hazor
'The inhabitants of Hazor,' as mentioned in Jeremiah 49:30, signify those who possess spiritual riches, which are the things of faith. 'Hazor,' as mentioned in...
heareth
'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...
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...
north
'North' signifies people who are in obscurity regarding truth. North,' in Isaiah 14:31, signifies hell. The North,' as in Jeremiah 3:12, signifies people who are...
hill
The Writings tell us that the Lord's love is the sun of heaven, and it is natural for us to look above ourselves to the...
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...
south
'South' denotes truth in light.
hittite
'A Hittite' in a good sense, signifies the spiritual church, or the truth of the church. The Hittites were among the upright Gentiles who were...
country
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...
hivite
The Hivites' represent those who were in idolatry, but in which there was something of good.
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...
Hermon
'The dew of Hermon' signifies divine truth.
land
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...
mizpeh
'Mizpah,' as in Genesis 31:49, signifies the quality of the Lord’s presence with people who are principled in the goods of works, or with the...
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....
camps
Camps in the Bible represent spiritual order – a person’s (or a church community’s) whole collection of desires for good and true ideas on how...
sand
'Sand,' as in Matthew 7:27, signifies faith separate from charity.
sea
Water generally represents what Swedenborg calls “natural truth,” or true concepts about day-to-day matters and physical things. Since all water ultimately flows into the seas,...
multitude
Intellectual things – ideas, knowledge, facts, even insight and understanding – are more separate and free-standing than emotional things, and it’s easier to imagine numbering...
horse
'A horse' signifies knowledges or understanding of the Word. In an opposite sense it signifies the understanding of the Word falsified by reasonings, and likewise...
many
Intellectual things – ideas, knowledge, facts, even insight and understanding – are more separate and free-standing than emotional things, and it’s easier to imagine numbering...
come
Coming (Gen. 41:14) denotes communication by influx.
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...
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...
saith
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...
joshua
Joshua, the son of Josedech the high-priest,' as in Zechariah 3:1, signifies the law, or the Word.
afraid
The fearful signify people who have no faith.
morrow
'Tomorrow' signifies eternity.
Time
Time is an aspect of the physical world, but according to Swedenborg is not an aspect of the spiritual world. The same is true of...
giving
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...
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...
horses
'A horse' signifies knowledges or understanding of the Word. In an opposite sense it signifies the understanding of the Word falsified by reasonings, and likewise...
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...
cometh
As with common verbs in general, the meaning of “come” in the Bible is highly dependent on context – its meaning is determined largely by...
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...
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...
giveth
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
In Genesis 27:22, 'voice' relates to truth, and 'hand,' to good.
smite
'The smitten' signify people who are oppressed by the falsities of ignorance.
pursue
'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...
said
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...
back
There are many instances in the Bible which describe people turning back, looking back or going back. In most cases it is a negative, sometimes...
captureth
"Catching" is used in a variety of ways in the Bible, both positive and negative. Thieves get caught; the Egyptians caught up with the Children...
smitten
'To smite' signifies condemnation. 'To smite,' as in Genesis 14:15, signifies vindication. 'To smite,' as in Genesis 32:8, signifies destruction. 'To smite the earth with...
sword
The three words, sword, famine and pestilence, appear in a group in 26 different Bible verses. That's not an accident. Sword, famine and pestilence describe...
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....
mouth
In most cases, "mouth" in the Bible represents thought and logic, especially the kind of active, concrete thought that is connected with speech. The reason...
cities
In the ancient world cities were very nearly nations unto themselves – they existed within walls, with their own laws and customs, generally centered on...
captured
"Catching" is used in a variety of ways in the Bible, both positive and negative. Thieves get caught; the Egyptians caught up with the Children...
moses
Moses's name appears 814 times in the Bible (KJV), third-most of any one character (Jesus at 961 actually trails David at 991). He himself wrote...
servant
“Servant” literally means “a person who serves another,"" and its meaning is similar in reference to the spiritual meaninngs of the Bible. Our lives in...
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,...
standing
'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...
spoil
'Spoil of gold, and silver, and cattle' signifies falsified truths.
Sons of Israel
'The camp of the sons of Israel' represents the church.
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,...
goshen
‘The land of Goshen,’ as in Genesis 46:28, signifies the innermost parts of the natural mind.
Lands
'Lands' of different nations are used in the Word to signify the different kinds of love prevalent in the inhabitants.
mount
'Mount Olivet' signifies the celestial church, or celestial good, which comes from love towards the Lord, and divine love.
going
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...
Seir
'The land of Seir' signifies in the highest sense, celestial natural good of the Lord. It has this signification because Mount Seir was the boundary...
lebanon
'Lebanon' signifies spiritual good. 'Lebanon' signifies the church regarding the perception of truth from the rational self.
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...
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...
peace
In ordinary life, we tend to think of "peace" as essentially "a lack of conflict." As a nation, if we're not at war, it's a...
inhabitants
Inhabitants,' in Isaiah 26:9, signify the men of the church who are in good of doctrine, and thence in the good of life.
gibeon
sun standing still upon Gibeon signifies total vastation of the church.
battle
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...
To
‘To grieve at heart’ is in reference to love, and ‘to repent,’ to wisdom, as in Genesis 6:6.
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...
meet
In natural language, to "meet" someone can be positive or negative: it can be a welcoming and greeting, or it can be "meeting" them in...
order
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,...
hebron
'Hebron' represents the Lord's spiritual church in the land of Canaan. 'Hebron' represents the church as to good.
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.
gaza
Gaza (or Azzah) signifies things revealed concerning charity.
gath
Gath, a city of the Philistines, signifies the spiritual principle of the church.
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...
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...
tribes
In general, 'the twelve tribes' signify every aspect of the doctrine of truth and good, or of faith and love. Truth and good, or faith...
