16. The books that are books of the Word. The books of the Word are all the Bible books that have an inner meaning. The other Bible books are not the Word. In the Old Testament, the books of the Word are the following: the five books of Moses, the Book of Joshua, the Book of Judges, the two books of Samuel, the two books of Kings, the Psalms of David, and the prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. In the New Testament: the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and the Book of Revelation. The others do not have an inner meaning: 10325.
The Book of Job is an ancient book in which there is in fact inner meaning, but not in an unbroken chain: 3540, 9942. 1
Footnotes:
1. On Swedenborg’s complex usage of the term “the Word,” and how it varies in respect to texts such as Job and the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament, and Acts and the Epistles in the New Testament, see note 7 in New Jerusalem 1. [Editors]
