33. From all this it follows that without the sense of the letter, the Word would be like a palace without a foundation, and thus like a palace in the air and not on the earth, which would be but the shadow of a palace, that would vanish away. Furthermore, that without the sense of the letter the Word would be like a temple containing many holy things, and in its midst a sanctuary, but without roof and walls, which are its containers, and in the absence or loss of which its holy things would be plundered by thieves, or invaded by beasts of earth and birds of heaven, and thus be dispersed. Or it would be like the Tabernacle (in the inmost of which was the ark of the covenant, and in its middle the golden lampstand, the golden altar for incense, and the table on which were the loaves of faces, which were its holy things) without its ultimates, which were the curtains and veils. Nay, without the sense of the letter, the Word would be like a human body without its coverings which are called skins, and without its supports which are called bones; lacking which supports and coverings all the interior things of the body would fall asunder. And it would be like the heart and lungs in the chest without their covering which is called the pleura, and their supports which are called the ribs. Or like the brain without its covering which is called the dura mater, and without its general covering, container, and support, which is called the skull. Thus would it be with the Word without the sense of the letter; and therefore it is said in Isaiah: