Israël
'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...
Dieu
Le Seigneur est l'amour lui-même, exprimé sous la forme de la sagesse elle-même. L'amour, donc, est Son essence, Son plus profond. La sagesse - la...
père
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...
Isaac
'Isaac' represents spiritual love. 'Isaac,' in Genesis 17:19, signifies the rational divine. 'Isaac' signifies the Lord's divine rational in reference to divine good. Isaac' signifies...
parla
Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones – and ultimately...
nuit
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...
dit
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...
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...
descendre
"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,"...
Egypte
'Mizraim' signifies the same thing as Egypt.
Nation
'A nation,' as in Genesis 21:18, signifies the spiritual church which should receive the good of faith. Nation from afar,' as in Jeremiah 5:17, signifies...
descendrai
"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,"...
Joseph
Joseph, Jacob’s eleventh son, is one of the favorite characters in the Bible, with his troubles, his triumphs over them, and his constant trust in...
yeux
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...
Fils
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....
d'Israël
'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...
Enfants
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....
femmes
The word "woman" is used a number of different ways in the Bible – as a simple description, as someone connected to a man ("his...
Pharaon
'Pharaoh' signifies scientific ideas, or the natural principle in general. 'Pharaoh' signifies false ideas infesting the truth of the church. Pharaoh,' in Genesis 40, represents...
troupeaux
Animals in the Bible generally refer to spiritual activity, the things we actually do on a spiritual level. "Cattle," as typically used in the Bible,...
acquis
Acquisition (Genesis 12:5) means all things which are sensual truths or things of science which are the ground of thought in man. Acquisition and purchase...
Pays
Generally in the Bible a "country" means a political subdivision ruled by a king, or sometimes a tribe with a territory ruled by a king...
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...
filles
Marriages among people – both in the Bible and in life – represent spiritual marriage. Women represent the desire to be good and to do...
Les filles
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....
des fils
'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...
vinrent
As with common verbs in general, the meaning of “come” in the Bible is highly dependent on context – its meaning is determined largely by...
premier-né
When the Bible talks about generations or birth order, the internal meaning has to do with the progression of spiritual states and their relative importance....
Ruben
'Reuben,' in the highest sense, signifies omniscience. In a spiritual sense, he signifies wisdom, intelligence, science, and faith. In a natural sense, he signifies sight....
Hénoc
'Hanoch' denotes those who are in the truth of faith.
Siméon
In Revelation 7, 'Simeon', in the highest sense, signifies providence, in a spiritual sense, love towards our neighbor, or charity, and in a natural sense,...
saul
Saul was the first king of Israel, anointed by Samuel when the people insisted on having a king. Like all the kings, both good and...
lévi
'Levi' signifies truth in practice, which is the good of life. 'Levi,' in the highest sense, signifies love and mercy, in a spiritual sense, he...
Juda
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.
Er
Er, mentioned in Gen. 38:3, signifies the quality of falsity derived from the evil of self-love, which prevailed in the Jewish church, or the false...
Onan
'Onan,' as in Genesis 38, describes the evil from the falsity of evil which was later prominent among the Jewish peoples.
Schéla
'Shelah,' as in Genesis 38:2, signifies the quality of evil derived from falsity of evil, or the quality of the idolatry with the Jewish nation.
Issacar
Issachar,' in the highest sense, signifies the divine good of truth, and truth of good. In a spiritual sense, he signifies celestial conjugial love, which...
Paddan
'Padan Aram,' as in Genesis 28:2, signifies the exterior knowledges of good and truth.
fille
Marriages among people – both in the Bible and in life – represent spiritual marriage. Women represent the desire to be good and to do...
trente
'Thirty' has a twofold significance because it is is the product of five and six, and also three and ten. From five multiplied by six,...
Trois
'Thirteen,' between twelve and fourteen, denotes the intermediate state. 'Thirteen,' as the sum of ten and three, denotes remains.
Gad
Gad, in a supreme sense, signifies omnipotence; in a spiritual sense, the good of life, or use; and in a natural sense, works. Gad, in...
Laban
'Laban' signifies the affection of good in the natural self, or the affection of external good, and properly collateral good of a common stock. The...
Rachel
'Rachel' denotes the affection of interior truth.
femme
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...
Benjamin
Also, Benjamin signifies the Word in its ultimate sense (Deut. 33:12)
Manassé
'Manasseh' signifies the will of the spiritual church.
Ephraïm
Ephraim was the second son born to Joseph in Egypt and was, along with his older brother Manasseh, elevated by Jacob to the same status...
Quatorze
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...
Dan
The tribe of Dan (Jer. 8:16) signifies truth in its own ultimate degree of order, here truth in the church, which is contained in the...
Nephthali
'Naphtali' in a supreme sense, signifies the proper power of the Lord’s divine human. In a spiritual sense, he signifies temptation and victory and a...
Sept
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,...
soixante
'Sixty' means the full time and state of the implantation of truth in our minds.
les femmes
'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...
deux
The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see...
Gosen
‘The land of Goshen,’ as in Genesis 46:28, signifies the innermost parts of the natural mind.
rencontre
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...
Cou
'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...
vu
To look,' as in Genesis 18:22, signifies thinking, because seeing denotes understanding. Look not back behind thee,' as in Genesis 19:17, means that Lot, who...
visage
“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...
Frères
There are two ways "brother" is used in the Bible, ways that are still reflected in modern language. One denotes an actual blood relationship; the...
bergers
The Writings tell us that shepherds represent those who lead and teach others, using knowledge and true ideas to help people reach the goodness of...
brebis
It’s pretty easy for most people to read the Bible and get a sense for what “sheep” means without any help. They are simple, peaceful,...
appellera
'To proclaim' signifies exploration from influx of the Lord.
serviteurs
“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...
pères
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...
Egyptiens
Egyptians represent those who are in natural science, thus the natural, but the Hebrews, those who are of the church, thus respectively the spiritual. The...