165. Except they repent of their works. That this signifies, unless they separate themselves from them is evident from the signification of repenting, as being to separate themselves from falsities (concerning which see above, n. 143): and from the signification of works, as here denoting the whoredoms with Jezebel, by which are signified the reception of falsities (concerning which see what was said just above, n. 163). To separate themselves from them is to repent, and to repent is to desist from evils and falsities, and afterwards to flee from and hold them in aversion (see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n. 161, 165, 169, and the following numbers).