162. (Verse 21) And I gave her time to repent of her whoredom; and she repented not. That this signifies that those who are in falsities neither turn themselves to truths, nor by truths, is evident from the signification of repenting of whoredom, as being to turn from falsities to truths; for whoredom signifies the falsification of truth; and to repent is to turn from such falsities, because repentance is an actual turning from falsities to truths, and dissociation and separation from the former (as may be seen above, n. 143). Also from the signification of her not repenting, as being that they do not turn themselves from falsities to truths. These things are said concerning Jezebel, but they are to be understood of those who, from the delight of the loves of self and of the world, have falsified truths and adulterated goods; for in the prophetical parts of the Word one person is named, and thereby are meant all those who are of such a quality.

[2] Something shall be said briefly concerning the circumstance that those who falsify truths in themselves by applying them to the delight of the love of self, do not afterwards turn themselves to truths. Man, from his Spiritual or Internal, and from his Intellectual, sees the truths which pertain to the church from the Word, but he receives them there only in proportion as he so loves them as to be willing to do them. When man thus wills to do them, his internal or spiritual man calls forth and elevates to itself from the natural man and its memory the truths which are therein, and conjoins them to the love of his will; thus the internal spiritual man is opened, where the interior or higher mind dwells, and is successively filled and perfected. But if he suffers the natural delight, which is the delight of the love of self and of the world, to predominate, he then sees all things from that delight, and, in this case, if he perceives truths, he applies them to his own love, and falsifies them. When this is the case, the internal spiritual man is closed, because it is accommodated to the reception of such things as pertain to heaven, and cannot endure truths to be falsified. Wherefore, when truths are falsified, it contracts and closes up, like a fibril when touched with a prickle or sting; and the internal being once closed, the love of self or the love of the world reigns, or both together, and they form the external or natural man altogether in opposition to the internal or spiritual man. This is why those who have falsified truths by applying them to the delights of the love of self and of the world cannot afterwards turn themselves to truths. This is what is meant by these words,

"I gave" to the woman Jezebel "time to repent of her whoredom, and she repented not."

1271. After this there were certain deceitful spirits who wanted these who had lived before the Flood to come out To enable these to steal their way out, the deceitful spirits put it into their minds to say that they were nothing. At that point I heard a disturbance in that hell like a great. upheaval taking place. It was the commotion caused by those who desired to break free. Once again therefore some of them were allowed to come up from there and they appeared in the same place as their predecessors had done. From there they tried with the help of those deceitful genii to instill their deadly persuasion into me. But it was all to no avail as I was being protected by the Lord. I perceived quite clearly that their persuasion was stifling. They imagined that they had power over all things and could deprive anyone of his life. But because they imagined that they had power over all things it took no more than a small child to thrust them down, whose presence caused them to be so unsteady that they cried out they were in distress, so great in fact that they resorted to prayers. The deceitful ones were also punished, first of all by being almost choked by these who had been allowed out, and after that by being bound up tightly together to make them desist from such practices. But after a while they were set free.