3979. 'Laban said to him' means perception from the good meant by Laban. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perception, dealt with in 1898, 1919, 2080, 2619, 2862, 3395, 3509, and from the representation of 'Laban' as a parallel good from the Divine, dealt with in 3612, 3665, 3778. The reason why it is perception from this good that is meant by 'Laban said to him' is that in the Word persons mean nothing else than spiritual realities. In the highest sense Divine things present in the Lord are meant, in the internal sense the kind of things present in man which are discussed here, so that two persons are used to mean two things present in the same individual.

2080. That 'God said' means the reply that was perceived is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perceiving, dealt with just above in 2077. And because in the previous verse the words 'Abraham said' were used, which meant perception, and in this verse the words 'God said' (or replied) occur, a perceived reply, that is, a reply received in the form of perception, is consequently meant. All perception entails both a proposition and a reply, the perception of the two being expressed here in the historical sense by the phrases 'Abraham said to God' and 'God said'. That 'God's saying' means perceiving, see 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, and in various places above in this chapter.