8278. The abysses have covered them. That this signifies that falsities from cupidities have enveloped them, is evident from the signification of “the abysses,” as being falsities which are from cupidities. By “abysses” in the Word are meant waters and abundance of waters in the deeps; and by “waters” in a good sense are signified truths, and in the opposite sense falsities (see n. 739, 790, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668), and by “deeps” are signified the hells. Hence it is that “abysses” denote falsities from cupidities; also that they denote the hells. That by “abysses” in the Word are meant waters in the deeps and abundance of waters, is evident in Ezekiel:

The waters made the cedar to grow, the abyss made it high; so that with its rivers it went round thy plant, and it sent out water-channels unto all the trees of the field (Ezekiel 31:4).

He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and made them drink the great abysses; He brought forth streams out of the rock, and made the waters to come down like streams (Psalms 78:15-16).

A good land, a land of rivers of water, of fountains and abysses, going forth from valley and from mountain (Deuteronomy 8:7).

In these passages “abysses” denote waters in abundance; and waters in abundance, or “abysses,” denote truths of faith in abundance. “He made them to drink great abysses out of the rock” denotes that He made them receive truths of faith without lack, for “rock” denotes faith from the Lord, thus the Lord as to faith; “the abysses going forth from valley and from mountain” denote truths of faith from love. Consequently also among the blessings of Joseph were “blessings of the abyss that lieth beneath” (Genesis 49:25; Deuteronomy 33:13).

[2] That “abysses” denote falsities from cupidities, consequently also the hells, is evident in Isaiah:

Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of eternity; dost Thou not dry up the sea, the waters of the great abyss, and make the depths of the sea for a way, that the redeemed may pass over? (Isaiah 51:9-10).

Jehovah who cleft asunder the waters before them, who led them through the abysses, like a horse in the wilderness; they stumbled not (Isaiah 63:12-13).

Thus said the Lord Jehovih, When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall make the abyss to come up against thee, and many waters shall cover thee (Ezekiel 26:19).

I saw a star from heaven fallen to the earth, to which was given the key of the pit of the abyss, and he opened the pit of the abyss (Revelation 9:1-2, 11).

The beast that cometh up out of the abyss made war with them (Revelation 11:7).

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss, and go into perdition (Revelation 17:8).

In these passages the “abyss” denotes the hells, thus also falsities from cupidities, for these are in the hells and make them.

[3] As these things are signified by “abysses,” by them are also signified temptations, for temptations are effected by means of falsities and evils that are injected by the hells. In this sense “abyss” is used in Jonah:

The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; the abyss was round about me (Jonah 2:5).

Abyss crieth unto abyss at the voice of thy water-channels; all thy breakers and thy waves have passed over me (Psalms 42:7).

Who hast shown me many and evil straitnesses, return and quicken me, and make me return and come up from the abysses of the earth (Psalms 71:20).

3424. And the servants of Isaac digged in the valley, and found there a well of living waters. That this signifies the Word as to the literal sense in which is the internal sense, is evident from the signification of “digging in the valley,” as being to make search lower down in respect to where truths are; for to “dig” is to search, and a “valley” denotes what is below (n. 1723, 3417); and from the signification of a “well of living waters,” as being the Word in which are truths Divine, thus the Word as to the literal sense in which is the internal sense. That the Word is called a “fountain,” and indeed a “fountain of living waters,” is well known; but the reason why the Word is also called a “well,” is that the sense of the letter is relatively such; and also because relatively to those who are spiritual the Word is not a “fountain,” but a “well” (n. 2702, 3096). As a “valley” denotes that which is below, or what is the same, that which is exterior, and the fountain was found in a valley, and the literal sense is the lower or exterior sense of the Word, therefore it is the literal sense which is meant; but because the internal sense, that is, the heavenly and Divine sense, is within this, therefore the waters thereof are called “living;” as were also the waters that went forth under the threshold of the new house, in Ezekiel:

And it shall come to pass that every living creature that creepeth, to which the river there comes, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters are come thither and are healed, and everything liveth whithersoever the river cometh (Ezekiel 47:9); where the “river” is the Word; the “waters which cause everything to live” are the Divine truths contained in it; the “fish” are memory-knowledges (n. 40, 991).

[2] That the Word of the Lord is such that it gives life to him that thirsteth, that is, to him that desireth life, and that it is a “fountain whose waters are living,” the Lord also teaches in John when speaking to the woman of Samaria at Jacob’s well:

If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life (John 4:10, 14).

That the Word is living and therefore gives life, is because in its supreme sense the Lord is treated of, and in the inmost sense His kingdom, in which the Lord is all; and this being the case, there is in the Word life itself, which flows into the minds of those who read the Word with reverence; hence it is that in respect to the Word that is from Himself the Lord declares Himself to be a “fountain of water springing up unto eternal life” (see also n. 2702).

[3] That just as the Lord’s Word is called a “fountain,” so is it also called a “well,” is evident in Moses:

Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well, answer ye unto it: the princes digged the well; the chiefs of the people digged it for the lawgiver with their staves (Numbers 21:17-18).

These words were spoken at the “place Beer,” that is, at the “place of the well.” That by “well” here is signified the Word of the Ancient Church, spoken of above (n. 2897), is evident from what is there said; “princes” are primary truths that are the source; (that “princes” signify primary truths may be seen above, n. 1482, 2089); the “chiefs of the people” are lower truths, such as are those contained in the literal sense (n. 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295); that the “lawgiver” is the Lord, is evident; “staves” denote the powers which they possessed.