4249.“雅各就甚惧怕，而且愁烦”表它正在被改变时的状态。这从以下事实清楚可知：惧怕和愁烦（fear and distress）是试探的第一个阶段，它们是状态发生颠倒或改变的先兆。这些细节，也就是以扫带着四百人来迎接雅各，雅各因此甚惧怕，而且愁烦中隐藏更深的奥秘无法轻易解释清楚，因为它们过于内在。只能在此提出这一点：当良善占据第一位，使真理服从自己时，如人经历属灵试探时的情形，从内层所流入的良善会伴随着众多真理，这些真理就被储存在此人的内层人里面。在良善发挥主导作用之前，这些真理无法进入他的心目和理解范畴中，因为当这一切发生时，属世层就开始从良善接受光明，属世层里面一致的事物和不一致的事物由此向他变得显而易见，先于属灵试探的惧怕和愁烦由此而来。因为属灵试探作用于良知，良知是内层人的属性；因此当进入这种试探时，人不知道自己的惧怕和愁烦从何而来；不过，与他同在的天使十分清楚这一切。事实上，试探来源于天使将此人保持在良善与真理中，而恶灵却将他保持在邪恶与虚假中。
发生在与人同在的灵人并天使当中的事就被此人精准觉察，好像这些事是在他里面进行的。因为人活在肉身时，不相信他里面的一切都是从某个其它地方而非从他自己流入的，故以为发生在他里面的事不是由在他之外的原因造成的，反以为一切原因皆在他里面，就是他自己的；而事实并非如此。因为凡人所思所愿的，也就是他的一切思维和一切情感，要么源于地狱，要么源于天堂。当他思想并意愿邪恶，因此以虚假为快乐时，就要让他知道，他的思维和情感源于地狱；但当他思想并意愿良善，因此以真理为快乐时，也要让他知道，它们源于天堂，也就是说，经由天堂从主而来。不过，人的思维和情感往往呈现出另外的表象。例如，由属于要重生之人的事物所产生的恶灵与天使之间的争战就呈现出惧怕和愁烦，以及试探的表象。
这些事对人来说，必看似悖论，因为如今几乎每个教会成员都以为他所思想的一切真理，以及他所意愿并行出的良善，皆源于他自己，尽管他由于信仰所教导的教义而没有这样说。事实上，人具有这样的性质，若有人告诉他说，当他思想并意愿邪恶时，来自地狱的恶灵正流入他的思维和意愿，当他思想并意愿良善时，来自天堂的天使正流入他的思维和意愿，他会震惊于有人竟然持有这样的想法；因为他会说，他觉得生命在他自己里面，他凭自己思想，并凭自己意愿。他出于自己里面的这种感觉，而非出于他的教义形成自己的信仰。然而，教义是正确的，这种感觉却是错误的。我从数年来几乎不间断地经历被恩准得知这一事实，并且对此清楚到毫无怀疑的余地
Potts(1905-1910) 4249
4249. And Jacob feared exceedingly, and was distressed. That this signifies the state when it is being changed, is evident from the fact that fear and distress are what is first in temptations, and that when the state is being inverted or changed these take precedence. The arcana which lie hidden more at large in what is here said that Esau went to meet Jacob with four hundred men, and that Jacob therefore feared and was distressed-cannot easily be set forth to the apprehension, for they are too interior. This only may be presented: that when good is taking the prior place and is subordinating truths to itself, which takes place when the man is undergoing spiritual temptations, the good that then flows in from within is attended with very many truths which have been stored up in his interior man. These cannot come to his mental view and apprehension until good acts the first part, for then the natural begins to be enlightened by good, whence it becomes apparent what things in it are in accord, and what are discordant, from which come the fear and distress that precede spiritual temptation. For spiritual temptation acts upon the conscience, which is of the interior man; and therefore when he enters into this temptation the man does not know whence come such fear and distress, although the angels with him know this well; for the temptation comes from the angels holding the man in goods and truths while evil spirits are holding him in evils and falsities. [2] For the things that come forth with the spirits and angels who are with a man are perceived by the man exactly as if they were in him; for while a man is living in the body, and does not believe that all things flow in, he supposes that the things which come forth interiorly are not produced by causes outside of him, but that all the causes are within him, and are his very own; yet such is not the case. For whatever a man thinks and whatever he wills (that is, his every thought and his every affection) are either from hell or from heaven. When he thinks and wills evils, and is delighted with the consequent falsities, he may know that his thoughts and affections are from hell; and while he is thinking and willing goods, and is delighted with the derivative truths, he may know that they are from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord. But the thoughts and affections that appertain to a man appear for the most part under another aspect; as for example, the combat of evil spirits with angels that arises from the things which appertain to a man who is to be regenerated, appears under the aspect of fear and distress, and of temptation. [3] These statements