In chapter 4 of the Book of Amos, verses 1-3 are talking about people who pervert the truths of the church. They will fall into falsities in outermost things.

In the Bible, fish represent "lower" things than mammals, so we can interpret the fishhooks in verse 2 as meaning being caught and held fast in natural or lower things.

Verses 4-6 are about acts of worship such as tithes and sacrifices. These look similar to genuine worship, but are only external sorts of things. We can tell because ‘teeth’ (in verse 6) represent ultimates or outermost things (see Secrets of Heaven 6380). It follows that “cleanness of teeth” would mean outermost things that look good but only imitate genuine worship. The Lord exhorts, “Yet you have not returned to me.”

Verses 7-8. Some things true will remain, when where there are too many false ideas, the truths don't get through. This can be seen where the Lord says, “I made it rain on one city; I withheld rain from another city... where it did not rain the part withered.” Again the Lord exhorts, “Yet you have not returned to me.”

Verse 9. Afterward all things of the church are falsified, shown by blight attacking the gardens, vineyards, fig tree and olive trees. The last three represent spiritual, natural and celestial things, or all the things of spiritual life. “Yet you have not returned to me,” says the Lord.

Verses 10-11. The Lord explains the devastating things he allowed to happen: plague in Egypt, death of young men by swords, stench in the camps, Sodom and Gomorrah. This is because they are profaned by sensual knowledges. Profanation means the mixing of good and evil together. (See Secrets of Heaven 1001[2]).

This extends to all things of the church, with the church being the Lord’s kingdom on earth (Secrets of Heaven 768[3]).

With profanation “as soon as any idea of what is holy arises, the idea of what is profane joins immediately to it,” (Secrets of Heaven 301).

Now there is hardly anything left. “Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord again.

Verses 12-13: Because people adamantly remain in their profane ways, they are warned, “Prepare to meet your God!”. This is the God powerful and mighty, “who forms mountains, and creates the wind,” and even more close to home, “Who declares to man what his thought is.” As intimately a knowing as that is, the Lord’s love for all humanity is contained in His exhortations for them to turn themselves to Him.

See, for example, Luke 6:44-45, and True Christian Religion 373.

1164. Quod per ‘Cush seu Aethiopiam’ significentur cognitione interiores Verbi per quas confirmant principia falsa, constat apud Jeremiam,

Aegyptus sicut flumen ascendit, et sicut flumina commoventur aquae, et dixit, Ascendam, obtegam terram; perdam civitatem, et habitantes in ea. Ascendite equi, et insanite currus, et egrediantur fortes; Cush et Put, apprehendentes scutum, 46:8, 9;

hic ‘Aegyptus’ pro iis qui nihil credunt nisi ex scientificis illa capiant, inde omnia dubitativa, negativa et falsa, quod est ‘ascendere, obtegere terram, et perdere civitatem’: ‘Cush’ ibi pro cognitionibus universalioribus et interioribus Verbi quibus capta principia falsi confirmant; ‘Put’ pro cognitionibus ex sensu litterali Verbi quae sunt secundum sensuum apparentias:

[2] apud Ezechielem,

Veniet gladius in Aegyptum, et erit dolor in Cush, cum cadet confossus in Aegypto; et accipient turbam ejus, et destruentur fundamenta ejus; Cush et Put, et Lud, et tota ¹ Ereb et Kub, et filii terrae foederis cum iis gladio cadent, 30:4-6;

haec nusquam aliquis sciret quid esset, nisi ex sensu interno; et nisi nomina significarent res, paene nullus sensus foret; sed hic per ‘Aegyptum’ significantur scientiae per quas intrare volunt in mysteria fidei; ‘Cush et Put’ vocantur fundamenta ejus, quia sunt cognitiones ex Verbo:

[3] apud eundem,

In die illo exibunt nuntii a coram Me in navibus ad terrendum Cush confidentem, et erit dolor in iis juxta diem Aegypti, 30:9;

‘Cush’ pro cognitionibus ex Verbo confirmantibus falsa ex scientificis exclusa:

apud eundem,

Dabo terram Aegypti in vastitates, vastitatem desolationis a turri Sevene, et usque ad terminum Cush, 29:10;

ibi ‘Aegyptus’ pro scientificis, ‘Cush’ pro cognitionibus interiorum Verbi, quae sunt ‘termini’ quousque vadunt scientiae:

[4] apud Esaiam,

Ducet rex Asshuris captivitatem Aegypti, et captivitatem Cushi, pueros et senes, nudum et discalceatum, et detectos nate, nuditatem Aegypti; et consternabuntur et erubescent ob Cushum spem eorum, et ob Aegyptum decus eorum, 20:4, 5;

ibi ‘Cush’ pro cognitionibus ex Verbo quibus confirmantur falsa per scientifica capta; ‘Asshur’ est ratiocinatio quae ‘captivos ducit’:

apud Nahum, Cush fortitudo ejus et Aegyptus, et non finis; Put et Lubim fuerunt in auxilio tuo, 3:9;

de Ecclesia vastata, ubi similiter ‘Aegyptus’ pro scientificis et ‘Cush’ pro cognitionibus.

[5]‘Cush et Aegyptus’ simpliciter pro cognitionibus et scientiis, quae sunt veritates utiles illis qui sunt in fide charitatis; ita in bono sensu;

apud Esaiam,

Dixit Jehovah, Labor Aegypti, et merces Cushi, et Sabaeorum, viri mensurae, ad te transibunt, et tibi erunt; post te ibunt in compedibus, transibunt, et ad te incurvabunt se, ad te orabunt, Tantummodo in te Deus, et non praeterea alius Deus, 45:14;

‘labor Aegypti’ pro scientia, ‘merces Cushi et Sabaeorum’ pro cognitionibus spiritualium quae illis inserviunt qui agnoscunt Dominum,

[6] nam eis omnis scientia et cognitio:

apud Danielem,

Rex septentrionis dominabitur in recondita auri et argenti, et in omnia desiderabilia Aegypti; et Lubim (Put) et Cushim, in incessibus tuis, 11:43;

‘Put et Cush’ ibi pro cognitionibus ex Verbo, ‘Aegyptus’ pro scientificis:

apud Zephaniam, A transitu fluviorum Cushi adoratores Mei, 3:10;

pro illis qui extra cognitiones, ita pro gentibus:

apud Davidem,

Venient magnates ex Aegypto, Cush accelerabit manus suas Deo, Ps. 68:32 [KJV Ps. 68:31];

[7] hic ‘Aegyptus’ pro scientiis, et ‘Cush’ pro cognitionibus:

apud eundem,

Memorabo Rahabam et Babel inter cognoscentes Me; ecce Philistaea et Tyrus cum Cusho; hic natus est ibi, (in civitate Dei), Ps. 87:4;

‘Cush’ pro cognitionibus ex Verbo, quare dicitur ‘natus in civitate Dei’. Quia ‘Cush’ significat cognitiones interiores Verbi, et intelligentiam inde, ideo dicitur, quod fluvius secundus exiens ex horto Edenis circumdederit totam terram Cush, de quo videatur prius n. 117.

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