commandment
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,...
statutes
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...
ordinances
'Ordinances' in the prophets, signify changes relative to spiritual and celestial things, both in general and particular, which are also compared to the changes of...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
might
'Might' denotes the forces or power of truth.
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...
fear
Fear of the unknown and fear of change are both common ideas, and together cover a broad spectrum of the fears we tend to have...
keep
"Keeping" in the Bible generally has to do with controlling the actual actions of life, though in some cases it can mean holding something away...
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,...
commandments
In Deuteronomy 11:1, 'statutes' signify the external parts of the Word, such as rituals, and representations of the internal sense. 'Judgments' signify the internal parts...
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...
son's
'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...
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.
prolonged
'To be prolonged' relates to good.
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...
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...
observe
"Keeping" in the Bible generally has to do with controlling the actual actions of life, though in some cases it can mean holding something away...
increase
'Produce' denotes fruit derived from the good of charity, and truth of faith.
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...
milk
Water represents true ideas about day-to-day life, and other drinks and liquids in general represent different forms of truth. Milk is a drink that contains...
honey
'Honey' signifies the delight derived from good and truth or from the affection thereof, and specifically the external delight. Thus it signifies the delight of...
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...
love
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...
soul
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...
words
'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...
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...
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....
sit
If you think about sitting, it seems fair to say that where you're sitting is more important than that you're sitting. Sitting in a movie...
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...
walk
To walk in the Bible represents living, and usually means living according to the true things taught to us by the Lord -- to "walk...
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...
lie down
To “lie down” in the Bible represents a state of spiritual serenity, a time when temptations are distant and we are not in spiritual conflict....
lie
When people lie or speak falsely in the Bible, It represents what Swedenborg calls "falsity of faith" and the resulting "evil of faith." This is...
rise
It is common in the Bible for people to "rise up," and it would be easy to pass over the phrase as simply describing a...
rise up
It is common in the Bible for people to "rise up," and it would be easy to pass over the phrase as simply describing a...
sign
'A token,' as in Genesis 9:12, 13, 17, signifies causing it to be.
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...
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...
write
If knowing what’s right were the same as doing what’s right, we would all be thin, healthy, hard-working, law-abiding, faithful to our spouses and free...
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...
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...
swore
'To sware' is a binding.
Abraham
Abraham (or Abram, as he is named in the beginning of his story) is one of the major characters in the story of the sacred...
isaac
'Isaac' represents spiritual love. 'Isaac,' in Genesis 17:19, signifies the rational divine. 'Isaac' signifies the Lord's divine rational in reference to divine good. Isaac' signifies...
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...
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...
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;...
cities
Cities of the mountain and cities of the plain (Jer. 33:13) signify doctrines of charity and faith.
build
To build something generally means to put together a variety of simpler pieces to make a useful and more complex structure, as to build a...
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...
Full
'To satiate' relates to the extent of a person's will, for good or evil.
fill
'To satiate' relates to the extent of a person's will, for good or evil.
cisterns
Broken cisterns (Jer. 2:13) signify false doctrines.
vineyards
'A vine' signifies spiritual good and truth. 'A vine' or 'vineyard' signifies the church where the Word, and the Lord in it, is known, or...
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...
plant
'A shrub' signifies the knowledges of truth.
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...
forget
To forget, in the internal sense, signifies nothing else but removal and apparent privation.
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...
serve
Generally speaking, those who are at lower levels of an organization serve those at higher levels. Bosses boss and their employees serve; coaches devise strategy...
swear
The Lord swearing by himself signifies that divine truth testifies, for He is divine truth itself, and this testifies from itself and means itself. It...
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...
Go after
To go after or to follow, as in Genesis 24:8, signifies to be separated from the natural, and conjoined to the rational principle.
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...
gods
The Lord is called "Jehovah" in the Bible when the text is referring to his essence, which is love itself. He is called "God" when...
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...
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...
Keep the commandments
To keep the commandments,' as in Revelation 14:12, signifies living according to the precepts, which the Decalogue contains in summary.
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...
sight
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...
enemies
An enemy in the Bible refers to people who are in the love of evil and the false thinking that springs from evil. On a...
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...
spoken
Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones – and ultimately...
tell
'To tell' signifies perceiving, because in the spiritual world, or in heaven, they do not need to tell what they think because they communicate every...
pharaoh
'Pharaoh' signifies scientific ideas, or the natural principle in general. 'Pharaoh' signifies false ideas infesting the truth of the church. Pharaoh,' in Genesis 40, represents...
pharaoh's
'Pharaoh' signifies scientific ideas, or the natural principle in general. 'Pharaoh' signifies false ideas infesting the truth of the church. Pharaoh,' in Genesis 40, represents...
us
Angels do give us guidance, but they are mere helpers; the Lord alone governs us, through angels and spirits. Since angels have their assisting role,...
mighty
'Might' denotes the forces or power of truth.
signs
'A token,' as in Genesis 9:12, 13, 17, signifies causing it to be.
righteousness
'Justice' signifies both good and truth.