cannot but appear to man as paradoxes, because almost every man of the church at this day believes that all the truth which he thinks, and the good which he wills and does, are from himself, although he says otherwise when he speaks from the doctrine of faith. Nay, of such a nature is man that if anyone should say to him that there are evil spirits from hell who are flowing into his thought and will when he thinks and wills evils, and angels from heaven when he thinks and wills goods, he would stand amazed that anyone should maintain such a thing; for he would say that he feels life in himself, and thinks from himself and wills from himself. From this feeling in himself he forms his belief, and not from his doctrine; when yet the doctrine is true, but the feeling fallacious. It has been given me to know this from an almost continual experience of many years, and so to know it that no doubt whatever remains.
Elliott(1983-1999) 4249
4249. 'And Jacob was exceedingly afraid, and was distressed' means the state when it is being changed. This is clear from the fact that fear and distress are the first stage in temptations, and that they are precursors to the turning round or the change taking place within a state. The arcana which lie deeper still within these details - that is to say, Esau's coming to meet Jacob with four hundred men, and Jacob's consequent fear and distress - cannot be explained easily and intelligibly since they are rather more internal ones. Let just this one be brought forward here. When good takes up the first position and subordinates truths to itself, as happens when a person undergoes spiritual temptations, the good which flows in from the interior is accompanied by very many truths which have been stored away in the person's interior man. Those truths cannot come into focus and be seen by him until good is playing the leading role, for when this happens the natural starts to receive light from good, and it is apparent to him which things in the natural agree and which ones do not. And this is what gives rise to the fear and distress that are the precursors to spiritual temptation. For spiritual temptation acts upon the conscience, which is an attribute of the interior man, and therefore when entering such temptation a person does not know the origin of his fear and distress. But the angels present with him know it full well. Indeed temptation has its origin in angels' maintenance of the person in goods and truths, while evil spirits maintain him in evils and falsities.
[2] The things that occur among the spirits and angels present with a person are perceived by him purely as things going on within himself. For while he lives in the body and does not believe that everything within him flows in from somewhere other than himself, he imagines that the causes of the things that go on within him do not lie outside himself but that all causes lie within him and are his own - which is not in fact the case. For whatever a person thinks and what he wills, that is, all his thought and all his affection, originate either in hell or in heaven. When he thinks and wills anything evil and as a consequence takes delight in falsities, let him realize that his thoughts and affections originate in hell; but when he thinks and wills anything good and as a consequence takes delight in truths, let him realize that these originate in heaven, that is, in the Lord by way of heaven. But the person's thoughts and affections more often than not take on a different outward appearance. A conflict between evil spirits and angels, for example, arising from the things in one who is to be regenerated, takes on the different outward appearance of fear and distress, and of temptation.
