6232. And I will make you into a congregation of peoples' means an increase without limit. This is clear from the meaning of 'a congregation of peoples' as truths from good without limit; for 'peoples' means truths, 1259, 1260, 3295, and 'a congregation an abundance. Consequently 'making into a congregation of peoples' means causing truths to increase abundantly. That increase is without limit for the reason that all things in the spiritual world, which spring from the Infinite, as truths and forms of good do, are capable of unending multiplication and increase. The expression 'without limit' denotes that which cannot be described and comprehended numerically; yet that which is without limit is finite when compared with the Infinite, so that there is no way of measuring one against the other.

[2] The reason why truths and forms of good can increase without limit is that they derive from the Lord who is Infinite. One may see that this is what truths and forms of good are like from the consideration that truth and good reign throughout the whole of heaven and yet are never exactly the same with one person as with another; and this would still be so even if heaven were millions of times larger. It can likewise be seen from the consideration that angels are forever becoming more perfect, that is, they grow constantly in goodness and truth; yet they cannot possibly attain a full degree of perfection. Unlimited possibility for growth always remains; for truths have no numerical limit, each truth has unlimited facets, and so on.

[3] The same thing can be seen even better from those living in the natural world. Even if the human race increased without limit, still no one would have a face identical with another's; no one would have an internal face, that is, a personality, identical with another's, nor even an identical sound of voice. From this it is evident that variety without limit exists in all things and that one thing is never identical with another. Variety even more unlimited exists among the truths and forms of good that belong to the spiritual world; for one thing in the natural world corresponds to millions in the spiritual world. Therefore the more interior things are, the more they are without limit.

[4] The reason why such things without limit are a feature of everything in the spiritual world and also in the natural world is that they have their origin in the Infinite, as stated above; for if they did not have their origin there they could not possibly be without limit. Furthermore the things that are without limit in both worlds also make it quite evident that the Divine is Infinite.

3294. 'And two peoples will be separated from your bowels' means resulting truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'people' as truth, dealt with in 1259, 1260, and from the meaning of 'being separated from the bowers' as arising from there. When in the Word birth is the subject the expression 'going out of the womb or belly' is used in reference to the mother, but 'being separated from the bowels' in reference to the father. For womb and loins are used in reference to the things of love, that is, of good, but when the expression 'being separated from the bowels' is used the origin of truth is meant. Here therefore, where the subject is good, the words 'two nations from your womb' are used, and when truth is the subject, 'two peoples will be separated from your bowels'; and by these words the origin of truth from good is meant in the internal sense. The expression 'two peoples' is used because just as good is interior and exterior, 3293, so also is truth. Interior truth within the natural is that which is joined to the interior good of the natural, while exterior truth is that which is joined to the exterior good of the natural. Interior truth is called natural truth, whereas exterior truth is called sensory truth. What exactly these types of truth are, however, will in the Lord's Divine mercy be clear later on where Jacob is the subject, for Jacob represents both of these types of truth.