9261. 'You shall keep yourself well away from the word of a lie' means detesting falsity that arises from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'a lie' as falsity arising from evil, dealt with in 8908, 9248, falsity arising from evil being meant since it is the falsity people should keep well away from because it derives its essential nature from evil, and evil and good are contrary to each other because evil comes from hell and good comes from heaven, where it is received from the Lord (but falsity which does not arise from evil, being falsity due to lack of knowledge, is not the same, see 1679, 2863, 4551, 4552, 4729, 4736, 6359, 7272, 7574, 8149, 8311, 8318 (end), 9258); and from the meaning of 'keeping oneself well away from' as detesting. The origin of this meaning of 'keeping well away from' as detesting lies with things seen in the spiritual world, where people's differences, disagreements, and detestations in regard to aspects of spiritual life keep them apart from one another. For in that world people seen together in the same place are in a like state in regard to their feelings and consequently their thoughts. But as soon as there is disagreement among them they are separated and kept apart from one another, as far away as the degree of disagreement determines. This is what happens because in the spiritual world extensions of space, like periods of time, are states also, and therefore distances are differences between states. Nevertheless states manifest themselves visually there as extensions of space, and the differences between them as distances. Regarding extensions of space and distances, and also periods of time, that they are states, see 1273-1277, 1376-1381, 2625, 3356, 3387, 3404, 3638-3641, 4321, 4882, 7381, 9104. Yet nevertheless there appear to be extensions of space and distances, but such appearances are the direct product of the changes of the state which things on more internal levels undergo, 5605. From all this it is now evident that 'keeping well away from' in the internal sense means detesting.

8318. 'Alarm and dread fell on them' means that they were without any hope of dominion. This is clear from the meaning of 'alarm and dread' - when the phrase applies to those ruled by self-love and therefore by falsities and evils, who are meant by 'the chiefs of Edom' and 'the powerful ones of Moab' - as being without any hope of dominion. Those ruled by the evil of self-love have a constant desire to dominate, but when terror caused by a triumphant enemy strikes them the hope of being able to dominate forsakes them.

[2] It should be recognized that evils arise from a dual origin - self-love and love of the world. People ruled by evils arising from self-love love only themselves and despise everyone else except those who make common cause with them. And if they love these they do not really love them, only themselves, because they see themselves in them. Evils arising from this origin are the worst of all; for those people not only despise all others in contrast to themselves but also heap insults on them, hate them for the slightest reason, and long for their destruction. Vengeance and cruelty accordingly become the delight of their life. People ruled by the evil of self-love are in hell at a great depth determined by the nature and amount of that love.

[3] As for those ruled by evil arising from love of the world, they too regard the neighbour as being worthless. They value him only for his wealth, and so value his wealth but not the person himself. They have the desire to own everything belonging to their neighbour; and when this desire rules them they are devoid of any charity or pity. Robbing their neighbour of his goods is the delight of their life, especially of those who are disgustingly avaricious, that is to say, of those who love gold and silver for their own sakes, not for the sake of any useful purpose served by them. Those with whom the evil of this love reigns are also in hells, but in ones not so deep as the hells which those ruled by the evil of self-love are in. In addition to these two origins of evil there is also a third, which consists in doing evil as a result of false religious principles. But this kind of evil is calculated as evil when it exists with those ruled by self-love and love of the world, but not when it exists with those governed by love towards the neighbour and to their God, since good is their end in view and the end determines the nature of all else, see 8311.