Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 2311

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2311. That the Word is of such a nature, and that it is in this way distinct from all other writing, may be seen also from the fact that not only do all the names signify actual things (as shown above, n. 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888), but all the words also have a spiritual sense; and they thus signify another thing in heaven from what they do on earth, and this most constantly, in both the prophetical and the historical parts. When these names and words are set forth in their heavenly sense in accordance with their constant signification in the whole Word, there comes forth an internal sense which is the angelic Word. This twofold sense of the Word is circumstanced as are the body and the soul; the literal sense is like the body, and the internal sense is like the soul; and as the body lives by means of the soul, so does the literal sense by means of the internal sense. Through the internal sense the Lord's life inflows into the literal sense, in accordance with the affection of him who is reading it. Hence it is evident how holy is the Word, although it does not appear so to worldly minds. GENESIS 19

1. And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening; and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom; and Lot saw, and rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 2. And he said, Behold I pray my lords, turn aside, I pray, to the house of your servant, and pass the night, and wash your feet; and in the morning ye shall rise, and go on your way; and they said, Nay, for we will pass the night in the street. 3. And he urged them exceedingly; and they turned aside unto him, and came to his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened [bread]; and they did eat. 4. Scarcely yet were they lain down when the men of the city, the men of Sodom, compassed the house about, from a boy even to an old man, all the people from the uttermost part. 5. And they cried unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men that came unto thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them. 6. And Lot went out unto them to the door and shut the door behind him. 7. And he said, I pray you, my brethren, do not wickedly. 8. Behold I pray I have two daughters, who have not known man; let me I pray bring them out unto you, and ye may do unto them as is good in your eyes; only unto these men do not anything; for therefore are they come under the shadow of my roof. 9. And they said, Come on. And they said, Is one come to sojourn, and shall he judge indeed? Now will we do worse to thee than to them. And they pressed upon the man, upon Lot, exceedingly; and drew near to break open the door. 10. And the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. 11. And the men who were at the door of the house they smote with blindness, from small even to great; and they labored to find the door. 12. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou yet anyone here? Son-in-law, thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of the place. 13. For we will destroy this place, because their cry is become great before Jehovah; and Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it. 14. And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law that were to marry his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place, for Jehovah will destroy the city. And he was in the eyes of his sons-in-law as one that jested. 15. And when the dawn arose the angels pressed Lot to hasten, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are found, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16. And he lingered; and the men laid hold of his hand, and of the hand of his wife, and of the hand of his two daughters, in the clemency of Jehovah upon him, and they led him forth, and set him without the city. 17. And it came to pass, when they were leading them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not back behind thee, and stay not in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. 18. And Lot said unto them, Nay I pray my lords. 19. Behold I pray thy servant hath found grace in thine eyes, and thou hast made thy mercy great, which thou hast done with me, to make alive my soul, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest peradventure evil cleave to me, and I die. 20. Behold I pray this city is near to flee thither, and it is a little one; let me, I pray, escape thither-is it not a little one? And my soul shall live. 21. And he said unto him, Behold I have accepted thy face as to this word also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken. 22. Hasten, escape thither, for I cannot do anything until thou be come thither. Therefore he called the name of the city Zoar. 23. The sun was gone forth upon the earth, and Lot came to Zoar. 24. And Jehovah caused it to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven. 25. And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and the growth of the ground. 26. And his wife looked back behind him, and became a pillar of salt. 27. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, unto the place where he had stood before Jehovah. 28. And he looked against the faces of Sodom and Gomorrah, and against all the faces of the land of the plain, and he saw and behold the smoke of the land went up, as the smoke of a furnace. 29. And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt. 30. And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar; and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is no man in the earth to come unto us according to the way of all the earth. 32. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, and let us quicken seed from our father. 33. And they made their father drink wine that night; and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 34. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I, lay yesternight with my father; let us make him drink wine this night also, and go thou in and lie with him, and let us quicken seed from our father. 35. And they made their father drink wine that night also; and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he knew not when she lay down nor when she arose. 36. And the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father. 37. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: he is the father of Moab even unto this day. 38. And the younger she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: he is the father of the sons of Ammon unto this day.


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