9397. 'And read it in the ears of the people' means to be listened to and obeyed. This is clear from the meaning of 'reading' as to be listened to, for when something is read, it is in order that it may be heard, discerned, and obeyed, that is, listened to; and from the meaning of 'in the ears' as to be obeyed, for 'the ears' and 'hearing' mean obeying, 2542, 3869, 4551, 4652-4660, 5471, 5475, 7216, 8361, 8990, 9311.

[2] Since not only hearing and discerning are meant by 'the ears' but also obeying, expressions such as 'speak in their ears' and 'read in their ears' are used very often in the Word, not speak or read to them, as in Jeremiah,

Hear these words which I speak in your ears and in the ears of all the people. Jeremiah 28:7.

In the first Book of Samuel,

They spoke those words in the ears of the people. 1 Samuel 11:4.

And elsewhere in that book,

Let your maidservant speak in your ears. 1 Samuel 25:24.

In the Book of Judges,

Proclaim in the ears of the people, saying ... Judges 7:3.

In Moses,

Say in the ears of the people. Exodus 11:2.

In the same author,

Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgements which I speak in your ears today. Deuteronomy 5:1.

In the same author,

I speak in their ears these words. Deuteronomy 31:28.

In the same author,

And Moses spoke all the words of the song in the ears of the people. Deuteronomy 32:44.

In the second Book of Kings,

He read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant. 2 Kings 23:2.

In Jeremiah,

They said to him, Sit and read it in our ears. And Baruch read it in their ears. Jeremiah 36:15.

In Luke,

When Jesus had finished all the words in the people's ears ... Luke 7:1.

[3] Because 'the ear' and 'hearing' mean receiving, discerning, and obeying truth, thus mean belief from start to finish, it was said many times by the Lord, He who has an ear to hear, let him hear, as in Matthew 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; 7:16; Luke 14:35. And since 'the deaf' or 'those who do not hear' mean in the spiritual sense people with no belief in the truth because they have no knowledge nor consequently any discernment of it, 6989, 9209, the Lord, when He cured the one who was deaf, put His finger into his ears and said, Ephphatha (that is, Be opened), and immediately his ears were opened, Mark 7:32-35. All the Lord's miracles involved and were signs of states of the Church, see 8364, 9086.

2256. That 'as to make the righteous die with the wicked, so that the righteous will be as the wicked' means that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it, is clear from the meaning of 'the righteous' as good and of 'the wicked' as evil, dealt with above in 2250. From this 'to make the righteous die with the wicked' means making good perish with evil; but because this ought never to be done, and also because the very thought of it evokes horror, it is removed in the internal sense, and the following is at the same time presented - that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it.

[2] The implications of this particular matter are known to few, if any. It has to be recognized that all the good whatever that a person has thought and done from earliest childhood through to the very end of his life remains; and the same applies to all the evil, so much so that not even the least trace of it completely perishes. All that good and evil is written in his book of life, that is, in each of his memories, ¹ and in his true self, that is, in his character and disposition. From that good and evil he has formed a life for himself and, so to speak, a soul, the essential nature of which remains unchanged after death. But goods are never so mixed up with evils, nor evils with goods, that they cannot be separated; for if they were so mixed a person would perish for ever. The Lord sees to it that they are not. If he has led a life abiding in the goods of love and charity, then when a person enters the next life the Lord separates the evils, and by means of the goods present with him raises him into heaven. But if he has led a life immersed in evils, that is to say, in things contrary to love and charity, the Lord separates the goods from him, and his evils carry him into hell. Such is the experience of everyone after death. But it is a separation and in no way a complete removal.

[3] What is more, because the will of man, which constitutes the one part of his life, has been utterly destroyed, the Lord separates that destroyed part from the other part, which is that of his understanding, and in this other part He implants - in the case of those who are being regenerated - the good of charity and through this a new will. These are they who have conscience. In the same manner also the Lord in general separates evil from good. Such are the arcana that are meant in the internal sense by the statement that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it.

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