23. Nothing is more common in the Word than for the word 'day' to be used to mean the particular time at which events take place, as in Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah is near. Behold, the day of Jehovah comes. I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, on the day of My fierce anger. Its time is close at hand, and its days will not be prolonged. Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22.

And in the same prophet,

Her antiquity is in the days of antiquity. On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. Isaiah 23:7, 15.

Since 'day' stands for the particular time it also stands for the state associated with that particular time, as in Jeremiah, Woe to us, for the day has declined, for the shadows of evening have lengthened! Jeremiah 6:4

And in the same prophet,

If you break My covenant that is for the day and My covenant that is for the night, so that there is neither daytime nor night at their appointed time. Jeremiah 33:20, 25.

Also,

Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.

4742. 'The tunic of various colours that was on him' means the nature of the appearances which is determined by that of the truths derived from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the tunic of various colours' as appearances of truth by which the spiritual of the natural is recognized and distinguished, dealt with in 4677, here therefore the nature of those appearances; and for this reason the word 'tunic' is used twice - 'they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of various colours'. The fact that the nature of these appearances is determined by that of the truths derived from good may be known from appearances of truth when these are manifested visually in the light of heaven, that is, in the next life. There no other light exists than that which comes from the Lord by way of heaven and which emanates from His Divine Truth; for this appears before the eyes of the angels as light, 2776, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3339, 3340, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4302, 4413, 4415. This light varies with each angel, depending on his reception of it. Angels' entire thought is formed by the variegation of that light, as also is man's thought, though he is not conscious of this because in man's case that light falls onto material images or ideas present in his natural or external man which are formed from the light of the world.

Consequently in his case the light of heaven is dimmed to such an extent that he scarcely knows that the light and sight in his understanding are a product of the light of heaven. But in the next life when the sight of the eye is no longer reliant on the light of the world but on that of heaven it is then obvious that his thought is formed from the latter.

[2] When this light passes from heaven into the world of spirits it manifests itself there in the form of various colours, the beauty, variation, and loveliness of these colours being immensely superior to the colours produced by the light of the world; see what has already been presented from experience regarding colours, in 1053, 1624, 3993, 4530, 4677. Because colours in the next life are formed from the light of heaven they are in origin nothing else than appearances of truth derived from good. The source from which truth shines is not truth itself because by itself alone it does not possess any flame; rather, good is the source of it since this is like the flame from which light shines. The nature of good therefore determines the nature of the truth that appears from it, and the nature of the truth is the same as that of the good from which it shines. From this one may see what is meant in the internal sense by 'the tunic of various colours' - that the nature of the appearances is determined by that of the truths derived from good; for as shown already, 'Joseph', to whom the tunic belonged, represents Divine Truth.