8876. 'Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons' means the consequent propagation of falsity from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'visiting the iniquity of the fathers' as the propagation of evils, the reason why 'visiting' means propagating being that the subject is the state of those who completely reject the Divine, therefore who are receptive no longer of good but of evil, and constantly so since evil is constantly increasing with such people, which is the propagation of it (for the meaning of 'father' as good and in the contrary sense as evil, see 3703, 5902, 6050, 7833, 7834); and from the meaning of 'the sons' as truths, dealt with in 1147, 2623, 3373, and therefore in the contrary sense as falsities In the proximate sense 'visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons' does not mean that sons pay the penalty for the iniquity of their fathers, for that is contrary to the Divine, Deuteronomy 24:16. Rather the meaning in that sense is that evil increases with the fathers and so is passed on by heredity to their children, and that consequently the evil mounts up over successive generations, 2910, 3701, 4317, 8550, 8551. In the spiritual sense however 'the fathers' does not mean fathers but evils, and 'the sons' does not mean sons but falsities; therefore those words mean the constant propagation of falsity from evil.

5138. 'For which they should put me in the pit' means a casting away among falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'the pit' as falsity, dealt with in 4728, 4744, 5038. In what appears above evil was the subject, that is to say, the fact that evil caused celestial things to become alienated, 5174, 5135; but now falsity is the subject, for when the one is mentioned in the Word, so also is the other. That is to say, when evil is mentioned, so also is falsity, for the reason that when good is mentioned there, so also is truth, in order that a marriage may exist in every individual part of the Word. The heavenly marriage is a marriage of good and truth, but the hellish marriage is one of evil and falsity. For where evil exists, so also does falsity, falsity linking itself to evil like a wife to her husband; and where good exists, so also does truth, truth joining itself to good like a wife to her husband. Consequently one can see from a person's life the essential nature of his faith, for good, or else evil, is the inner essence of his life, and truth, or else falsity, is the inner essence of his faith. As regards a marriage existing in every individual part of the Word, see 683, 793, 801, 2173, 2516, 2712, 4138 (end).