3186. Our sister, may you become thousands of myriads symbolizes the way a desire for truth bears fruit to infinity. This can be seen from the symbolism of the sister, Rebekah, as a desire for truth (discussed in §§3077, 3179, 3182) and from that of may you become thousands of myriads as bearing fruit to infinity. Thousands of myriads here means infinity, because the subject is the Lord, in whom absolutely everything is infinite.

In people, this is how the matter stands: Goodness does not bear fruit in us, nor does truth multiply, until truth and goodness unite in our rational mind, or in other words, until we have been reborn. At that point our fruit-the offspring we bear-springs from a lawful or heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of goodness and truth. Before then, it does look as though the good we do is good and as though the truth is true, but they are not genuine, because they lack a real soul, which is goodness filled with innocence from the Lord. As a result they do not touch our heart or make us happy. The Lord gives them a soul-a feeling of love and charity, along with happiness-when we regenerate.

[2] A large and also an infinite amount is symbolized by a thousand (see §2575) and even more so by a myriad or ten thousand and still more so by thousands of myriads, and this is true in other passages as well. In Moses:

When the ark came to rest, he said, "Return, Jehovah, to the myriads of thousands of Israel." (Numbers 10:36)

The myriads of thousands also symbolize infinity, because they describe the Lord, who is meant by Jehovah in this verse. In the same author:

Jehovah dawned from Seir on them; he shone out from Mount Paran and came with the holy myriads. (Deuteronomy 33:2)

The myriads again stand for infinity. In David:

God's chariots: myriads of thousands of the peaceful. (Psalms 68:17)

God's chariots stand for the contents of the Word and of a theology drawn from it. Myriads of thousands stand for the infinite amount to be found there. In John:

I saw and heard the voice of many angels around the throne; their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. (Revelation 5:11)

The myriads stand for things beyond number.