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...
speaketh
Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones – and ultimately...
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...
Vengeance
'To be avenged seventy and seven fold' denotes damnation.
Sons of Israel
'The camp of the sons of Israel' represents the church.
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...
gathered
To gather, as in Genesis 6:21, refers to those things which are in the memory of man, where they are gathered. It also implies that...
host
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...
midian
'Simran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Jishbak, and Shuah,' as in Genesis 25:2, represent the general divisions of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, in the heavens and in...
Put
'To put' has reference to order, arrangement, application, and influx.
thousand
As children, most of us at some point frustrated our mothers into using the phrase “if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand...
tribe
'A tribe' signifies the church with respect to its truths and goods, and in the opposite sense, with respect to its falsities and evils. 'A...
send
'To send' signifies revealing.
thousands
As children, most of us at some point frustrated our mothers into using the phrase “if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand...
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...
holy
The Bible describes many things as being holy, or sacred. The Ark of the Covenant is one very holy object. The inmost chamber of the...
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...
shouting
'Shouting, singing, and playing' have respect to spiritual things.
hand
In Genesis 27:22, 'voice' relates to truth, and 'hand,' to good.
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,...
slay
'To slay a man to his wounding,' means extinguishing faith, and 'to slay a young man to his hurt,' signifies extinguishing charity, as in Genesis...
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...
slain
'A multitude of slain' relates to people who perish from falsities, and 'a great number of carcasses,' of people who perish from evils, as in...
Hur
'Hur' signifies the truth of doctrine.
five
Five also signifies all things of one part.
balaam
The Children of Israel entered the country of Moab during their long journey from Egypt toward the land of Canaan. Moab's king, Balak, was afraid...
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...
women
The word "woman" is used a number of different ways in the Bible – as a simple description, as someone connected to a man ("his...
cattle
Animals in the Bible generally refer to spiritual activity, the things we actually do on a spiritual level. "Cattle," as typically used in the Bible,...
substance
Substance' and 'treasures,' as in Jeremiah 17:3, signify the spiritual riches of faith, or the aspects of the doctrine of faith.
wealth
'Wealth' signifies scientific knowledge, as seen in several passages in the Word.
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...
towers
(Gen. 25:17) signify the intellectual things of faith and of the church.
fire
Fire, in the spiritual sense, can mean both love and hatred depending on the context, just as natural fire can be both comforting in keeping...
spoil
'To spoil,' as in Genesis 34:27, signifies destruction. 'Spoil,' as in Deuteronomy 13:16, signifies the falsification of truth.
beast
"Beasts" represent the affection for doing good things, a true desire to do them from the heart. In the negative sense, "beasts" stand for the...
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...
company
A company, congregation, and a multitude, in the Word, are predicated of truths.
captives
'To be in prison,' as in Revelation 2:10, signifies being infested by evils from hell, because this is like being bound in prison, because they...
camp
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...
plains
'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...
moab
'Moab,' in a positive sense, signifies people who are in natural good, and allow themselves to be easily seduced, but in an opposite sense, it...
jordan
The river Jordan separates the land of Canaan from the lands to the east. This separation represents the division of the human mind into an internal...
jericho
Jericho' signifies instruction and also the good of life because no one can be instructed in the truths of doctrine but he who is in...
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....
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...
force
Forces denote the power of truth.
chiefs
In the Bible, “captains,” “commanders” and “chiefs”, and the armies they lead, represent large collections of spiritual desires and large collections of spiritual ideas. The...
hundreds
It's a landmark for a young child to count to 100; it sort of covers all the "ordinary" numbers. One hundred is obviously significant for...
coming
As with common verbs in general, the meaning of “come” in the Bible is highly dependent on context – its meaning is determined largely by...
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...
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...
female
Female signifies good.
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...
male
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
Woman
It is because of a celestial and angelic proprium, or selfhood, that the church is called 'a woman,' 'a wife,' 'a bride,' 'a virgin,' and...
man
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
known
Like so many common verbs, the meaning of "know" in the Bible is varied and dependent on context. And in some cases – when it...
seven
The number 'seven' was considered holy, as is well known, because of the six days of creation, and the seventh, which is the celestial self,...
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...
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...
third
'Three' denotes fullness, and 'a third,' not full.
