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...
wrath
Fury is a receding from good, and anger is a receding from truth.
Hot
'Hot' signifies being in spiritual love.
arrows
'Shafts' or 'arrows' signify truths and spiritual truth.
hand
In Genesis 27:22, 'voice' relates to truth, and 'hand,' to good.
presseth
These verbs in the Bible indicate a conflict between two spiritual states, and the effort it takes to attain the higher state. It's easy to...
flesh
Flesh has several meanings just in its most obvious form. It can mean all living creatures as when the Lord talks about the flood "destroying...
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...
sin
In the Word three terms are used to mean bad things that are done. These three are transgression, iniquity, and sin, and they are here...
iniquities
In the Word three terms are used to mean bad things that are done. These three are transgression, iniquity, and sin, and they are here...
head
The head is the part of us that is highest, which means in a representative sense that it is what is closest to the Lord....
burden
A burden (Jer. 17:4) signifies that which is from the proprium of man.
stink
To 'stink,' as in Genesis 34:30, denotes aversion and abomination.
go
In the physical world, the places we inhabit and the distances between them are physical realities, and we have to get our physical bodies through...
day
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...
long
'Long' and thence to prolong, refer to good.
filled
There are two ways something can be filled: It can be filled with something bad against the wishes of its owner, or it can be...
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...
hid
'To hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains,' as mentioned in Revelation 6:15, signifies being in evils and in falsities...
light
In the Word, “light” in the highest sense represents Divine Truth: knowledge, ideas, understanding that come to us from the Lord. In lesser degrees...
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...
lovers
To some degree, there really is no spiritual meaning to the word “love” in the Bible. Why? Because if you truly love another, that is...
friends
In the Bible, there is a careful distinction between the word “brother” and the word “companion” or “friend.” That’s partly because the people of Israel...
stand
'To stay with,' as in Genesis 32:4, relates to the life of truth when accompanied by good, and in this instance, it means to take...
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...
snares
'The loftiness of man' (literally 'snares' in Hebrew) signifies the pride of a person's own intelligence.
hurt
'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...
speak
Like "say," the word "speak" refers to thoughts and feelings moving from our more internal spiritual levels to our more external ones – and ultimately...
deceits
The spiritual meaning of being deceitful is pretty close to the literal meaning: According to the Writings it means using false thinking and logic to...
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...
dumb
To be dumb, or unable to speak, as in Isaiah 35:6, signifies those who on account of ignorance of the truth, cannot confess the Lord,...
openeth
To open,' as in Revelation 9, signifies communication and conjunction.
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...
man
The relationship between men and women is deep and nuanced, and one entire book of the Writings – Conjugial Love or Love in Marriage –...
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...
God
When the Bible speaks of "Jehovah," it is representing love itself, the inmost love that is the essence of the Lord. That divine love is...
said
As with many common verbs, the meaning of “to say” in the Bible is highly dependent on context. Who is speaking? Who is hearing? What...
rejoice
To make glad signifies influx and reception from joy of heart.
foot
The foot, as in Deuteronomy 33:3, signifies an inferior principle. To set the right foot on the sea and the left on the earth, as...
halt
In the original tongue 'lame' is one expression, and 'he that halts' is another. 'Lame' in a proper sense, signifies those who are in natural...
declare
To "declare" something means to say it formally, publicly and with emphasis; you might say what you think, but you only declare things you're sure...
iniquity
In the Word three terms are used to mean bad things that are done. These three are transgression, iniquity, and sin, and they are here...
enemies
An enemy in the Bible refers to people who are in the love of evil and the false thinking that springs from evil. On a...
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...
render
'To reward' signifies meting out punishment.
evil
'Wickedness' signifies evil, and 'iniquity' signifies falsities.
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...