1826. That 'he took a turtle dove and a fledgling' means those things that are [the representatives] of the spiritual things of the Church is clear from the meaning of birds in general, and of turtle doves and pigeons in particular. That 'birds' means spiritual things, which are more matters of faith or truth, and so means intellectual concepts and rational concepts, has been shown already in 40, 745, 776, 991; and that 'pigeons' means the goods and truths of faith, 870. And in addition to this, what the birds used in sacrifices meant is in the Lord's Divine mercy to be discussed later on where sacrifices are the subject. When in the Word, especially the Prophetical, celestial things are spoken of, so also are spiritual things spoken of, and thus the two are joined together, for one derives from the other, so that one belongs to the other, as stated already in 639, 680, 683, 707, 793, 810.

707. From here down to verse 5 the details are almost identical with those stated in the previous chapter, with only minor changes; and the same applies to what comes after that. Anyone who is not aware of the internal sense of the Word is bound to conclude that it is mere repetition of the same thing. Similar instances occur in other parts of the Word, especially the Prophets, where the same matter is expressed in other and different words. And sometimes the matter is taken up again and described once more. The reason for this, as stated already, is that the two faculties with man of will and understanding are totally different from each other, and that the Word deals with both separately. This is the reason why repetitions exist. That the same applies here will be clear from what follows.