Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 5258

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5258. Verses 17-24. And Pharaoh spoke unto Joseph, In my dream behold I stood beside the bank of the river; and behold out of the river there came up seven kine, fat in flesh and beautiful in form, and they fed in the sedge; and behold seven other kine came up after them, thin and evil in form exceedingly, and lean in flesh, such as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt for badness; and the lean and evil kine did eat up the first seven fat kine, and they came to their inwards and it was not known that they had come to their inwards; and their look was bad as in the beginning. And I awoke. And I saw in my dream, and behold seven ears came up upon one stalk, fat and good; and behold seven ears, withered, thin, and parched with the east wind, sprung up after them; and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears; and I told it unto the magicians, and no one telleth it to me. "And Pharaoh spoke unto Joseph," signifies the thought of the celestial of the spiritual from the natural; "In my dream," signifies what was foreseen in obscurity; "behold I stood beside the bank of the river," signifies from boundary to boundary; "and behold out of the river," signifies that in the boundary; "there came up seven kine," signifies truths of the natural; "fat in flesh," signifies that were of charity; "and beautiful in form," signifies that were of faith thence; "and they fed in the sedge," signifies instruction; "and behold seven other kine came up after them," signifies falsities that were of the natural, near; "thin and evil in form exceedingly," signifies that were empty and of no faith; "and lean in flesh," signifies that neither were of charity; "such as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt for badness," signifies such as could in no way be conjoined with truths and goods; "and the lean and evil kine did eat up," signifies that falsities not of charity nor of faith banished; "the first seven fat kine," signifies the truths of faith from charity; "and they came to their inwards," signifies interior banishment; "and it was not known that they had come to their inwards," signifies that the truths of good were no longer perceived; "and their look was bad as in the beginning," signifies that there was nothing of communication and conjunction; "and I awoke," signifies a state of enlightenment; "and I saw in my dream," signifies what was further foreseen in obscurity; "and behold seven ears came up upon one stalk," signifies memory-knowledges that were of the natural, conjoined; "full and good," signifies to which the things of faith and charity could be applied; "and behold seven ears, withered, thin, and parched with the east wind," signifies memory-knowledges of no use and full of cupidities; "sprung up after them," signifies appearing near; "and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears," signifies that the memory-knowledges of no use banished those that were of use; "and I told it unto the magicians," signifies a consultation with interior memory-knowledges; "and no one telleth it to me," signifies that nothing was perceived from them.


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