man
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
wife
The Hebrew of the Old Testament has six different common words which are generally translated as "wife," which largely overlap but have different nuances. Swedenborg...
find
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
hand
Scientists believe that one of the most crucial developments in the evolution of humans was bipedalism – walking on two legs. That left our hands...
send
'To send' signifies revealing.
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...
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...
husband
In general, men are driven by intellect and women by affections, and because of this men in the Bible generally represent knowledge and truth and...
hate
If you truly hate someone, that means you would kill them and destroy their reputation if you could do so without repercussion – not a...
die
Dead (Gen. 23:8) signifies night, in respect to the goodnesses and truths of faith.
sent
In every instance, however, 'being sent' means coming forth, (or going forth), in the internal sense, as in John 17:8. In similar manner, it is...
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...
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...
Yahweh
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...
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...
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...
gives
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...
inheritance
In Biblical times, possessions passed from fathers to sons, a patriarchal system that would not be accepted in today's society – but one that is...
Go out
To go out to meet, as in Genesis 14:17, signifies to submit themselves. To go out, as in Genesis 28:10, signifies to live more remotely....
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...
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...
Mill
'Grinding at the mill,' in a positive sense, means examination and confirmation of spiritual truth from Word. But in a negative sense, 'mill' signifies the...
stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel
'Thieves of the sons of Israel,' as in Deuteronomy 25:7, signify people who take the truths of the church for themselves, not for the purpose...
stealing
In a natural sense, the commandment 'Thou shalt not steal,' in Exodus 20:15, means, according to the letter, not stealing, robbing, or committing piracy in...
brothers
Brethren (Gen. 27:29) signify the affections of 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....
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...
slave
'A slave' means people who do not think for themselves but from others.
sell
'To sell,' as in Genesis 41:56, means transferring to another as their own, because what is sold becomes the property of the one who buys...
Put
'To put' has reference to order, arrangement, application, and influx.
evil
'Wickedness' signifies evil, and 'iniquity' signifies falsities.
leprosy
'Leprosy' represents unclean false principles grounded in profane things. 'Leprosy' signifies the falsification of truth and good in the Word, also the Jewish profanation of...
observe
'To observe' stands for all aspects of the Word in general.
priests
Priests' represent the Lord regarding His divine good. When they do not acknowledge the Lord, they lose their signification of the Lord.
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,...
remember
'To remember,' as in Genesis 41:9, signifies conjunction. 'Remembering' denotes conjunction because the remembrance of anyone in the other life joins them together, because as...
Miriam
'Miriam,' as in Exodus 15:20, signifies the good of faith.
way
In John 14:6, 'the way is doctrine,' 'the truth' is every thing pertaining to doctrine, and 'the life' is the essential good which is the...
egypt
In the Bible, Egypt means knowledge and the love of knowledge. In a good sense that means knowledge of truth from the Lord through the...
lend
'To lend' signifies teaching. 'To lend' signifies communicating the goods and truths of doctrine from the Word.
neighbor
'The neighbor' is not only an individual person, but also people collectively, as a less or greater society, our country, the church, the Lord’s kingdom,...
stand
'To sit before Jehovah' is to be with Him, and so, it also means willing and acting from Him. 'To stand before Him,' is to...
poor
'Poor' signifies someone who is not in truths, and people who are ignorant of good and truth, but desire instruction.
restore
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...
sun
The 'sun' signifies celestial and spiritual love. The 'sun' in the Word, when referring to the Lord, signifies His divine love and wisdom. Because the...
goes
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...
bless
The Lord is perfect love expressed as perfect wisdom. He created us so that He could love us, could give us love and wisdom of...
righteousness
The word "righteous" has taken on a bit of negative shading in modern language. That may be because we hear it most often as part...
hired
'Hirelings' in the Israelitish church, as mentioned in Exodus 12:43, 45; Deuteronomy 24:14-15; Malachi 35, and elsewhere represent those who speak truth and do good,...
needy
'Poor' signifies someone who is not in truths, and people who are ignorant of good and truth, but desire instruction.
foreigners
The word "stranger" is used many times in the Bible, and it is sometimes paired with the word "sojourner". They are different concepts in the...
gates
"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...
day
"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...
hire
'Hire,' as mentioned in Genesis 30:33, referring to the Lord, signifies His proprium, that is, what was acquired from His own proper ability.
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...
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...
justice
He is said to be 'just' in a spiritual sense, who lives according to divine laws. They on the right hand being called 'just,' as...
foreigner
The word "stranger" is used many times in the Bible, and it is sometimes paired with the word "sojourner". They are different concepts in the...
fatherless
'Orphans' signify people who are in a state of innocence and charity, and desire to know and to do what is good but are not...
clothing
Soft raiment,' as in Matthew 11:9, represents the internal sense of the Word.
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,...
reap
'To reap' signifies executing judgment. 'Reaping' denotes the reception of truth in good.
harvest
'A harvest' symbolizes the state of the church with respect to Divine truth. The reason is that a harvest yields the grain used to make...
field
A "field" in the Bible usually represents the Lord's church, and more specifically the desire for good within the church. It's where good things start,...
forgot
To forget, in the internal sense, signifies nothing else but removal and apparent privation.
sheaf
'Sheaf' signifies doctrine, and so 'to bind sheaves' signifies teaching from doctrine. This is because 'a field' is the church, and 'standing grain in a...
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...
hands
Scientists believe that one of the most crucial developments in the evolution of humans was bipedalism – walking on two legs. That left our hands...
olive tree
Shaking of an olive tree,' as in Isaiah 24:13, signifies the vastation of the church of its good. 'The olive tree' signifies the perception of...
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...
Vineyard
'Vineyard and branch,' as in Psalm 80:15, signifies the spiritual church represented by the sons of Israel.
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