commandment
To command is to give an order that something must be done, and is directed to an individual, or a group. It is an imperative,...
life
'Lives' is used in the plural, because of the will and understanding, and because these two lives make one.
prolonged
'To be prolonged' relates to good.
multiply
'Spreading themselves on the earth,' as in Genesis 8:17, signifies the internal self operating on the external.
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...
hear
'To hearken to father and mother,' as mentioned in Genesis 28:7, signifies obedience from affection. 'To hearken,' as mentioned in Genesis 30:22, signifies providence. See...
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...
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...
love
To some degree, there really is no spiritual meaning to the word “love” in the Bible. Why? Because if you truly love another, that is...
soul
The nature of the soul is a deep and complicated topic, but it can be summarized as "spiritual life," who we are in terms of...
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...
command
To command is to give an order that something must be done, and is directed to an individual, or a group. It is an imperative,...
today
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...
way
These days we tend to think of "roads" as smooth swaths of pavement, and judge them by how fast we can drive cars on them....
sign
'A token,' as in Genesis 9:12, 13, 17, signifies causing it to be.
Frontlets
Frontlets between the eyes, as in Deuteronomy 6:8, signify understanding.
write
In John 8:2-11, the Lord wrote twice on the ground, when the woman taken in adultery was brought to him, which signifies the condemnation of...
gates
In Lamentations 2:8-9, 'wall,' 'rampart,' 'gates,' and 'bars' signify doctrines.
Abraham
Abraham (or Abram, as he is named in the beginning of his story) is one of the major characters in the story of the sacred...
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...
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...
cities
Cities of the mountain and cities of the plain (Jer. 33:13) signify doctrines of charity and faith.
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...
Full
'To satiate' relates to the extent of a person's will, for good or evil.
fill
There are two ways something can be filled: It can be filled with something bad against the wishes of its owner, or it can be...
cisterns
Broken cisterns (Jer. 2:13) signify false doctrines.
vineyards
'A vine' signifies spiritual good and truth. 'A vine' or 'vineyard' signifies the church where the Word, and the Lord in it, is known, or...
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...
plant
'To plant' denotes regeneration.
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...
satisfied
'What satisfies' is what nourishes the soul.
forget
To forget, in the internal sense, signifies nothing else but removal and apparent privation.
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...
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...
Go after
To go after or to follow, as in Genesis 24:8, signifies to be separated from the natural, and conjoined to the rational principle.
after
According to Swedenborg, time and space don’t exist in spiritual reality; they are purely natural things that exist only on the physical plane. This means...
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...
anger
Anger is an emotion so common to people that it requires no definition. However a couple of points of interest can be raised. 1) The...
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...
Face of the ground
The face of the ground being DRIED (Gen. 8:13) signifies regeneration, when falsities no longer appeared.
keeping
"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...
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...
Keep the commandments
To keep the commandments,' as in Revelation 14:12, signifies living according to the precepts, which the Decalogue contains in summary.
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...
enemies
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...
spoken
Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones – and ultimately...
judgments
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...
say
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...
son
Marriages in the Bible represent the union we all can have between the desire for good and the understanding of truth (or an understanding of...
servants
“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...
hand
In Genesis 27:22, 'voice' relates to truth, and 'hand,' to good.
signs
'A token,' as in Genesis 9:12, 13, 17, signifies causing it to be.
great
The word "great" is used in the Bible to represent a state with a strong degree of love and affection, of the desire for good;...
evil
'To hurt,' as mentioned in Revelation 6:6, signifies violation and profanation. 'To hurt' as mentioned in Revelation 9:4, signifies perverting the truths and goods of...
egypt
'Mizraim' signifies the same thing as Egypt.
pharaoh
'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...
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...
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...
might
'Might' denotes the forces or power of truth.
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...
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...
land
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...
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...
statutes
All laws, even civil and judicial laws, which are in the Word, correspond to the laws of good and truth, which are in heaven.
fear
The fearful signify people who have no faith.
good
It seems rather circular to say that “good” in the Bible represents good, but in a general sense it’s true! The case is this: The...
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...
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...
justice
'Justice' signifies both good and truth.
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,...
observe
'To observe' stands for all aspects of the Word in general.
commandments
In Deuteronomy 11:1, 'statutes' signify the external parts of the Word, such as rituals, and representations of the internal sense. 'Judgments' signify the internal parts...
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...
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...
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...
commanded
To command is to give an order that something must be done, and is directed to an individual, or a group. It is an imperative,...
