5254. 'And I have heard about you' means the ability of the celestial of the spiritual; and 'it is said that when you hear a dream you can interpret it' means to discern what it is that things foreseen hold within them. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing about you' as discerning and coming to now that its nature is such and therefore that it possessed that kind of ability; from the representation of 'Joseph', to whom these words are addressed, as the celestial of the spiritual, dealt with in 4286, 4592, 4594, 4963, 5086, 5087, 5106; from the meaning of 'hearing' as discerning, dealt with in 5017; from the meaning of 'a dream' as that which is foreseen, dealt with just above in 5252; and from the meaning of 'interpreting' as what it held within it, also dealt with above, in 5253. From all these meanings it is evident that 'I have heard about you - it is said that when you hear a dream you can interpret it' means the ability which the celestial of the spiritual possesses to discern what it is that things foreseen hold within them.

5086. The place where Joseph was bound' means the state of the celestial of the natural now in relation to these things. This is clear from the meaning of 'the place' as a state, dealt with in 2625, 2877, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882; from the representation of 'Joseph' as the celestial of the spiritual from the rational, dealt with in 4286, 4585, 4592, 4594, 4963, at this point the celestial of the natural because it was now in the natural, from which temptations arise, 5035, 5039; and from the meaning of 'bound' as a state of temptations, dealt with in 5037. The subject in the previous chapter was the state of temptations undergone by the celestial of the spiritual within the natural, involving those things which belonged to the interior natural, whereas in this chapter it is the state of temptations involving things that belong to the exterior natural.