662. Because those two prophets tormented them that dwell upon the earth, signifies anxiety of heart in the devastated church on account of these. This is evident from the signification of "the two witnesses," who are here called "two prophets," as being the goods and truths of doctrine; also from the signification of "tormenting," as being anxiety of heart; also from the signification of "them that dwell upon the earth," as being those who live in the church, here in the devastated church. Therefore these words signify the anxiety of heart from the goods of love and the truths of doctrine with those who are of the devastated church; for here the end of the church is treated of, when the loves of self and of the world, and their lusts and the evils and falsities of those lusts, have rule. Then men are tormented by the goods of love and the truths of doctrine, because inwardly or in their hearts they hate them, howsoever they may profess them with their lips; and when anything that is hated enters there is inward torment; and yet such a man of the church does not know, so long as he lives in the world, that he has so great hate for these two witnesses, and that he is inwardly tormented by them, for the reason that he does not know the state of his interior thought and affection, but only the state of his exterior thought and affection, which falls immediately into speech. But when he comes into the spiritual world his exterior thought and affection are laid asleep, and the interior are opened, and then he feels so great a repugnance from hatred against the goods of love and the truths of doctrine that he cannot endure hearing them. When, therefore, such a man enters any angelic society where spiritual love and faith rule he is grievously tormented, which is a sign of interior repugnance from hatred against love and faith. This makes clear what is signified by "those two prophets tormented them that dwell upon the earth." "Them that dwell upon the earth" mean those in the church who are in good in respect to life, but here those who are in evil, for such are interiorly tormented by the goods of love and the truths of doctrine. That "to dwell" signifies to live, and thus life, can be seen from passages in the Word, where "to dwell" is mentioned (Isaiah 9:2; 13:20; 37:16; Jeremiah 2:6, 15; 51:13; Daniel 2:22; 4:9; Ezekiel 31:6; Hosea 9:2, 3; Psalms 23:6; 27:4; 80:1; 101:7; Zephaniah 3:6; and elsewhere).

A "house" is essentially a container -- for a person, a family, several families or even a large group with shared interests (think of the term "houses of worship.") In the Bible, a "house" is also a container, but for spiritual things rather than natural things. In various uses a "house" can represent part of the mind, the whole mind, a whole person or even a church. The other nuance to the word "house" is that it is generally used in regards to our affections and desires rather than our thoughts and principles. This makes sense; we tend to engage our thoughts and rationality when we are out in the world doing our work, but when we are inside our houses we are driven most by love for our families and the desire to be good to those we love. So "house" tends to represent the things we want and care about -- which are ultimately the things that define us.