572. 13:2 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard. This symbolizes their heresy destructive of the church, being founded on the Word's truths falsified.

Animals in general symbolize people in respect to their affections (no. 567), and a leopard symbolizes an affection or penchant for falsifying the Word's truths. Moreover, because it is a fierce beast and slaughters harmless animals, it also symbolizes a heresy destructive of the church.

A leopard symbolizes the Word's truths falsified because of its black and white spots, its black spots symbolizing falsities, and the whiteness between them symbolizing truth. Consequently, because it is a fierce and savage beast, it symbolizes the Word's truths falsified and so destroyed.

A leopard has a similar symbolism in the following places:

Shall an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Then you also can do good who have been taught to do evil. (Jeremiah 13:23)

...a lion from the forest slew (the great men), a wolf in the fields shall devastate them; a leopard is watching their cities. Everyone who goes out... shall be torn in pieces, because... their apostasies have become mighty. (Jeremiah 5:6)

A leopard lying watching their cities is to ambush doctrinal truths - a city being doctrine (no. 194).

(Because) they forgot Me... I have become to them like a lion, and like a leopard by the path I will watch them. (Hosea 13:5-7)

A path, too, symbolizes truth (no. 176).

The wolf shall tarry with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat... (Isaiah 11:6)

The subject there is the Lord's kingdom to come. The young goat is genuine truth in the church, and the leopard is that truth falsified.

(The third beast that came up from the sea) was like a leopard, which had on its back four wings... (Daniel 7:6)

On the four beasts seen by Daniel, see no. 574.

Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones -- and ultimately from the Lord, who is in a sense the most internal spiritual level of all. This is generally called "influx" and "perception" in the Writings, meaning they are thoughts and feelings that flow in in a complete way from the Lord, rather than being things we have to think about and figure out. On a number of occasions "speak" and "say" are used together; in these cases "speak" refers more to intellectual instruction in matters of thought and "say" refers more to feelings and affections that flow in directly.