Babylon was an ancient city built on the Euphrates river in what is now southern Iraq. It once was the capital of a great empire which at one point conquered the land of Judah as mentioned in the second book of Kings and in Daniel. But the river changed its course and the city was abandoned long ago. Both the historic city in Mesopotamia and the parable city with its tower, mentioned in Genesis, represent the same thing, a worship that appears holy in externals, while the internals are profane. This representation expands to mean a church whose leaders use this kind of worship to gain dominion over others for their own gain and for the gain and power of the church. The city itself is the doctrinal structure that supports this kind of worship and dominion.

(Notae: Apocalypse Explained 1029; Arcana Coelestia 1283, 1302, 1304, 1310, 1311)

1026. 'With every living soul that is with you' means in general all things which with a person have been regenerated. This becomes clear from what comes before and after, and also from the meaning of the Living One. The expression 'living' is used for everything that has received life from the Lord, and 'living soul' for everything with the regenerate person which lives from Him. For it is according to the life that a regenerate person receives that every part of him has life, every part of his rational thought as well as of his affections. This life as it exists in every part of his thought and speech is visible to angels but not to man.