10502. And said, I beseech Thee, this people hath sinned a great sin. That this signifies that although this nation has completely turned away and removed itself from the Divine, is evident from the signification of “sinning a great sin,” as being to completely turn away and estrange itself from the Divine (see above, n. 10498). It is said “although it has turned itself away” for the sake of the connection of the subject in the internal sense, for those who are in this sense do not attend to the letter, but to the sense of the things in their order.