8882. 'You shall not take the name of your God in vain' means instances in which the truth or the good of faith is profaned or blasphemed. This is clear from the meaning of 'the name of God' as everything in its entirety with which the Lord is worshipped, thus every truth or good of faith, dealt with in 2724, 3006, 6674; and from the meaning of 'taking in vain' as profaning and blaspheming. To be precise 'taking God's name in vain' means turning what is true into what is bad, that is, believing it to be true and yet living a bad life. It is also turning what is good into what is false, that is, living in a holy manner and yet not believing. Both are forms of profanation, 4601. Belief belongs to the understanding and life to the will; consequently thought and will in people whose belief is out of keeping with their life are divided. But the will is entering constantly into the understanding, for the understanding is the outward form assumed by the will, that is, the will brings itself to light there. This being so, when a person thinks in one way and lives in another, truth and evil or goodness and falsity are combined with each other; that is, things of heaven with a person are combined with those of hell. This combination cannot be dissolved, and so the person cannot be healed, except by a tearing apart which takes away with it everything of spiritual life. Therefore people who are like this are sent to the most horrible hell of all, where they suffer dreadful torments.

[2] This is how the Lord's words in Matthew should be understood,

Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy of the Spirit will not be forgiven people. If anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the one to come. Matthew 12:31-32.

Also by these words in Luke,

When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person he passes through dry places seeking rest - and if he does not find any he says, I will return to my house out of which I came. And if when he comes he finds it swept and decorated, he goes away and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. And the last things of the person become worse than the first. Luke 11:24-26.

[3] By these words the Lord is describing the profanation of truth. 'When the unclean spirit goes out' is used to mean acknowledgement of and real belief in truth, 'the house which has been swept' to mean a life contrary to truths, and 'his coming back with seven others' to mean a state of profanation. These are the things which are meant by 'taking God's name in vain'. The fact that the person cannot be healed from such a condition and so receive forgiveness is also meant by the words following immediately after - 'Jehovah will not render him innocent who takes His name in vain' - which are used to mean that this thing cannot be forgiven. For more about what profanation is and with whom it exists, see 593, 1003, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 2426, 3398, 3399, 3402, 3489, 6348, 6595, 6960, 6963, 6971, 8394

[4] 'Taking God's name in vain' also means blasphemy, which takes place when fun is poked at those things which belong to the Word or to religious teachings and belief, thus which are holy, and they are dragged through the mud and thereby defiled, dealt with in 4050, 5390. But in respect of the Israelite nation, which did not acknowledge any good or truth of faith meant by 'God's name', their use of Jehovah's name, and also of the commandments and statutes they were commanded, in the worship of idols is meant by 'taking God's name in vain'. It was what they did in the wilderness when they worshipped the golden calf; they not only presented it burnt offerings and sacrifices, and ate of consecrated elements from them, but also called the day of that celebration 'a feast to Jehovah'. This is recorded in Moses as follows,

Aaron made out of the gold a molded calf, and they said, These are your gods, O Israel. who caused you to come up out of the land of Egypt. When Aaron saw it he built an altar in front of it, and made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow there will be a feast to Jehovah. Therefore they rose up in the morning of the next day and presented burnt offerings and brought eucharistic offerings. Exodus 32:4-6.

Jehovah's words at the time, concerning those who had taken the name of Jehovah God in vain by doing all this, make it clear that they could not be forgiven, meant by their not being rendered innocent. Those words spoken to Moses are,

Him who has sinned against Me I will blot out of My book. All the same, go, lead this people to the place of which I have spoken to you. But on the day of My visitation, I will visit them for their sin. Exodus 32:33-34.

6960. 'Put your hand into your bosom' means making truth their own. This is clear from the meaning of 'hand' as power, dealt with above in 6947; and from the meaning of 'bosom' as love, for the parts of the chest correspond to love since the chest holds within it the heart, which corresponds to celestial love, and the lungs, which correspond to spiritual love, 3635, 3883-3896, 4112, 4113, 4133. And as 'the bosom' therefore corresponds to love it also means that which is one's own, because what constitutes a person's love is that which is his own. For this reason 'putting a hand into one's bosom' here means making something one's own. The fact that making truth one's own is what is meant is evident from the things that follow in the narrative and also from the consideration that truth is what spiritual power consists in, 6948.

[2] The fact that 'the bosom' means that which is a person's true self, and so that which is his own, and from this means making something one's own and joining to oneself through love, is clear from the following places: In Micah,

Do not trust in a companion, put no confidence in a leader; from her who is lying in your bosom guard the doors of your mouth. Micah 7:5.

'Her lying in the bosom' stands for one who has been joined to another through love. So it is also that a wife is called the wife of her husband's bosom, Deuteronomy 28:54; 2 Samuel 12:8, and a husband is called the husband of his wife's bosom, Deuteronomy 28:56; and this is because one belongs to the other. In David,

My prayer falls back onto my bosom. Psalms 35:13.

This stands for its return to himself. In the same author,

Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants - [how] I bear in my bosom all the great peoples. Psalms 89:50.

This stands for what is present with himself, as that which is his own. In Isaiah,

He pastures His flock like a shepherd, He gathers the lambs into His arm, and He carries them in His bosom. Isaiah 40:11.

Here the meaning is similar.

[3] In Luke,

Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be given into your bosom. Luke 6:38.

'Being given into the bosom' stands for imparting them as their own. In the same gospel,

After that it happened that Lazarus died and was taken away by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Luke 16:22.

'Being taken away into Abraham's bosom' stands for being taken to the Lord - whom 'Abraham' is used to mean - by virtue of being joined to Him through love.

[4] In John,

There was reclining on Jesus' bosom one of the disciples, whom Jesus loved. Falling towards Jesus' breast he said to Him, Lord, who is it? John 13:23, 25.

'Reclining on the bosom' plainly stands for being loved and being joined through love. In the same gospel,

Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:18.

'In the bosom of the Father' stands for being one.

[5] 'The bosom' stands for that which is a person's true self, and for making something one's own but not through love, in the following places: In Isaiah,

I will repay, I will repay into their bosom your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together. I will measure the value of their work first into their bosom. Isaiah 65:6-7.

In Jeremiah,

Jehovah shows mercy to thousands and He repays the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them. Jeremiah 31:18.

In David,

Repay our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom, their reproach to which they have subjected You, O Lord. Psalms 79:12.

'Repaying into their bosom' stands for imparting to their true selves.