9845. 'According to their generations' means both kinds in the order in which they are begotten and proceed one from the other. This is clear from the meaning of 'generations' as matters of faith and charity, or forms of truth and goodness in the spiritual world, dealt with in 613, 2020, 2584, 6239, 9042, 9079, so that 'according to generations' means according to the order in which they are begotten and proceed one from the other, that is to say, good from truth and truth from good. For there are two states which the person undergoing new birth from the Lord passes through, the first being a state of truth, the other a state of good. While in the first state the person is led by means of truths towards good, but in the second he is led by means of good. This second state is the state of heaven with a person; for a person is not in heaven until good is present within him, see what has been shown above in 9832. From all this it is evident what 'according to the generations of the sons of Israel' means. The words 'in the order in which they are begotten and proceed one from the other' are used because even as good is begotten by means of truths, so does it afterwards proceed from them; and in a similar way even as truths are begotten from good, so do they afterwards proceed. For they are begotten in consecutive stages and proceed subsequently in the order of their consecutive stages of birth. But these matters have been stated for the benefit of those who know about the way in which series of things are produced in consecutive stages.