3163. 'So it was, when Abraham's servant heard their words, that he bowed down to the earth to Jehovah' means the perception of joy in the natural man. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing the words' as perceiving, from the representation of 'Abraham's servant' as in general the natural man insofar as it is subservient to the rational, here to the Divine, dealt with in 3019, 3020, and from the meaning of 'bowing down to Jehovah' as rejoicing, dealt with in 2927, 2950, 3118.

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.