494. [verse 5] 'And if any one wishes to hurt them, fire shall go forth out of their mouth, and shall devour their enemies' signifies that he who wishes to destroy these two Essentials of the New Church perishes as the result of infernal love. 'To wish to hurt the two witnesses' signifies to wish to destroy the two Essentials of the New Church, which are the acknowledgment of the Lord as being the God of heaven and earth even as to the Human, and a life in accordance with the precepts of the Decalogue. That these are 'the witnesses' may be seen above (n. 490). 'Fire shall go forth out of their mouth' signifies that [there is] infernal love; 'and shall devour their enemies' signifies that those who harm them are going to perish as the result of that love. Here, however, it is not to be understood that fire is going to issue forth out of the mouth of the witnesses, but that it is from those who wish to destroy the two Essentials of the New Church, which are understood by 'the witnesses' (n. 490). The 'fire' is infernal love, for he who does not live in accordance with the precepts of the Decalogue and does not come to God the Saviour and Redeemer cannot but be in infernal love and perish. [2] This is similar to its being said elsewhere in the Word that there is a fire from Jehovah that consumes the wicked, and that Jehovah does things by reason of the fire of His growing anger, wrath and fury, besides other like things, by which it is not understood that [this comes] from Jehovah, but that it is from the infernal love of the wicked. Such things are said in the Word because they are appearances, and the Word in the sense of the letter has been composed by means of appearances and correspondences. Since it is said that 'fire' should 'go forth out of their mouth', and thereby it is understood that it is out of those who are in infernal love, some passages shall be quoted where 'fire' is said to come out of Jehovah:-