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...
lad
"Youths" or "Young men" generally represent intelligence or the understanding of truth. This is fitting, since adolescent boys tend to be more advanced intellectually than...
loved
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...
called
To call someone or summon someone in the Bible represents a desire for conjunction between higher and lower states of life. For instance, imagine someone...
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...
egypt
'Mizraim' signifies the same thing as Egypt.
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...
Baalim
Baalim and her lovers (Hosea 2:13) signify those things which belong to the natural man, and are loved; such as the lusts and falsities thence...
images
'An image' signifies falsities from self-derived intelligence.
ephraim
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...
arms
Arms and feet (Daniel 10:6) signify the exterior things of the Word, which are its literal sense.
knew
In a general sense, men represent things of the intellect – facts, ideas, knowledge, everything from the deepest truths to the most pernicious falsities about...
cords
Rope or cord denotes conjunction.
ropes
Rope or cord denotes conjunction.
jaws
Jaws,' in Isaiah 30:28, signify thoughts from the sensory bodily principle, and so: thoughts from fallacies.
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...
return
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...
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...
sword
A 'sword,' in the Word, signifies the truth of faith combating and the vastation of truth. In an opposite sense, it signifies falsity combating and...
cities
Cities of the mountain and cities of the plain (Jeremiah 33:13) signify doctrines of charity and faith.
devour
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...
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...
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...
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...
turned
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...
anger
'Wrath,' as in Genesis 49:7, signifies aversion from truth. 'Great wrath,' as in Revelation 12:12, signifies hatred against the new church.
man
"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...
come
Coming (Gen. 41:14) denotes communication by influx.
city
Cities of the mountain and cities of the plain (Jeremiah 33:13) signify doctrines of charity and faith.
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...
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...
Roar as a lion
'To roar like a lion,' as in Isaiah 31:4, which refers to Jehovah, signifies the ardent affection of defending heaven and the church against evils...
lion
'A lion' signifies the good of celestial love and the truth from that good.
sea
Water generally represents what Swedenborg calls “natural truth,” or true concepts about day-to-day matters and physical things. Since all water ultimately flows into the seas,...
bird
"Birds" mean rational concepts in the external man and intellectual concepts in the internal man.
dove
'A turtle dove' and 'young pigeon,' as in Genesis 15:9, represents exterior and interior spiritual things.
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...
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...
says
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...
surrounds
People inspired by evil desires and informed by false ideas want nothing more than to attack and destroy the things that are good and true...
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...
deceit
The spiritual meaning of being deceitful is pretty close to the literal meaning: According to the Writings it means using false thinking and logic to...
judah
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.
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