In chapter 4 of the Book of Amos, verses 1-3 are talking about people who pervert the truths of the church. They will fall into falsities in outermost things.

In the Bible, fish represent "lower" things than mammals, so we can interpret the fishhooks in verse 2 as meaning being caught and held fast in natural or lower things.

Verses 4-6 are about acts of worship such as tithes and sacrifices. These look similar to genuine worship, but are only external sorts of things. We can tell because ‘teeth’ (in verse 6) represent ultimates or outermost things (see Secrets of Heaven 6380). It follows that “cleanness of teeth” would mean outermost things that look good but only imitate genuine worship. The Lord exhorts, “Yet you have not returned to me.”

Verses 7-8. Some things true will remain, when where there are too many false ideas, the truths don't get through. This can be seen where the Lord says, “I made it rain on one city; I withheld rain from another city... where it did not rain the part withered.” Again the Lord exhorts, “Yet you have not returned to me.”

Verse 9. Afterward all things of the church are falsified, shown by blight attacking the gardens, vineyards, fig tree and olive trees. The last three represent spiritual, natural and celestial things, or all the things of spiritual life. “Yet you have not returned to me,” says the Lord.

Verses 10-11. The Lord explains the devastating things he allowed to happen: plague in Egypt, death of young men by swords, stench in the camps, Sodom and Gomorrah. This is because they are profaned by sensual knowledges. Profanation means the mixing of good and evil together. (See Secrets of Heaven 1001[2]).

This extends to all things of the church, with the church being the Lord’s kingdom on earth (Secrets of Heaven 768[3]).

With profanation “as soon as any idea of what is holy arises, the idea of what is profane joins immediately to it,” (Secrets of Heaven 301).

Now there is hardly anything left. “Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord again.

Verses 12-13: Because people adamantly remain in their profane ways, they are warned, “Prepare to meet your God!”. This is the God powerful and mighty, “who forms mountains, and creates the wind,” and even more close to home, “Who declares to man what his thought is.” As intimately a knowing as that is, the Lord’s love for all humanity is contained in His exhortations for them to turn themselves to Him.

See, for example, Luke 6:44-45, and True Christian Religion 373.

3986. ‘Et benedixit ¹ tibi Jehovah’ ad pedem meum': quod significet a Divino quod naturali, constat a significatione ‘benedicere Jehovah’ quod sit donari bono, de qua n. 3406, et quod sit conjunctio, n. 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584, ita ‘benedicere Jehovah’ est donari bono Divino per conjunctionem, hic cum bono naturalis quod per ‘Jacobum’ repraesentatur; naturale est quod per ‘pedem’ significatur; quod ‘pes’ sit naturale, videatur n. 2162, 3147, 3761, et porro constabit a correspondentia Maximi Hominis cum singulis apud hominem ad finem capitum; inde patet quod per ‘benedixit tibi Jehovah ad pedem meum’ significetur a Divino quod naturali.

[2] Arcanum quod in his et in illis quae mox praecedunt, latet reconditum, paucis si ulli notum est, quapropter revelandum; bona quae apud homines tam intra Ecclesiam quam extra Ecclesiam, sunt prorsus varia, et tam varia ut bonum unius hominis non sit prorsus simile bono alterius; varietates existunt a veris cum quibus bona conjunguntur, omne enim bonum habet suum quale a veris, et vera habent suum essentiale a bonis, varietates etiam existunt ab affectionibus quae sunt amoris cujusvis, quae radicantur et appropriantur homini per vitam ejus; sunt apud hominem, etiam intra Ecclesiam, pauca vera genuina, et adhuc pauciora apud hominem extra Ecclesiam, inde raro sunt affectiones veri genuini;

[3] sed usque illi qui in bono vitae sunt, seu qui in amore in Deum et in charitate erga proximum vivunt, salvantur; quod salvari possint, est inde quia Divinum Domini inest bono amoris in Deum et bono charitatis erga proximum, et ubi Divinum inest, ibi disponuntur omnia in ordinem, ut conjungi possint cum genuinis bonis et genuinis veris quae in caelis; quod ita sit, constare potest a societatibus quae ² caelum constituunt, quae innumerabiles sunt, et quarum omnes et singulae quoad bonum et verum variae sunt, at usque simul sumptae unum caelum ³ conformant; se habent illae sicut membra et organa corporis humani, quae tametsi ubivis varia, usque tamen unum hominem ⁴ constituunt; unum enim nusquam constituitur cum pluribus ab unis iisdem, seu prorsus similibus, sed a variis harmonice conjunctis; varia harmonice conjuncta sistunt omne unum; similiter se habet cum bonis et veris in mundo spirituali, quae tametsi varia sunt adeo ut non prorsus similia ⁵ apud unum sicut apud alterum, usque unum faciunt a Divino ⁶ per amorem et charitatem amor enim et charitas est conjunctio spiritualis; varietas eorum es caelestis harmonia, quae facit tale concors ut unum sint in Divino, hoc est, in Domino;

[4] praeterea bonum amoris in Deum et bonum charitatis erga proximum, utcumque ⁷ vera varia sunt, et veri affectiones variae, usque sunt receptibilia veri et boni genuini, sunt enim, ut ita dicatur, non dura et resistibilia, sed quasi mollia et cedentia, patiuntur enim se duci a Domino, et sic flecti ad bonum, et per bonum a Ipsum; aliter qui in amore sui et mundi sunt, illi non patiuntur enim se duci et flecti a Domino, et ad Dominum, sed duriter resistunt, nam semet ducere volunt, et magis adhuc cum iidem in principiis falsi confirmatis sunt;

[5] quamdiu tales sunt, non admittunt Divinum.

Ex hi nunc constare potest quid in sensu interno significatur per illa verba quae Jacobus ad Labanem locutus est; per ‘Labanem’ enim significatur tale bonum quod non genuinum est, quia non ei genuina vera implantata sunt, sed usque tale ut ei conjungi possint et in quo Divinum possit esse; quale bonum solet esse apud infantes pueros antequam receperint genuina vera; et quale bonum etiam apud simplices intra Ecclesiam qui pauca vera fidei sciunt, sed usque in charitate vivunt; et quale etiam apud gentes probas quae in sancto cultu suorum deorum sunt; per tale bonum introduci possunt vera et bona genuina, ut constare potest ab illis quae de infantibus et simplicibus intra Ecclesiam n. 3690 dicta sunt; et quae de gentibus probis extra Ecclesiam n. 2598-2603.

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