843. In that world as in the previous one the Jews are merchants dealing in various goods, especially precious stones, which they acquire by ways unknown to me from heaven, where they are plentiful. The reason they trade in precious stones is that they read the Word in its original language and regard its literal sense as holy; precious stones correspond to the literal sense. For the literal sense of the Word being the spiritual source of those stones, so that there is a correspondence between them, see above in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture (217-218). They are even able to fake imitations and induce the notion that they are genuine; but these people are severely punished by their rulers.