[3] These matters are bound to seem paradoxes to man, for almost every member of the Church at the present day believes that all the truth he thinks, and the good he wills and does, originate in himself, even though he says something other than that when speaking from doctrine taught by faith. Indeed his nature is such that if anyone told him that spirits from hell exist who flow into his thought and will when he thinks and wills anything evil, and angels from heaven when he thinks and wills anything good, he would be dumbfounded at anyone putting forward such an idea, for he would say that he can feel the life within himself and that he thinks from himself and wills from himself. His belief is based on that feeling and not on what doctrine teaches. Yet that doctrine is true and such feeling deceptive. This I have been allowed to know from almost uninterrupted experience lasting several years now, and to know it in such a way as to leave me in no doubt whatsoever.
Latin(1748-1756) 4249
4249. `Et timuit Jacob valde, et angustia fuit ei': quod significet statum cum mutatur, constat ex eo quod timor et angustia sint primum tentationum; et quod praecedant {1} cum invertitur seu mutatur status. Arcana quae amplius in his latent, nempe quod `Esau obviam iverit Jacobo cum quadringentis viris,' et quod `inde Jacobo timor et angustia,' non facile ad captum exponi possunt, sunt enim interiora; solum hoc licet afferre: cum bonum priorem locum sumit ac sibi vera subordinat, quod fit cum homo tentationes spirituales subit, tunc bonum quod ab interiore influit, secum habet vera perplura, quae apud hominem recondita sunt in ejus interiore homine; illa ad intuitionem et captum ejus non possunt venire antequam bonum primas agit, tunc enim a bono illustrari incipit naturale, inde apparet quaenam ibi concordant et quaenam discordant, inde timor et angustia quae praecedunt {2} tentationem spiritualem; spiritualis enim tentatio agit in conscientiam, quae est interioris hominis, quare etiam (o)homo non scit cum {3} tentationem illam intrat unde ei timor et angustia, sed angeli qui apud hominem {4}, probe hoc norunt; tentatio enim inde est quod angeli teneant hominem in bonis et veris, spiritus autem mali in malis et falsis {5}; quae enim apud spiritus et angelos qui apud hominem, existunt, illa non aliter percipiuntur apud hominem (o)quam quod in ipso sint; quae enim interius existunt, putat homo dum in corpore vivit et non credit quod omnia influant, quod non causae sint extra illum, quae producunt {6}, sed quod omnes causae sint intra illum, et ejus propriae, cum tamen non ita est; quicquid enim homo cogitat et quicquid vult, hoc est, omnis ejus cogitatio et omnis ejus affectio, vel est ex inferno, vel est ex caelo; cum mala cogitat et vult, et falsis inde delectatur, sciat quod cogitationes et affectiones ejus sint ex inferno, et {7} dum bona cogitat et vult, et veris inde delectatur, quod a caelo, hoc est, per caelum a Domino; sed cogitationes et affectiones quae apud hominem, apparent ut plurimum sub alia specie, sicut pugna malorum spirituum cum angelis (o)ex illis quae sunt apud hominem regenerandum, sub specie timoris et angustiae, ac tentationis: [3] haec non possunt non ut paradoxa apparere homini, quia homo Ecclesiae paene omnis hodie credit, quod omne verum quod cogitat et bonum quod vult et facit, sit a semet, tametsi aliter dicit cum ex doctrinali fidei loquitur; immo talis est ut si quis diceret ad illum quod spiritus ab inferno sint qui influunt in cogitationem et voluntatem ejus cum mala cogitat et vult, et quod angeli e caelo, cum bona, quod tunc haereret mirabundus quod aliquis tale statuat, diceret enim quod sentiat vitam in se, et quod cogitet ex se et velit ex se; ex illo sensitivo credit, non autem ex doctrinali, cum tamen doctrinale est verum, et sensitivum {8} fallax: ab experientia plurium {9} nunc annorum paene continua, hoc scire datum est, ac ita scire ut prorsus nullum dubium (t)sit relictum. @1 ita praecedit$ @2 praecedit$ @3 dum$ @4 illum$ @5 i inde timor et angustia apud hominem, et inde tentatio;$ @6 i illa$ @7 at cum$ @8 i est$ @9 plurimum I$