10431. That Mine anger may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them. That this signifies that in so doing they turn themselves away from internal things, thus from things Divine, so that they must needs perish, is evident from the signification of “anger waxing hot,” when said of Jehovah, as being a turning away on the part of man (of which below), and from the signification of “consuming,” when also said of Jehovah, as being to perish in consequence of their own evil. In many passages of the Word it is said of Jehovah that He burns with anger and is wroth, and also that He consumes and destroys. But it is so said because it so appears to the man who turns himself away from the Lord, as is the case when he does evil; and as then he is not heard, and is even punished, he believes that the Lord is in anger against him; although the Lord is never angry, and never consumes, for He is mercy itself and good itself. From this it is evident what is the nature of the Word as to the letter, namely, that it is according to the appearance with man. In like manner it is said that “Jehovah repents,” as in what follows, when yet Jehovah never repents, for He foresees all things from eternity; from which it can be seen into how many errors those fall who when reading the Word do not think beyond the sense of the letter, thus who read it without doctrine from the Word to teach them how the case really is. For they who read the Word in accordance with doctrine know that Jehovah is mercy itself and good itself, and that it cannot possibly be said of infinite mercy and infinite good that it burns with anger and consumes. Wherefore from this doctrine they know and see that it is so said according to the appearance presented to man. (That anger and evil are from man, and not from the Lord, and that nevertheless they are attributed to the Lord, see at the places cited in n. 9306; and that “anger,” when said of the Lord, denotes man’s turning away from the Lord, n. 5034, 5798, 8483, 8875)