Swedenborg several times associates the “wicked” with “malevolence,” defines “malevolence” as “destroying good, interior and exterior,” and says that the wicked do this by disowning the desire for good and understanding for good that come from the Lord and actively denying the Lord.

We might say, then, that wickedness is evil on the hunt, looking for all that is good and true specifically so it can attack and destroy it.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 661; Arcana Coelestia 7590, 9249, 9264)

9249. 'Do not put your hand with the wicked' means not obeying malevolent feelings. This is clear from the meaning of 'putting the hand' as obeying (for 'the hand' means power, 878, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 6292, 7188, 7189, 7518, 7673, 8153, 8281), and as what resides with a person, thus the person himself to the extent that he has power within him, 9133, so that 'putting one's hand with someone' means making common cause with him, which - when malevolence motivates it, meant by 'the wicked - is obeying, since malevolence is persuasive and leads a person on; and from the meaning of 'the wicked' as one who is malevolent, and in the abstract sense malevolence. The term 'in the abstract sense' is used because angels, who understand the spiritual sense of the Word, that is, who perceive the Word on a spiritual level, think and speak in the abstract, without envisaging any actual person, 4380 (end), 8343, 8985, 9007; with them the idea of a person is converted into that of some reality, 5225, 5287, 5434.