As with many common verbs, the meaning of “to say” in the Bible is highly dependent on context. Who is speaking? Who is hearing? What is it about? Is it a command, a message, an apology, instruction? All these things enter into the meaning of “say.” In general, though, “saying” has to do with sharing truth at various levels -- from the most exalted power people can have to perceive the Lord's desires directly to the most basic of orders issued to people at their lowest.

3636. It is an entirely general and all-embracing law that the Lord is the Sun of heaven and that this is the source of all the light in the next life; that nothing at all from the light of the world is visible to angels and spirits, that is, to beings in the next life; and also that the light of the world which comes from the sun is to angels nothing else than thick darkness. From the Sun of heaven, or the Lord, comes not only light but also warmth; but these are spiritual light and spiritual warmth. The light that strikes their eyes is seen as light but it holds intelligence and wisdom within it since it is the outward manifestation of these. And the warmth is experienced by their senses as warmth but has love within it since it is the outward manifestation of that love. This being so, love is called spiritual warmth and is also the producer of the warmth which man's life possesses, while intelligence is called spiritual light and is also the producer of the light which his life possesses. From this all-inclusive correspondence all other correspondences are derived, for every single thing has regard to good which belongs to love and to truth which belongs to intelligence.