(Continuation respecting the Seventh Commandment)

[2] Since hatred, which is to will to kill, is the opposite of love to the Lord and also of love towards the neighbor, and since these loves are what make heaven with man, it is evident that hatred, being thus opposite, is what makes hell with him. Nor is infernal fire anything else than hatred; and in consequence the hells appear to be in a fire with a dusky glow according to the quality and quantity of the hatred, and in a fire with a dusky flame according to the quantity and quality of the revenge from hatred. [3] Since hatred and love are direct opposites, and since hatred in consequence constitutes hell with man, just as love constitutes heaven with him, therefore the Lord thus teaches:

If thou shalt offer thy gift upon the altar, and shalt there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming, offer thy gift. Be well disposed towards thine adversary whiles thou art in the way with him; lest haply the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the last farthing (Matt. 5:23-26). To be delivered to the judge, and by the judge to the officer, and by him to be cast into prison, describes the state of the man who is in hatred after death from his having been in hatred against his brother in the world, "prison" meaning hell, and "to pay the last farthing" signifies the punishment that is called everlasting fire.