
Fat signifies the celestial principle. Fat things, full of marrow, signify goodnesses. Fat and blood signify interior goods and truths, and hence the Israelites, prior...
morning
Morning comes with the rising of the sun, and the sun – which gives life to the earth with its warmth and light – represents...
house
A "house" is essentially a container - for a person, for a family, for several families or even for a large group with shared interests...
house of the
'The house of the prison' denotes the vastation of falsity, and also falsity itself.
Boil
'A boil' denotes something defiled by evils.
Kid
'A kid' signifies the truth of the church. 'A kid,' as in Isaiah 11:6, signifies the genuine truth of the church and also innocence and...
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...
Send
'To send' signifies revealing.
angel
"Angels" in the Bible represent qualities of the Lord himself, or a variety of things that come directly from the Lord. On a lower level...
go before
To "go before" in the Bible means either to lead or to prepare, depending on context. When it is said of the Lord or things...
Journey
'To journey' signifies the institutes and order of life.
place
'A room' or 'place' denotes state.
prepared
In general, when something is "prepared" in the Bible it means that it is in the proper spiritual order, which happens when our hearts and...
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...
speak
Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones – and ultimately...
Adore
To adore, in the Word, signifies to acknowledge and believe.
serve
Generally speaking, those who are at lower levels of an organization serve those at higher levels. Bosses boss and their employees serve; coaches devise strategy...
Works
'Works,' as in Genesis 46:33, denote goods, because they are from the will, and anything from the will is either good or evil, but anything...
Bless
The Lord is perfect love expressed as perfect wisdom. He created us so that He could love us, could give us love and wisdom of...
Waters
'Waters,' 'rivers,' and 'depths,' as in Psalm 78:15-16, signify truths from the Lord.
Sickness
'The sickness prior to death means a movement towards regeneration, so the next stage towards it. A person is by nature in a state of...
midst
The "midst" of something in the Bible represents the thing that is most central and most important to the spiritual state being described, the motivation...
Barren
"Sarai was barren, she had no child" (Gen 11:30), signifies that evil and falsity were not productive.
Number
To number,' as in Isaiah 22:10, signifies falsifying. To number bones,' as in Psalm 22:14-18, signifies desiring to dissipate truths by reasonings and false principles....
Fear
Fear has various significations according to the thing which causes it. Fear signifies love. Fear, as in Gen 28:17, signifies a holy change.
turn
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...
Hornets
'Hornets,' as mentioned in Exodus 23:28, signify falsities of a tormenting and destructive kind, striking with formidable terror, or the dread of those who are...
Wilderness
'Wilderness' signifies something with little life in it, as described in the internal sense in Luke 1:80 'Wilderness' signifies somewhere there is no good because...
multiply
'Spreading themselves on the earth,' as in Genesis 8:17, signifies the internal self operating on the external.
Red sea
'The Red sea' signifies hell and damnation, or temptation.
sea
'The sea and the waves roaring' means heresy and controversies in the church and individual.
the river
The river Gihon, as in Genesis 2:13, signifies the knowledge of all things relating to goodness and truth.
the inhabitants
'The inhabitants of Teman,' as in Jeremiah 49:20, signifies the evils and falsities opposed to the Lord’s celestial kingdom.
Inhabitants
Inhabitants,' in Isaiah 26:9, signify the men of the church who are in good of doctrine, and thence in the good of life.
hands
'Washing of the hands' was an ancient declaration of innocence, and signifies purification from evils and falsities, as in Psalms 73:13 and Matthew 27:24.
dwell
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...
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,...
sin
In the Word three terms are used to mean bad things that are done. These three are transgression, iniquity, and sin, and they are here...
