[2] Eternal fire is clearly not material fire; and the reason it is not a tormented conscience is that none who are governed by evil have any conscience; and those who have had no conscience during their lifetime cannot have any in the next life. But the reason eternal fire is a craving is that the entire fire of life in a person is fuelled by his loves, a heavenly fire by the love of what is good and true, a hellish fire by the love of what is evil and false. Or what amounts to the same, a heavenly fire is fuelled by love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, and a hellish fire by self-love and love of the world. Anyone can see, if he stops to think, that all the fire or heat burning within a person is fuelled by his loves. This also explains why love is called spiritual heat and why in the Word fire and heat have no other meaning, 934 (end), 1297,1527, 1528, 1861, 2446, 4906. The fire of life in the evil is also such that when they feel very strong cravings, a kind of fire is also burning in them, which inflames them with an intense and furious desire to torment others. But the fire of life in the good is such that when a higher level of affection exists with them, a kind of fire is alight in them too. But this fire inflames them with a loving and zealous desire to do good to others.

GENESIS 40

1. And so it was after these words,^a that they sinned - the cupbearer of the king of Egypt, and the baker - against their lord the king of Egypt.
2. And Pharaoh was incensed with his two courtier-ministers, with the chief of the cupbearers and with the chief of the bakers.
3. And he put them in the custody of the house of the chief of the attendants, at the prison-house, the place where Joseph was bound.
4. And the chief of the attendants set Joseph over them and he ministered to them; and they were in custody for days.^b
5. And they both dreamed a dream, each his dream in one night, each according to the interpretation of his dream, the cupbearer and the baker to the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison-house.
6. And Joseph came to them in the morning, and he saw them, and behold, they were troubled.
7. And he asked Pharaoh's courtier-ministers who were with him in the custody of his lord's house, saying, Why are your faces sad^c today?
8. And they said to him, We have dreamed a dream and there is no interpreter for it. And Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, I beg you.
9. And the chief of the cupbearers told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, and behold, a vine before me.
10. And on the vine three shoots, and it was as though budding; its blossom came up, and its clusters ripened into grapes.
11. And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and put the cup onto Pharaoh's palm.
12. And Joseph said to him, This is the interpretation of it: The three shoots are three days.
13. In yet three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and will restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh's cup into his hand, according to the former manner when you were his cupbearer.
14. But remember me when it is well with you, and show, I beg you, mercy to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.
15. For I have indeed been taken by theft out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have not done anything for which they should put me in the pit.
16. And the chief of the bakers saw that he had interpreted what was good, and he said to Joseph, I also was in my dream, and behold, three baskets with holes in them were on my head.
17. And in the highest basket there was some of every kind of food for Pharaoh, the work of the baker, and the birds were eating them out of the basket, from upon my head.
18. And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days.
19. In yet three days Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you, and will hang you on wood; and the birds will eat your flesh from upon you.
20. And it happened on the third day, Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief of the cupbearers, and the head of the chief of the bakers, in the midst of his servants.
21. And he restored the chief of the cupbearers to his supervision over [Pharaoh's] drink, and he put the cup onto Pharaoh's palm.
22. And the chief of the bakers he hanged, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 And the chief of the cupbearers did not remember Joseph, and forgot him.

Notes