He will cut him off means separation and removal from goods and truths, for people who have a knowledge of what is good and true, as those within the Church do, but who lead a life of evil are said to be cut off when that knowledge is removed from them; for in the next life their knowledge of good and truth is separated from them and they are restricted to evils and derivative falsities also. The reason why this takes place is so that they do not communicate with heaven through their knowledge of good and truth and with hell through their evil and consequent falsity, and thereby are left hanging between the two. A further reason is so that they do not profane goods and truths, as happens when these are mixed together with falsities and evils. The same is also meant by the Lord's words addressed to the one who hid his talent in the earth,

Take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents, for to everyone who has, it will be given, so that he may have in abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Matt 25:28, 29.

And what the Lord says elsewhere has the same meaning - Matthew 13:12; also Mark 4:25, and Luke 8:18.

[2] And assign him his part with the hypocrites means that his lot, meant by 'part', lies with those who outwardly give the appearance of knowing the truth so far as doctrine is concerned, and of cherishing good so far as life is concerned, but who inwardly have no belief at all in truth nor any desire at all for good, who are 'the hypocrites'. People like this have become 'cut off' in the sense described here. Consequently when external things are taken away from these people, as happens to all in the next life, they are seen to be what they are like internally - people devoid of faith and charity. Yet they have pretended to have these, so that, capturing the attention of others, they could earn themselves positions of importance, monetary gain, and reputation. Within the Church that has become ruined virtually everyone is like this, for they have things that are external but none that are internal. Hence the interior aspects of those people are engulfed in the deluge described immediately above in 4423.

[3] Where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth means their state in the next life, 'wailing' that state as regards evils, and 'gnashing of teeth' that state as regards falsities, for 'teeth' in the Word means lowest natural things - in the genuine sense truths going with these, and in the contrary sense falsities going with them. Teeth also correspond to those things. For these reasons 'the gnashing of teeth' means the clash of falsities and truths. People immersed in wholly natural things and governed by ideas resulting from sensory illusions, believing nothing which they do not see by means of these, are said to be where there is 'the gnashing of teeth', and in the next life seem to themselves to be there when they draw conclusions about the truths of faith on the basis of their own illusions. A Church in which good and truth have been brought to ruin teems with people such as these. The same is meant again in other places by the gnashing of teeth, as in Matthew,

The sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Matt 8:12.

'The sons of the kingdom' means those within the ruined Church.

'Darkness' means falsities, 4418, for they are in darkness when surrounded by the dark cloud mentioned above. 'The gnashing of teeth' means the clash of falsities with truths there. The same matter occurs in other places, such as Matthew 13:42, 50; 22:13; 25:30; and Luke 13:28.

GENESIS 34

1. And Dinah went out, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, to see the daughters of the land.

2. And Shechem saw her, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land; and he took her, and lay with her, and ravished her.

3. And his soul clung to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke comfortingly to the young woman.^a

4. And Shechem spoke to Hamor his father, saying, Get me this girl for a wife.

5. And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; and his sons were with his cattle in the field; and Jacob kept silent until they came.

6. And Hamor, Shechem's father, went out to Jacob to speak to him.

7. And Jacob's sons came from the field when they heard; and the men were grieved and blazing with anger, because he had done something disgraceful in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, a thing that ought not to be done.

8. And Hamor spoke to them, saying, Shechem my son, his soul longs for your daughter; give her, I beg you, to him for a wife.

9. And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves.

10. And you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you; dwell, and carry on trade throughout it, and have possessions in it.

11. And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, Let me find grace in your eyes, and I will give that which you tell me.

12. Increase the dowry and gift to any size,^b and I will give whatever you tell me, and give me the young woman for a wife.

13. And Jacob's sons answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and [so] spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.

14. And they said to them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who has a foreskin; for that would be a reproach to us.

15. Only on this [condition] will we consent to you: If you will be as we are, by circumcising every male among you,

16. Then we will give our daughters to you, and your daughters we will take to ourselves, and we will dwell with you, and we will be one people.

17. And if you do not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.

18. And their words were good in the eyes of Hamor and in the eyes of Shechem, Hamor's son.

19. And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. And he was honoured above all those of his father's house.

20. And Hamor came, then Shechem his son, to the gate of their city, and they spoke to the men of their city, saying,

21. These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and carry on trade throughout it; behold, the land is broad and spacious before them. Let us take their daughters to us as wives (femina), and let us give our daughters to them.

22. Only on this [condition] will the men consent to us to dwell with us, to be one people: That every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.

23. Their acquisition,^c and their purchase, and all their beasts, will these not be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us.

24. And they listened to Hamor and Shechem his son, all who went out of the gate of his city; and they circumcised every male, all who went out of the gate of his city.

25. And it happened on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword, and came with confidence upon the city, and killed every male.

26. And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and they took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went away.

27. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.

28. Their flocks, and their herds, and their asses, and whatever was in the city, and whatever was in the field, they took.

29. And all their wealth, and all their young children, and their women, they took captive and plundered, and everything that was in the house.

30. And Jacob said to Simeon and to Levi, You have brought trouble on me, by making me stink to the inhabitant of the land, to the Canaanite and the Perizzite; and I am [a few] mortals in number, and they will be gathered together against me and will smite me, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.

31. And they said, Is he going to treat our sister like a prostitute?

Notes