6564. 'For the evil with which they repaid you' means that they had become turned away from inflowing goodness and truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'the evil' as a turning away, dealt with in 5746. The fact that inflowing goodness and truth were what was turned away is meant by 'they repaid you'; for 'Joseph' is the celestial, or internal good, 5805, 5826, 5817, 5869, 5877, the channel through which goodness and truth flow in from the Lord. What influx by way of the internal entails is this: The Lord flows in constantly with goodness and truth through a person's internal. The goodness brings life and the heat to sustain it, which is the heat of love, while the truth brings a state of enlightenment and the light that maintains it, which is the light of faith. But with the evil, when that influx passes on into a person's exteriors, it is resisted and rejected, or perverted, or smothered. And to the extent that it is rejected, perverted, or smothered, the way to his interiors is blocked; only here and there does access to them lie open, as if through chinks round about. The ability to think and will therefore remains with the person, though only in opposition to what is true and good. That blockage to his interiors spreads further and further into his exteriors, the more wickedly he lives and the more convinced of falsity he consequently becomes. It spreads right down to the level of the senses, which then becomes the level on which he thinks. When this happens the desires and appetites of the senses remove all else. This is what the state of those in hell is like; for the evil who enter the next life are deprived of any ability to see what is honest and good for the sake of earning monetary gains, important positions, and reputation; then the senses are the level on which they function.

Everyone knows the phrase "the natural order of things." It means that everything is in its proper place, occupying the niche it is meant to fill. There is also the phrase "the spiritual order of things," meaning that every spiritual thing is in its proper spiritual place, occupying the spiritual niche it is meant to fill. This is, of course, what the Lord intends for us, and happens when we accept life and love from Him by willing what is good and acting according to truth. Of course, things are frequently out of order, because even the best of us indulge in unhealthy self-obsession and attachment to the material world. Ideally, we will repeatedly turn to the Lord and ask for His help with the cleanup, putting things back where they belong in the "spiritual order of things." This is what is meant when the Bible talks about restoring things -- it means putting them back into their proper spiritual place.