9283. 'And you shall not mention the name of other gods' means that they should not base their thinking on teachings that present what is false. This is clear from the meaning of 'the name' as everything belonging to religious teachings and everything belonging to worship in their entirety, dealt with in 2724, 3237, 6887, 8274, 8882, at this point everything belonging to teachings that present what is false since falsities are meant by 'other gods', 4544, 7873, 8867; and from the meaning of 'mentioning' as thinking. 'Mentioning' means thinking because mentioning is done by the mouth, and aspects of thought are meant by the utterances of the mouth. The reason for this is that a person's speech flows from his thought; for a person possesses thought which speaks and thought which does not speak. Thought which speaks is that which makes one with the words uttered. Thought which does not speak is that which makes one with the thought which does speak, and so with words that are uttered, in those who are honest and righteous, but not so in those who are dishonest or unrighteous. For thought which does not speak is a higher or more internal degree of understanding in a person, springing from his actual will. But thought which speaks is a lower or more external degree of understanding, formed from the higher or more internal in order to present or else feign before the world ideas of what is right and fair and ideas of what is good and true.

[2] All this demonstrates what the person who is honest and righteous is like and what the person who is dishonest or unrighteous is like. That is to say, it demonstrates that with the person who is honest and righteous the internal man has come to conform to an image of heaven, and the external man to an image of the world subordinated to heaven, 9279; but with the person who is dishonest or unrighteous the internal man has come to conform to an image of hell, and the external man to an image of heaven subordinated to hell, because he uses his external man to make a pretence of heavenly things, and employs rational concepts received from heaven to sanction evil cravings and also to deceive. From all this it is evident that opposite states of life exist with the righteous and the unrighteous.

7873. 'And on all the gods of Egypt I will make judgements' means their falsities which are to be damned. This is clear from the meaning of 'gods' as falsities, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'making judgements' as being damned, for to judge or to make judgements is to point either to life or to death; a judgement that points to life means salvation, one that points to death means damnation. The term 'gods' is used many times in the Word. When angels are called such, truths are meant, see 4295, 4402, 7268, and therefore in the contrary sense 'the gods of the nations' means falsities, 4402, 4544. The reason why truths are referred to as 'gods' is that truth emanates from God Himself and is in itself of God. Consequently those who receive that truth are called 'gods'. Not that they are gods; rather, the truth with them is of God. This explains why in the original language God is referred to by the plural noun Elohim. God Himself is Divine Goodness, but what emanates from Him is Divine Truth which fills the whole of heaven. So then, because 'god' means truth, falsity is meant by that word in the contrary sense.