God
When the Bible speaks of "Jehovah," it is representing love itself, the inmost love that is the essence of the Lord. That divine love is...
remembered
'To remember,' as in Genesis 41:9, signifies conjunction. 'Remembering' denotes conjunction because the remembrance of anyone in the other life joins them together, because as...
living
'Lives' is used in the plural, because of the will and understanding, and because these two lives make one.
living creatures
Animals in general represent our spiritual activity, the things we do on a spiritual level. This can mean forming thoughts, ideas, intellectual concepts; it can...
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...
earth
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...
fountains
A fountain signifies the Lord and the Word. A fountain signifies superior truth, and well, inferior truth. A fountain, as in Psalm 104:10, denotes knowledges....
heaven
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...
returned
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...
abated
For something to “fail” in the Bible means there is not enough understanding of truth and desire for good for someone to attain a higher...
hundred
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...
Hundred and fifty
'A hundred and fifty,' as mentioned in Genesis 7:24, signifies a last and first term. Here, it refers to the last term of the most...
fifty
God rested on the seventh day of creation. That represents a state of holiness and tranquility that was preserved in the form of the sabbath....
days
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...
seventh
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,...
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,...
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...
day of
'Day of vengeance' signifies a state of damnation.
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...
mountains
'Hills' signify the good of charity.
Tops of the mountains
'On the first of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen,' as in Genesis 8:5, signifies the truths of faith, which begin to...
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...
opening
To open,' as in Revelation 9, signifies communication and conjunction.
window
'Window' signifies truth in the light.
return
Everyone knows the phrase "the natural order of things." It means that everything is in its proper place, occupying the niche it is meant to...
dried
'Withering and drying up,' as in Ezekiel 17:10, referring to the east wind, signifies when there is no good or truth.
sent
'To send' signifies revealing.
dove
A dove (Gen. 8.) signifies goodness and truth. A dove, as in Hosea 11:11, signifies rational good.
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...
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...
foot
Our feet are the lowest parts of our bodies, and they're very useful! In the Bible, feet represent the lowest and most utilitarian part of...
might
'Might' denotes the forces or power of truth.
Put
'To put' has reference to order, arrangement, application, and influx.
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...
came
As with common verbs in general, the meaning of “come” in the Bible is highly dependent on context – its meaning is determined largely by...
evening
Since the light and warmth of the sun represent the Lord’s wisdom and love, it makes sense that evening, a time when the light and...
olive
'An olive,' as in Isaiah 17:6, signifies celestial remains. 'An olive' signifies love and charity, because 'the olive tree' signifies the celestial church, and so...
olive tree
Shaking of an olive tree,' as in Isaiah 24:13, signifies the vastation of the church of its good. 'The olive tree' signifies the perception of...
leaves
'Leaves' symbolize rational truths because a tree symbolizes a person, and every part of the tree symbolizes accordant elements in the person.
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...
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...
first
Why would it be insulting for a man to refer to his married partner as his “first wife”? Because it implies there will be a...
the first
'Resurrection' signifies salvation and eternal life. 'The first,' mentioned in Revelation 20:5, 6, does not mean a first resurrection, but the essence and primary part...
covering
A covering of precious stones (Ezek. 28:4, 13) signifies the truths of intelligence.
saw
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...
Second month
'Second month,' as in Genesis 8:14, signifies every state before regeneration, which is because of the significance of 'two' in the Word. 'Two' signifies the...
twentieth
'Twenty,' when referring to a quantity, signifies everything, or fullness, because it is ten twice. In Genesis 18:31, 'twenty', like all numbers occurring in the...
spoke
Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones – and ultimately...
Go out
To go out to meet, as in Genesis 14:17, signifies to submit themselves. To go out, as in Genesis 28:10, signifies to live more remotely....
go
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...
wife
It is because of a celestial and angelic proprium, or selfhood, that the church is called 'a woman,' 'a wife,' 'a bride,' 'a virgin,' and...
wives
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...
flesh
Flesh has several meanings just in its most obvious form. It can mean all living creatures as when the Lord talks about the flood "destroying...
fowls
Fowl signify spiritual truth; a bird, natural truth; and a winged thing, sensual truth. Fowl signify intellectual things. Fowl signify thoughts, and all that creeps...
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...
Creeping things
Creeping things (Gen. 6:7) signifies pleasures as well corporeal as sensual. Creeping things, in a proper sense, are what were the vilest of all which...
multiply
'Spreading themselves on the earth,' as in Genesis 8:17, signifies the internal self operating on the external.
built
There are really two meanings for "build" in the Bible. When something is being built for the first time, or built in the most typical...
altar
The first altar mentioned in the Word was built by Noah after he came out of the ark. On that altar, he sacrificed clean animals...
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...
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...
clean
To be "pure" in the Bible means - unsurprisingly - to be devoid of evil. Thus all the washing for purification prescribed in the Laws...
sweet
Sweet' signifies delightful things from the good of truth and the truth of good. Everything sweet in the natural world corresponds to delightful and pleasant...
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...
heart
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...
To
‘To grieve at heart’ is in reference to love, and ‘to repent,’ to wisdom, as in Genesis 6:6.
evil
'Wickedness' signifies evil, and 'iniquity' signifies falsities.
youth
'Tender of age' denotes the state of truths newly received not yet genuine.
harvest
'A harvest' symbolizes the state of the church with respect to Divine truth. The reason is that a harvest yields the grain used to make...
summer
Summer' signifies the full state of the church, the same as 'noon.'
winter
'Winter' signifies the same thing as 'night,' that is, the end of the church.
night
The sun in the Bible represents the Lord, with its heat representing His love and its light representing His wisdom. “Daytime,” then, represents a state...
)