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...
twenty
'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...
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...
reigned
To reign,' as in Revelation 5, signifies being in truths and goods, and so in power, from the Lord, to resist evils and falsities which...
jerusalem
Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, signifies the doctrine of love to the Lord, and how it governs your life. Jerusalem first comes to our attention in...
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...
mother
In general, mothers in the Bible represent the Lord's church on earth, or the church among those who know and follow the Lord. In some...
jeremiah
Jeremiah, in the Book of Jeremiah 1:1 and what follows, represents the Lord. (Arcana Coelestia 2838 [2]). In Jeremiah 13:7, he signifies the state of...
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...
eyes
'Pairs of hands, eyes, etc.' relate to the will and understanding, or to good and truth. The right side to the will or good, and...
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...
Jehoiakim
Jehoiakim,' as in Jeremiah 36:30, after he had burnt the scroll written by Jeremiah, it is said, 'that his dead body shall be cast out...
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...
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.
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...
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...
babylon
Babylon was an ancient city built on the Euphrates river in what is now southern Iraq. It once was the capital of a great empire...
reign
To reign,' as in Revelation 5, signifies being in truths and goods, and so in power, from the Lord, to resist evils and falsities which...
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...
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...
encamped
'Pitch,' as in Genesis 14:10, denotes lusts. 'Burning pitch,' as in Isaiah 34:9, signifies direful fantasies.
built
wrought (also entwined or entwisted) is predicated of the natural scientific principle, and in Isaiah 45:13, of divine natural truth.
city
In the ancient world cities were very nearly nations unto themselves – they existed within walls, with their own laws and customs, generally centered on...
fourth
'The fourth watch' signifies the first state of the church at break of day, when good begins to act by truth.
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....
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...
war
War in the Word represents the combat of temptation when what is good is assaulted by what is evil or false. The evil that attacks...
way
'To set a way,' as in Genesis 30:36, signifies being separated.
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...
gate
"Gates" in ancient times had a significance that does not hold in the modern world. Cities then were enclosed by walls for protection; gates in...
walls
'A wall' signifies truth in outer extremes. 'A wall,' as in Revelation 21, signifies the divine truth proceeding from the Lord, and so, the truth...
garden
Plants, in general, represent knowledge, ideas and intellectual concepts – things of the mind. Plant the best and most beautiful of those in one place,...
chaldeans
Chaldea was a land lying along the Euphrates river near its mouth, south of Babylon, part of what is now southern Iraq. It was a...
plain
'A plain' signifies good and truth in the natural self, because 'the people who dwell in plains,' or 'beneath mountains and hills' are in the...
pursued
'To pursue,' as in Genesis 14:16, signifies a state of purification, because 'to pursue enemies' is the expulsion of evils and falsities which were with...
after
Behind, or after, (Gen. 16:13), signifies within or above, or an interior or superior principle.
plains
'A plain' signifies good and truth in the natural self, because 'the people who dwell in plains,' or 'beneath mountains and hills' are in the...
jericho
Jericho' signifies instruction and also the good of life because no one can be instructed in the truths of doctrine but he who is in...
scattered
The meaning of "scatter" in the Bible is relatively literal, but it is used in regard to spiritual things, not natural ones. So to "scatter"...
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...
princes
Captains and Rulers (Jer. 51:23) signifies principal evils and falsities. Captains and Rulers (Ezek 33:6) signifies principal truths. See Chief Captains.
bound
Being bound, as in Genesis 42:16, denotes to be separated, for he who is kept b. is separated, viz., from the spiritual good, which is...
bronze
Brass and iron as in Isaiah 48:4 and Daniel 7:19 signify what is hard.
Put
'To put' has reference to order, arrangement, application, and influx.
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.
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...
day of
'Day of vengeance' signifies a state of damnation.
stood
'To stand,' and 'come forth' as in Daniel 7:10, refers to truth. In Genesis 24:13, it signifies a state of conjunction of divine truth with...
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...
