1022. To give unto her the cup of the wrath of His anger, signifies its devastation through direful falsities of evil. This is evident from the signification of a "cup," as being falsity from hell, which is the falsity of evil (see n. 960); and as it appears as if God were wrathful and angry on account of this it is called "the cup of the wrath of the anger of God," "wrath" on account of the falsity, and "anger" on account of the evil. So "to give unto her that cup" signifies to devastate, for the falsity of evil from hell devastates the church as to all good and truth. That the church meant by "Babylon" has been thus devastated will be made evident from the two following chapters.
(The Tenth Commandment)
[2] "Thou shalt not covet (or desire) thy neighbor's wife, his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass." These are lusts after what is man's own, because the wife, manservant, maidservant, ox, and ass, are within his house, and the things within a man's house mean in the spiritual internal sense the things that are his own, that is, the wife means the affection of spiritual truth and good, "manservant and maidservant," the affection of rational truth and good serving the spiritual, and "ox and ass" the affection of natural good and truth. These signify in the Word such affections; but because coveting and desiring these affections means to will and eagerly desire to subject a man to one's own authority or bidding, it follows that lusting after these affections means the lusts of the love of self, that is, of the love of ruling, for thus does one make the things belonging to a companion to be his own. [3] From this it can now be seen that the lust of the ninth commandment is the lust of the love of the world, and that the lusts of this commandment are lusts of the love of self. For, as has been said before, all lusts are of love, for it is love that covets; and as there are two evil loves to which all lusts have reference, namely, the love of the world and the love of self, it follows that the lust of the ninth commandment has reference to the love of the world, and the lust of this commandment to the love of self, especially to the love of ruling. (That all evils and the falsities therefrom flow from these two loves may be seen above, n. 159, 171, 394, 506, 517, 650, 950, 951, 973, 982, 1010, 1016; and in the New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, n. 65-83.)
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