9249. 'Do not put your hand with the wicked' means not obeying malevolent feelings. This is clear from the meaning of 'putting the hand' as obeying (for 'the hand' means power, 878, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 6292, 7188, 7189, 7518, 7673, 8153, 8281), and as what resides with a person, thus the person himself to the extent that he has power within him, 9133, so that 'putting one's hand with someone' means making common cause with him, which - when malevolence motivates it, meant by 'the wicked - is obeying, since malevolence is persuasive and leads a person on; and from the meaning of 'the wicked' as one who is malevolent, and in the abstract sense malevolence. The term 'in the abstract sense' is used because angels, who understand the spiritual sense of the Word, that is, who perceive the Word on a spiritual level, think and speak in the abstract, without envisaging any actual person, 4380 (end), 8343, 8985, 9007; with them the idea of a person is converted into that of some reality, 5225, 5287, 5434.

5328. 'Or his foot' means all power in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'foot' as the natural, dealt with in 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4931-4952. Here power within the natural is meant because 'lifting up the foot', like 'lifting up the hand', means power, though 'lifting up the hand' means power in the spiritual, whereas 'lifting up the foot' means power in the natural; for the parts within the body that are above the feet correspond to spiritual things. This is especially evident from the Grand Man or the three heavens.

[2] Whenever the whole of heaven is displayed visually as one human being, the inmost or third heaven presents itself as the head, the middle or second heaven presents itself as the body, and the lowest or first as the feet. The reason the inmost or third heaven presents itself as the head is that it is celestial; the reason the middle or second heaven presents itself as the body is that it is spiritual; and the reason the lowest or first presents itself as the feet is that it is natural. By 'the neck' therefore, since this is an intermediate part, is meant the inflow and communication of celestial things with spiritual ones; and by 'the knees', since these are likewise intermediate, is meant the inflow and communication of spiritual things with natural ones. From this it is evident that 'lifting up the hand' means power within the spiritual, while 'lifting up the foot' means power within the natural, and therefore that the power meant by 'the hand' has regard to the spiritual, namely to truth grounded in good, 3091, 3567, 4932. By the spiritual is meant that within the natural which belongs to the light of heaven, and by the natural that within the natural which belongs to the light of the world; for everything belonging to the light of heaven is called spiritual, and everything belonging to the light of the world is called natural.