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;...
fire
Just as natural fire can be both comforting in keeping you warm or scary in burning down your house, so fire in the spiritual sense...
fell
Like other common verbs, the meaning of "fall" is highly dependent on context in regular language, and is highly dependent on context in a spiritual...
pillars
A pillar of a cloud by day,' and 'a pillar of fire by night,' as in Exodus 8:21, signifies a state of illustration which is...
sea
'The sea and the waves roaring' means heresy and controversies in the church and individual.
pots
There is an interesting relationship between facts and truth. It's necessary to have facts if we want to know the truth, but facts on their...
vessels
Instruments of music,' according to correspondences, signify the pleasant and delightful affection of spiritual and celestial things. Therefore, also in many of the Psalms of...
ministered
'To minister,' as in Genesis 40:2, relates to scientific ideas.
lampstands
(Luke 15:8.) By the woman lighting a candle to find the piece of silver she had lost, is signified inquisition in herself from affection.
gold
'Money' relates to truth.
silver
'Money' relates to truth.
two
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...
under
In the Bible, things that are lower down, or under, physically, generally represent things that are lower or more external spiritually. In some cases, the...
Solomon
Solomon represents the Lord, regarding both his celestial and spiritual kingdom. Solomon was permitted to institute idolatrous worship to provide an image of the Lord's...
pillar
A pillar of a cloud by day,' and 'a pillar of fire by night,' as in Exodus 8:21, signifies a state of illustration which is...
height
'Height' signifies the good and truth of the church in every degree.
twelve
'Twelve' and 'twenty-four' signify "all" or "everything", and refer to truths.
four
The number "four" in the Bible represents things being linked together or joined. This is partly because four is two times two, and two represents...
fingers
The ten fingers signify all things terminated in ultimates.
five
Five also signifies all things of one part.
pomegranates
'Pomegranates,' as in Exodus 28:34, signify the scientific ideas of good and truth, which are doctrinal matters from the Word in the memory, which is...
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...
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...
head
The head is the part of us that is highest, which means in a representative sense that it is what is closest to the Lord....
three
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...
eunuch
A eunuch (Isaiah 56:3, 5) denotes the natural man as to good, and the son of the stranger denotes the natural man as to truth;...
men
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
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,...
saw
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...
found
Finding, or being found, can have different meanings in the Word, depending on the context. Here are two examples, From Arcana Coelestia 5756, 'Behold, the...
commander
In the Bible, “captains,” “commanders” and “chiefs”, and the armies they lead, represent large collections of spiritual desires and large collections of spiritual ideas. The...
army
A host and an army come from the same Hebrew word and mean the same thing in Bible; when the Children of Israel were numbered...
people
"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...
sixty
'Sixty' means the full time and state of the implantation of truth in our minds.
midst
'Middle' denotes what is primary, principal, or inmost.
smote
'The smitten' signify people who are oppressed by the falsities of ignorance.
ground
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...
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,...
thousand
As children, most of us at some point frustrated our mothers into using the phrase “if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand...
eight
According to Swedenborg, the number eight represents something that is complete within itself, in every respect. Two reasons are offered for this. First, eight is...
thirty
'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,...
souls
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...
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...
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...
Four thousand
Four thousand signifies all truths from good.
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...
fifth
Five also signifies all things of one part.
lifted
The idea of "lifting" is used in a number of different ways in the Bible. In general, it means connecting with a higher spiritual state...
prison
'The house of the prison' denotes the vastation of falsity, and also falsity itself.
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...
throne
'The Lord's throne' signifies, in general, the whole heaven, and specifically, the spiritual heaven, and by extension, divine truth proceeding, and so, everything of heaven...
kings
The human mind is composed of two parts, a will and an understanding, a seat of loves and affections, and a seat of wisdom and...
garments
Soft raiment,' as in Matthew 11:9, represents the internal sense of the Word.
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...
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...
life
'Lives' is used in the plural, because of the will and understanding, and because these two lives make one.
given
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...
word
'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...
)