bless
The Lord is perfect love expressed as perfect wisdom. He created us so that He could love us, could give us love and wisdom of...
the Lord
The Bible refers to the Lord in many different ways, which from the text seem indistinguishable and interchangeable. Understood in the internal sense, though, there...
lord
The Lord, in the simplest terms, is love itself expressed as wisdom itself. In philosophic terms, love is the Lord's substance and wisdom is His...
times
Time is an aspect of the physical world, but according to Swedenborg is not an aspect of the spiritual world. The same is true of...
mouth
In most cases, "mouth" in the Bible represents thought and logic, especially the kind of active, concrete thought that is connected with speech. The reason...
soul
The nature of the soul is a deep and complicated topic, but it can be summarized as "spiritual life," who we are in terms of...
humble
The word "meek" is used just a handful of times in the Bible, but it is attributed several times to the Lord and is used...
hear
'To hearken to father and mother,' as mentioned in Genesis 28:7, signifies obedience from affection. 'To hearken,' as mentioned in Genesis 30:22, signifies providence. See...
glad
To make glad signifies influx and reception from joy of heart.
us
Angels do give us guidance, but they are mere helpers; the Lord alone governs us, through angels and spirits. Since angels have their assisting role,...
name
It's easy to see that names are important in the Bible. Jehovah changed Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah, changed Jacob to Israel and...
faces
“The eyes are the windows of the soul.” That’s a sentiment with roots somewhere in murky antiquity, but one that has become hopelessly cliché because...
ashamed
On a natural level, there are a variety of things that can cause shame. We might be ashamed of physical weakness or ugliness; we might...
poor
The poor, maimed, lame, and blind,' as in Luke 14:21, signify the uninstructed Gentiles who were in lives of good.
heard
Thanks to modern science, we now understand that hearing actually happens in the brain, not the ears. The ears collect vibrations in the air and...
saved
To be saved or rescued means getting true ideas that we can hold to even in the face of a storm of false thinking. Sometimes...
angel
'A messenger' signifies communication.
Round about
'Round about' denotes the things most distant from the middle, or from good and truth.
see
The symbolic meaning of "seeing" is "understanding," which is obvious enough that it has become part of common language (think about it; you might see...
good
It seems rather circular to say that “good” in the Bible represents good, but in a general sense it’s true! The case is this: The...
fear
Fear has various significations according to the thing which causes it. Fear signifies love. Fear, as in Gen 28:17, signifies a holy change.
want
'Want of spiritual nourishment,' denotes a lack of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom.
lack
'Want of spiritual nourishment,' denotes a lack of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom.
seek
The meaning of "to seek" in the Bible is pretty straightforward, but there is a bit of nuance: Swedenborg tells us that in most cases...
children
A child is a young boy or girl in the care of parents, older than a suckling or an infant, but not yet an adolescent....
hearken
'To hearken to father and mother,' as mentioned in Genesis 28:7, signifies obedience from affection. 'To hearken,' as mentioned in Genesis 30:22, signifies providence. See...
man
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
life
'Lives' is used in the plural, because of the will and understanding, and because these two lives make one.
days
The expression 'even to this day' or 'today' sometimes appears in the Word, as in Genesis 19:37-38, 22:14, 26:33, 32:32, 35:20, and 47:26. In a...
tongue
In Psalms 5:9, 'the throat an open sepulcher,' relates to evil, 'the tongue speaking smooth things,' to falsity.
evil
'To hurt,' as mentioned in Revelation 6:6, signifies violation and profanation. 'To hurt' as mentioned in Revelation 9:4, signifies perverting the truths and goods of...
lips
'A lip' signifies doctrine. A lip,' as in Isaiah 6:3, 7, signifies the interior parts of a person, consequently, internal worship, where adoration is grounded....
guile
Guile signifies to deceive and seduce for a deliberate purpose.
peace
In ordinary life, we tend to think of "peace" as essentially "a lack of conflict." As a nation, if we're not at war, it's a...
pursue
'To pursue,' as in Genesis 14:16, signifies a state of purification, because 'to pursue enemies' is the expulsion of evils and falsities which were with...
eyes
'Pairs of hands, eyes, etc.' relate to the will and understanding, or to good and truth. The right side to the will or good, and...
righteous
The word "righteous" has taken on a bit of negative shading in modern language. That may be because we hear it most often as part...
open
To open,' as in Revelation 9, signifies communication and conjunction.
face
“The eyes are the windows of the soul.” That’s a sentiment with roots somewhere in murky antiquity, but one that has become hopelessly cliché because...
Cut off
To be cut off, as in Genesis 41:36, signifies to perish.
earth
Land' in the Word, denotes the church, for the things which signify the church also signify the things relating to the church, for these constitute...
heareth
'To hearken to father and mother,' as mentioned in Genesis 28:7, signifies obedience from affection. 'To hearken,' as mentioned in Genesis 30:22, signifies providence. See...
broken
To “break” something creates an image that is much different from “attacking,” “destroying,” or “shattering.” It is less emotional, less violent in its intent; it...
heart
The heart means love. A good heart means love to the Lord and to the neighbor while a hard or stony heart means the love...
many
Intellectual things – ideas, knowledge, facts, even insight and understanding – are more separate and free-standing than emotional things, and it’s easier to imagine numbering...
afflictions
Matthew 24:21 mentions an affliction "such as was not from the beginning of the world, no nor ever shall be". There, the affliction means the...
keepeth
"Keeping" in the Bible generally has to do with controlling the actual actions of life, though in some cases it can mean holding something away...
bones
Bones are strong and supportive, providing a framework for our bodies and making motion and action possible. They are also the least "alive" part of...
one
A company might have executives setting policy and strategy, engineers designing products, line workers building them, managers handling personnel and others handling various functions. They...
Wicked
'The wicked' or 'unrighteous' denotes being not in truth of faith.
hate
If you truly hate someone, that means you would kill them and destroy their reputation if you could do so without repercussion – not a...
servants
“Servant” literally means “a person who serves another,"" and its meaning is similar in reference to the spiritual meaninngs of the Bible. Our lives in...
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