209. 'Wretched and poor.' This symbolically means that they have no truths or goods.

Wretched and poor people mean, in the spiritual sense of the Word, people who lack concepts of truth and good, for they are spiritually wretched and poor. They are also meant by the people in the following passages:

I am wretched and poor, O Lord; be mindful of me. (Psalms 40:18) [NCBSP: Psalms 40:17], cf. Psalms 70:5)

Incline Your ear, O Jehovah, and answer me, for I am wretched and poor. (Psalms 86:1)

The impious bare the sword and bend their bow, to cast down the wretched and poor... (Psalms 37:14)

(The impious man) persecuted the wretched and poor man, even to slay the downcast in heart. (Psalms 109:16)

(God) will judge the wretched of the people; He will save the children of the poor... He will deliver the poor man when he cries, and the wretched man... (Psalms 72:4, 12-13)

Jehovah... delivers the wretched man from one who is too strong for him, and the poor man... from those who plunder him. (Psalms 35:10)

(The impious man) devises wicked plans to destroy the wretched with lying words, even when the poor man speaks justly. (Isaiah 37:7)

The wretched shall have their joy in Jehovah, and the poor of mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 29:19)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)

See also elsewhere, as Isaiah 10:2; Jeremiah 22:16; Ezekiel 16:49; 18:12; 22:29; Amos 8:4; Psalms 9:18; 69:32-33; 74:21; 109:22; 140:12; Deuteronomy 15:11; 24:14; Luke 14:13, 21, 23.

The wretched and poor mean chiefly people who lack concepts of truth and goodness and yet desire them, since the rich mean people who possess concepts of truth and goodness (no. 206).

In the Word three terms are used to refer to bad actions: transgression, iniquity, and sin. Transgression is the least bad. It means a violation of what is true in an external context, a violation of what is right and orderly. Iniquity is next and denotes acts that violate more interior truths. Sin is the worst. It is a violation of what is holy and righteous, a violation against the Lord. Sin is the deepest kind of evil. Regarding iniquity -- to be in charity, or live a life of charity is to live a life where the acts and thoughts that have top priority are those that have within them a love for the neighbor. Sometimes our love of self, our inborn desire to put ourselves first, is stronger than our charity and we do something for ourselves at the expense of our neighbor, or even do harm to our neighbor. Such an act, if our motive is selfish, is an iniquity.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 9156, 9965 [2-3])