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...
spake
Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones – and ultimately...
israel
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...
baal
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...
died
'The soul going forth' and 'dying,' as in Genesis 35:18, signifies the extreme of temptation, which is when the old self dies and the new...
images
'An image' signifies falsities from self-derived intelligence.
silver
'Money' relates to truth.
own
In many cases, the spiritual meaning of "own," both as a verb and as an adjective, is relatively literal. When people are described as the...
work
'Works,' as in Genesis 46:33, denote goods, because they are from the will, and anything from the will is either good or evil, but anything...
craftsmen
'Carpenters' signify truths in extremes, the same as 'iron.'
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...
kiss
To kiss' signifies uniting or conjunction from affection. To kiss,' as in c, signifies initiation. 'To kiss' signifies conjunction and acknowledgment.
calves
'Oxen' or 'calves' signify the affections of the natural mind.
morning
Morning comes with the rising of the sun, and the sun – which gives life to the earth with its warmth and light – represents...
cloud
In Isaiah 19:1, "Jehovah rides upon a light cloud, and comes into Egypt", signifies the visitation of the natural man from spiritual-natural Divine Truth, for...
early
Since the sun represents the Lord, the early morning and sunrise represent a state of enlightenment, with a new and clear understanding coming after a...
dew
Dew, in Deut. 32:2 signifies the multiplication of truth from good, and the fructification of good by truth.
chaff
Chaff is mentioned in Matthew 3:12 signifies falsity of every kind, derived from an infernal origin.
floor
The floor, as in Matthew 3:12, signifies the world of spirits which is between heaven and hell, and where the separation of evils and falsities...
smoke
'Smoke' signifies divine truth in extremes, because 'fire' which gives off smoke, signifies love. 'Smoke' also signifies the same thing as 'cloud' in many places....
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...
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...
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...
egypt
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...
know
Like so many common verbs, the meaning of "know" in the Bible is varied and dependent on context. And in some cases – when it...
saviour
In Isaiah 19:20, 'savior' relates to the Lord regarding the good of love, and 'great one,' regarding the truths of faith from Him.
wilderness
'Wilderness' signifies something with little life in it, as described in the internal sense in Luke 1:80 'Wilderness' signifies somewhere there is no good because...
To
‘To grieve at heart’ is in reference to love, and ‘to repent,’ to wisdom, as in Genesis 6:6.
filled
'To satiate' relates to the extent of a person's will, for good or evil.
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...
forgotten
To forget, in the internal sense, signifies nothing else but removal and apparent privation.
leopard
'A leopard,' being a crafty and insidious animal, particularly represents people who confirm faith separate from good works. 'A leopard' signifies the affection or lust...
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....
bear
Bears represent the power of the literal external stories and ideas of Bible, separate from their deeper meanings. Since they are wild carnivores, this is...
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...
save
The Lord from the essential divine, through the divine human, is the savior. The Lord became the savior by His spiritual temptations, or combats.
cities
Cities of the mountain and cities of the plain (Jeremiah 33:13) signify doctrines of charity and faith.
judges
It’s easy to see the connection between judging and truth. In a court of law, the judge’s whole purpose is to find the truth. In...
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...
princes
Captains and Rulers (Jer. 51:23) signifies principal evils and falsities. Captains and Rulers (Ezek 33:6) signifies principal truths. See Chief Captains.
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...
wrath
'Wrath,' as in Genesis 49:7, signifies aversion from truth. 'Great wrath,' as in Revelation 12:12, signifies hatred against the new church.
iniquity
In Isaiah 59:6, 'webs' and 'garments' signify aspects of the understanding, or thought, 'Iniquity' and 'violence,' aspects of the will, or works.
sin
In the Word three terms are used to mean bad things that are done. These three are transgression, iniquity, and sin, and they are here...
come
As with common verbs in general, the meaning of “come” in the Bible is highly dependent on context – its meaning is determined largely by...
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...
stay
'To stay with,' as in Genesis 32:4, relates to the life of truth when accompanied by good, and in this instance, it means to take...
long
'Long' and thence to prolong, refer to good.
children
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....
ransom
In Exodus 30:12, 'they shall give every a person a ransom for his soul,' signifies being purified or liberated from evil by the truth of...
redeem
'To redeem' signifies vindication and liberation, because there are two words in the original language, which mean 'redemption.' One means vindication from evil, and the...
plagues
'Plagues' signify evils of love, and falsities of faith. 'The plagues of Egypt' signify the falsities and lust which cause the church to perish. In...
hid
'To hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains,' as mentioned in Revelation 6:15, signifies being in evils and in falsities...
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...
brethren
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...
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...
spring
'Spring' signifies the first state of a church or spiritual era, the same as 'morning.'
fountain
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....
spoil
In Jeremiah 12:12, 'spoilers' signify evils and falsities, which cause good and truth to perish, or evils from a lack of truth.
treasure
'Treasure,' as in Matthew 13:44, signifies divine truth in the Word.
vessels
'Vessels,' in the internal sense, signify things serving as a receptacle, as scientific ideas and knowledges are to truths, and as truths themselves are to...
samaria
'Samaria,' as in Amos 4:1. 6:1, signifies the spiritual church perverted.
rebelled
'Rebel,' as in Genesis 14:4, relates to evils pertaining to a person, or to evil spirits, when they begin to arise and infest, after they...
fall
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...
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...
infants
The infants in the street,' in Jeremiah 9:21, signify truth beginning to grow.
with child
To be with child, (Gen. 38:24), signifies to produce something.
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