Third day
'The third day' signifies the end of a state of preparation for reception, and so an end of purification, as in Exodus 19:16. 'The third...
seventh
The number 'seven' was considered holy, as is well known, because of the six days of creation, and the seventh, which is the celestial self,...
garment
It is said, in Deuteronomy 22:11, "Thou shalt not wear a garment of diverse sorts; as of woolen and linen together…”. This means that the...
skin
'Skin' corresponds to truth or to falsity in the extremes. See Arcana Coelestia 1835, 10036, and Apocalypse Explained 386. 'Skin,' as in Job 19:26, means...
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...
goats
From correspondences, a goat signifies the natural man. The goat which was sacrificed, as in Leviticus 16:5-10, signifies the natural man regarding a part purified,...
gold
'Money' relates to truth.
silver
'Money' relates to truth.
brass
'Iron,' in Deuteronomy 8:9, signifies natural or rational truth. Iron' signifies natural truth, and consequently, the natural sense of the Word. At the same time,...
iron
'Iron,' in Deuteronomy 8:9, signifies natural or rational truth. Iron' signifies natural truth, and consequently, the natural sense of the Word. At the same time,...
tin
'Tin,' as in Ezekiel 22:18, has respect to the literal sense of the Word, or the goods and truths of the natural self.
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...
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...
water
'Waters' signify truths in the natural self, and in the opposite sense, falsities. 'Waters' signify particularly the spiritual parts of a person, or the intellectual...
separation
'Separation' of good from evil explained.
garments
Soft raiment,' as in Matthew 11:9, represents the internal sense of the Word.
come
Coming (Gen. 41:14) denotes communication by influx.
Sum
To 'take the sum of the sons of Israel,' as in Exodus 30:12, signifies the whole church.
heads
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....
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...
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...
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...
hundred
It's a landmark for a young child to count to 100; it sort of covers all the "ordinary" numbers. One hundred is obviously significant for...
herd
'A herd,' as mentioned in Genesis 32:7, denotes exterior or natural good, and also not good things.
asses
Donkeys signify the things relating to the self-intelligence of the sensual man; and camels, the things of self-intelligence in the natural man (Isa 30:6, 7.)
flock
A flock, as in Genesis 26, denotes interior or rational good. A flock signifies those who are in spiritual good. A flock signifies natural interior...
given
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...
israel's
'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...
fifty
God rested on the seventh day of creation. That represents a state of holiness and tranquility that was preserved in the form of the sabbath....
keeping
"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...
six
Like most numbers in the Bible, "six" can have various meanings depending on context, but has a couple that are primary. When used in relation...
two
The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see...
sixty
'Sixty' means the full time and state of the implantation of truth in our minds.
thirty
'Thirty' has a twofold significance because it is is the product of five and six, and also three and ten. From five multiplied by six,...
Three hundred
'Three hundred' signifies fullness, because the number comes from three and a hundred multiplied. Both 'three' and 'a hundred' signifies fullness. The significance of products...
three
The Writings talk about many aspects of life using the philosophical terms "end," "cause" and "effect." The "end" is someone’s goal or purpose, the ultimate...
sheep
It’s pretty easy for most people to read the Bible and get a sense for what “sheep” means without any help. They are simple, peaceful,...
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...
jehovah's
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...
draw
"Drawing" is used a number of different ways in the Bible, generally in the sense of pulling, leading or moving: People most commonly draw water,...
near
'Near,' in the Word, signifies presence and conjunction. 'To be near' signifies being on internal levels. Near,' as in Genesis 19:20, signifies truth bordering upon...
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...
servants
“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...
men
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
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,...
ring
'Rings' signify the conjunction of good and truth. In Exodus 25:12, 'rings' particularly signify divine truth with divine good.
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...
bracelet
'A scarf,' as in Genesis 38:18, denotes truth, because it is one of the items associated with 'garments', and 'garments' in general mean truths. As...
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...
shekels
'A shekel' signifies the price or estimation of good and truth, and 'half a shekel' signifies the determination of the quantity thereof.
tent
'The sanctuary and habitation' together signify heaven and the church, 'sanctuary' regarding the good of love, and 'tabernacle' regarding truths of that good, because the...
memorial
'For a sign and for a memorial,' denotes that a thing should be perpetually remembered.
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