[2] But some passages shall be here adduced, whence it may be known that waters signify the truths of faith, likewise the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth. Thus in Isaiah:

"The earth shall be full of the knowledge (scientia) of Jehovah., as the waters cover the sea" (xi. 9).

Again:

"With joy shall ye draw water out of the fountains of salvation " (xii. 3).

Again:

"He that walketh in justice, and speaketh uprightnesses, bread shall be given him, and sure waters" (xxxiii. 15, 16).

Again:

"The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none: their tongue faileth for thirst. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of waters, and the dry land springs of waters. That they may see, and know, and hearken, and understand" (xli. 17, 18, 20).

Again:

"I will pour out waters upon him that is thirsty; and, floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring" (xliv. 3).

Again:

"Thy light shall arise in obscurity, and thy darkness as the noon-day; that thou mayest be as a watered garden, and as the going forth of waters, whose waters shall not lie" (lviii. 10).

In Jeremiah:

"My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out for themselves pits that hold no water" (ii. 13).

Again:

"Their nobles sent their little ones for water; they came to the pits, and found no waters; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded" (xiv. 3).

Again:

"They have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters" (xvii. 13).

Again:

"They shall come with weeping, and with weeping will I lead them; I will lead them to fountains of waters, in a way of rectitude" (xxxi. 9).

And in Ezekiel:

"I will break the staff of bread, and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment. That they may want bread and water, and be desolated, a man and his brother, and consume away for their iniquities" (iv. 16, 17; xii. 18, 19; Isaiah, li. 14).

And in Amos:

"Behold, the days come, in which I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for waters, but for hearing the Word of Jehovah. They shall wander from sea to sea, they shall run to and fro, to seek the Word of Jehovah, and shall not find it; in that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst" (viii. 11-13).

And in Zechariah;

"In that day living waters shall go out from Jerusalem" (xiv. 8).

And in David:

"Jehovah is my shepherd, I shall not want. He will lead me to the waters of rest" (Psalm xxiii. 1, 2).

In Isaiah:

"They shall not thirst; he will make waters to flow for them out of the rock, and he will cleave the rock, that the waters may flow out" (xlviii. 21).

In David:

"O God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth, weary without waters" (Psalm lxiii. 1).

Again:

Jehovah "sendeth his Word, he maketh the wind to blow, that the waters may flow" (Psalm cxlvii. 18).

Again:

"Praise Jehovah, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters which are above the heavens" (cxlviii. 4).

In John:

Jesus came to the fountain of Jacob; "A woman of Samaria came to draw water, to whom Jesus said, Give me to drink; - if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest ask of him, and he would give thee living water. The woman said unto him, Whence hast thou that living water? Jesus said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life" (iv. 7-15).

Again:

Jesus said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (vii. 37, 38).

And in the Apocalypse:

"Unto him that is athirst shall be given of the fountain of the water of life freely" (xxi. 6).

And in another place:

The angel showed him "a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" (xxii. 1).

And again:

"The spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (xxii. 17).

[3] These passages are adduced, that it may be known that by waters in the Word are signified the truths of faith, and hence what is signified by the water of baptism, concerning which the Lord thus teaches in John:

"Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (iii. 5);

where water denotes the truths of faith, and the spirit a life according to them (as may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n. 202-209, and the following numbers). Because it has not hitherto been known that waters signify the truths of faith, and that all things that were instituted amongst the sons of Israel were representative of spiritual things, it has therefore been believed, that by the washings commanded them their sins were wiped away, although they were in no sense wiped away; those washings only represented purification from evils and falsities, by means of the truths of faith and a life according to them (as may be seen in Arcana Coelestia, n. 3147, 5954, 10,237, 10,240). From these considerations it is now clear, that by His voice as the voice of many waters, is meant Divine truth; as also in Ezekiel:

"Behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and his voice was as the voice of many waters: and the earth was enlightened by his glory" (xliii. 2).

And in David:

"The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters, Jehovah is upon many waters" (Ps. xxix. 3).

And in the following words in the Apocalypse:

"I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters" (xiv. 2).

[4] I know that some will wonder why waters are mentioned in [4] the Word, and not the truths of faith, although the purpose of the Word is to teach man about his spiritual life; and if the truths of faith had been mentioned instead of waters, men would have known that the waters of baptism and of washings contribute nothing to his purification from evils and falsities. But it must be noted, that the Word, to be Divine, and at the same time to be for heaven and the church, must be altogether natural in the letter; for unless this were the case, it could not be the medium of effecting the conjunction of heaven with the church; for it would be like a house without a foundation, and like a soul without a body; for the ultimates include all the interiors, and are their foundation (as may be seen above, n. 41). Man also is in ultimates, and heaven has its foundation upon the church in him. This is why the style in which the Word is written is of such a character; therefore, when man thinks spiritually from the natural things which are in the sense of the letter of the Word, he is conjoined with heaven which could not otherwise be the case.