signifies those who have been imbued with the good of love to the Lord and the good of innocence. "Woe" is a form of expression signifying the danger of eternal damnation; "to be with child" is to conceive the good of heavenly love; "to give suck" is also a state of innocence; "those days" denote the states in which the church then is. [2] And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath;

signifies removal from those things, that it be not done precipitately, in a state of too much cold or of too much heat. "Flight" is removal from a state of the good of love and of innocence, just now spoken of; "flight in the winter" is removal therefrom in a state of too much cold; "cold" is when there is aversion to love and innocence, which is induced by the loves of self; "flight on the sabbath" is removal from them in a state of too much heat; "heat" is external sanctity, while within are the love of self and the love of the world. [3] For then shall be great affliction, such as was not since the beginning of the world even until now, neither shall be;

signifies the highest degree of the perversion and vastation of the church in respect to good and truth, which is profanation; for profanation of what is holy occasions death eternal and much more grievous than any other states of evil, and so much the more grievous in proportion as the goods and truths profaned are of a more interior kind; and inasmuch as such interior goods and truths are open and known in the Christian Church, and are profaned, it is said that "then shall be great affliction such as was not from the beginning of the world even until now, neither shall be." [4] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be preserved; but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened;

signifies the removal of those who are of the church from interior goods and truths to exterior, so that those may still be saved who are in the life of good and truth; by the "days being shortened," is signified a state of removal; by "no flesh being preserved," is signified that otherwise none could be saved; by "the elect" are signified those who are in the life of good and truth.