9158. 'For clothing' means [any harm done to or else loss of] truth on the level of the senses. This is clear from the meaning of 'clothing' as truth, dealt with in 4545, 4763, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6917. In general 'clothing' means more external or lower truth that covers more internal or higher truths, 297, 2576, 5248, 6918; here therefore truth on the level of the senses is meant, this being the most external or lowest level, 5081, 5125, 5767, 6564, 6614. The meaning of 'clothes' as truths has its origin in representatives in the next life; for spirits and angels all appear dressed in clothes that are in keeping with the truths of faith they possess, 165, 5248, 5954.

6564. 'For the evil with which they repaid you' means that they had become turned away from inflowing goodness and truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'the evil' as a turning away, dealt with in 5746. The fact that inflowing goodness and truth were what was turned away is meant by 'they repaid you'; for 'Joseph' is the celestial, or internal good, 5805, 5826, 5817, 5869, 5877, the channel through which goodness and truth flow in from the Lord. What influx by way of the internal entails is this: The Lord flows in constantly with goodness and truth through a person's internal. The goodness brings life and the heat to sustain it, which is the heat of love, while the truth brings a state of enlightenment and the light that maintains it, which is the light of faith. But with the evil, when that influx passes on into a person's exteriors, it is resisted and rejected, or perverted, or smothered. And to the extent that it is rejected, perverted, or smothered, the way to his interiors is blocked; only here and there does access to them lie open, as if through chinks round about. The ability to think and will therefore remains with the person, though only in opposition to what is true and good. That blockage to his interiors spreads further and further into his exteriors, the more wickedly he lives and the more convinced of falsity he consequently becomes. It spreads right down to the level of the senses, which then becomes the level on which he thinks. When this happens the desires and appetites of the senses remove all else. This is what the state of those in hell is like; for the evil who enter the next life are deprived of any ability to see what is honest and good for the sake of earning monetary gains, important positions, and reputation; then the senses are the level on which they function.