the Word
In general, we tend to be very aware of how knowing what's true leads to doing what is good. That starts as children, with parents...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.
saw
The symbolic meaning of "seeing" is "understanding," which is obvious enough that it has become part of common language (think about it; you might see...
Samaria
'The woman of Samaria' signifies the church which would be founded among the Gentiles.
Samaria and Jerusalem
In Ezekiel 23, 'Samaria' is the church which is in the affection of truth, and 'Jerusalem' is the church which is in the affection of...
Jerusalem
Jerusalem first comes to or attention in II Samuel, chapter 5 where King David takes it from the Jebusites and makes it his capital. In...
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...
earth
'Lands' of different nations are used in the Word to signify the different kinds of love prevalent in the inhabitants.
witness
Galeed, a heap and a witness, mentioned in Genesis 31:47, signifies quality on the part of good of the divine natural principle.
holy
'Sanctuary' signifies the truth of heaven and the church. 'Sanctuary,' as in Ezekiel 24:21, signifies the Word.
temple
'A temple' represents heaven and the church. The sacred place where the ark was, represents the inmost, or third heaven, and the church among people...
place
'A room' or 'place' denotes state.
Come down
To come down (Gen. 11:5), is predicated of Jehovah, by reason of his being called the Highest. This is spoken according to appearance.
down
"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,"...
high
'Height' signifies what is inward, and also heaven.
a
A help-meet for him,' or 'a help as before him,' as mentioned in Genesis 2:18, signifies proprium, or what is one's own. However, whereas the...
mountains
In Isaiah 40:12 'to weigh the mountains in a balance, and the hills in scales,' signifies that the celestial aspects of love and charity are...
under
Generally speaking things that are seen as lower physically in the Bible represent things that are lower or more external spiritually. In some cases this...
valleys
Mountains in the Bible represent people's highest points, where we are closest to the Lord - our love of the Lord and the state of...
cleft
'A hole and cleft of a rock,' in scripture, signifies an obscurity and falsity of faith.
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...
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...
waters
'Waters,' 'rivers,' and 'depths,' as in Psalm 78:15-16, signify truths from the Lord.
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...
sins
'Bound up transgressions,' as in Lamentations 1:14, stands for falsities coming up towards interior or rational things.
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...
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...
field
When we have a desire to be good people and to do good things, the natural first questions are "What does that mean?" "What should...
Vineyard
'Vineyard and branch,' as in Psalm 80:15, signifies the spiritual church represented by the sons of Israel.
stones
Stones in the Bible in general represent truths, or things we know concerning the Lord and what He wants from us and for us in...
images
'Images' denote things fashioned from man’s own intelligence.
Harlot
'A harlot' signifies the affection of falsities, thus the church corrupted.
return
Everyone knows the phrase "the natural order of things." It means that everything is in its proper place, occupying the niche it is meant to...
Wail and howl
'To wail and howl,' as in Micah 1:8, signifies the grief of the angels of heaven and the people of the church, where the church...
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...
stripped
As in Micah 1:8, 'to be stripped' signifies being without goods, and 'to be naked' signifies being without truths.
naked
'Unclothed' signifies being deprived of the truths of faith.
wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls
In Micah 1:8, dragons have respect to the devastation of good, and daughters of the night monster to the devastation of truth.
dragons
'Wild beasts of the desert,' 'doleful creatures,' 'owls,' 'satyrs,' 'wild beasts of the islands,' and 'dragons,' as in Isaiah 13:21-22, signify when the interior aspects...
come
Coming (Gen. 41:14) denotes communication by influx.
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...
declare
To "declare" something means to say it formally, publicly and with emphasis; you might say what you think, but you only declare things you're sure...
gath
Gath, a city of the Philistines, signifies the spiritual principle of the church.
weep
'Weeping with a loud voice' signifies the ultimate of grief.
dust
'Powder' or 'dust' refers to love of self and the world.
Pass
'To pass,' as in Genesis 31:52, signifies flowing in. 'To pass the night,' as in Genesis 24:54, signifies having peace. 'To pass through,' as in...
shame
On a natural level, there are a variety of things that can cause shame. We might be ashamed of physical weakness or ugliness; we might...
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...
evil
'Wickedness' signifies evil, and 'iniquity' signifies falsities.
beginning
In the Word, "beginning" doesn't just mean the beginning of something in time. In the inner sense, it means the initial phase of a spiritual...
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...
daughter of zion
'Virgin' and 'daughter of Zion' signify the church regarding the affection of good and truth.
Transgressions
'Transgressions' or 'trespasses' denote such evils as are done against the truths of faith.
found
To not to be found any more, signifies not to rise again.
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...
the kings of
The kings of Media and Persia' represent people who are in faith separate from charity.
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...
Heir
'An heir,' as mentioned in Jeremiah 49:1, signifies the good that comes from truth. 'To become an heir, or to inherit,' signifies eternal life in...
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....
baldness
'A bald head' signifies the Word deprived of the natural sense, which is the sense of the letter.
eagle
Eagle wings, referred to in Daniel 7:3, signify rational principles grounded in man's proprium.
