66、圣言主要有四种写作风格。第一种是上古教会的风格。在他们的表达方式中，当提到尘世和世俗事物时，他们就会思想这些事物所代表的属灵和属天事物。因此，他们不仅通过代表来表达他们自己，还让它们活起来，按准历史顺序排列它们；这种做法给予他们极大的快乐。这就是哈拿发预言时的风格，他说：
说高的！说高的！让古时之物从你的口而出。（撒母耳记上2:3）
大卫诗篇称这些代表为“古时的谜语”（诗篇78:2，3，4）。摩西从上古教会的后代那里获得关于创造，伊甸园等等，直到亚伯兰时代的细节。
第二种是历史风格。从亚伯兰时代往后的摩西五经，以及约书亚记、士师记、撒母耳记和列王纪都使用这种风格。在这些书卷中，历史事件和出现在字义上的一样；然而，无论总体还是细节，它们在内义上都包含完全不同的事物。蒙主的神性怜悯，下文将依次解释这层含义。
第三种是预言风格。这种风格是从上古教会最为推崇的写作方式中生出的。然而，这种预言风格缺乏连贯性，也没有采取上古风格所用的那种准历史形式。相反，它支离破碎，若不在内义层面，几乎永远无法理解；内义包含极深的奥秘，优美连贯，涉及外在人和内在人，还涉及教会的许多状态，以及天堂本身，在至内在意义上则涉及主。
第四种是大卫诗篇的风格。这种风格介于预言风格和人们通常的说话方式之间。诗篇的内义以作为王时的大卫这个人物论述主。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]66. The Word has four major modes of writing:
1. The mode of [the people in] the earliest church. Their method of expressing themselves involved thought of the spiritual and heavenly things represented by the earthly, mundane objects they mentioned. Not only did they express themselves in words representing higher things, they also spun those words into a kind of narrative thread to lend them greater life. This practice gave the earliest people the fullest pleasure possible.
This early manner of writing is meant in Hannah's prophecy: "Speak deeply, deeply; let what is ancient come out of your mouth" (1 Samuel 2:3).{*1} David calls those representative signs "enigmas from ancient times" (Psalms 78:2, 3, 4). Moses received the present accounts of creation and the Garden of Eden, extending up to the time of Abram, from the descendants of the earliest church.
[2] 2. The narrative mode. This mode is used in the books of Moses{*2} from Abram's story on, and in Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. The historical events in these books are exactly what they appear to be in the literal sense, but as a whole and in detail they still contain an entirely different meaning on the inner plane. What follows will, with the Lord's divine mercy, explain that meaning in order.{*3} 3. The prophetic mode. The inspiration for this was the mode used by the earliest church, a manner of writing [the authors] revered. But the prophetic mode lacks the cohesiveness and semi-historical quality of the earliest church's mode. It is choppy, and almost completely unintelligible except on the inner level, which holds profound secrets forming a well-connected chain of ideas. They deal with our outer and inner beings, the many stages of the church, heaven itself, and — at the very core — the Lord.
4. David's psalms. This mode is midway between the prophetic mode and people's usual way of speaking. The inner meaning speaks of the Lord under the character of David when he was king.
Footnotes:
{*1} Most biblical translators understand these words from 1 Samuel 2:3 differently. Swedenborg's translation is identical with that of Schmidt 1696. A literal translation of the Hebrew might be, "Do not multiply in speaking high, high, let go out a-forward-thing from your mouth" (אַל-תַּרְבּוּ תְדַבְּרוּ גְּבֹהָה גְבֹהָה יֵצֵא עָתָק מִפִּיכֶם ['al-tarbû ṯǝḏabbǝrû gǝḇōhā ḡǝḇōhā yēṣē ‘āṯāq mippîḵem]). Usually the negation is taken to apply to all the verbs, the word for "high" is taken to mean haughty, and the word for "forward thing" is taken to mean arrogance. The New Revised Standard Version, for instance, reads: "Talk no more very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth." Schmidt and Swedenborg apparently understood the concept of forwardness to refer to being "forward" in years — that is, advanced in age. [LHC]
{*2} As was the custom in his day, Swedenborg refers to the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy simply as "Moses." [JSR]
{*3} There is evidence that Swedenborg originally planned for Secrets of Heaven to cover more than Genesis and Exodus — perhaps even the whole Bible. In this volume alone, he anticipates offering an exposition of Leviticus (see 643:4) and Numbers (see 296, 730:4). See the reader's guide, pages 24-25 note 14 [NCBSP: Available from Swedenborg Foundation]. [LHC]
Potts(1905-1910) 66
66. There are in the Word, in general, four different styles. The first is that of the Most Ancient Church. Their mode of expression was such that when they mentioned terrestrial and worldly things they thought of the spiritual and celestial things which these represented. They therefore not only expressed themselves by representatives, but also formed these into a kind of historical series, in order to give them more life; and this was to them delightful in the very highest degree. This is the style of which Hannah prophesied, saying:
Speak what is high! high! Let what is ancient come out of your mouth (1 Sam. 2:3). Such representatives are called in David, "Dark sayings of old" (Ps. 78:2-4). These particulars concerning the creation, the garden of Eden, etc., down to the time of Abram, Moses had from the descendants of the Most Ancient Church. [2] The second style is historical, which is found in the books of Moses from the time of Abram onward, and in those of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and the Kings. In these books the historical facts are just as they appear in the sense of the letter; and yet they all contain, in both general and particular, quite other things in the internal sense, of which, by the Lord's Divine mercy, in their order in the following pages. The third style is the prophetical one, which was born of that which was so highly venerated in the Most Ancient Church. This style however is not in connected and historical form like the most ancient style, but is broken, and is scarcely ever intelligible except in the internal sense, wherein are deepest arcana, which follow in beautiful connected order, and relate to the external and the internal man; to the many states of the church; to heaven itself; and in the inmost sense to the Lord. The fourth style is that of the Psalms of David, which is intermediate between the prophetical style and that of common speech. The Lord is there treated of in the internal sense, under the person of David as a king.
Elliott(1983-1999) 66
66. There are in general four differing styles in the Word. The FIRST is that of the Most Ancient Church In their mode of expression, when they mentioned earthly and worldly things their thought was of the spiritual and celestial things which these represented. For this reason they not only expressed themselves by means of representatives but also, to bring them to life, they arranged them in quasi-historical sequence, and this gave them extremely great delight. This style was meant when Hannah Prophesied and said,
Speak that which is high, that which is high; let that which is ancient come from your mouth. 1 Sam 1:7.In David those representatives are called,
Dark sayings from antiquity. Ps 78:2-4.
From the descendants of the Most Ancient Church Moses came into possession of these stories concerning Creation, concerning the Garden of Eden, and of the event, down to the time of Abram.
[2] The SECOND is the historical style, which appears in the books of Moses to describe the time of Abram onwards, and in the books of Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, and the Kings. In these books the facts of history are exactly as set out in the sense of the letter, yet every single one contains something entirely different in the internal sense, which in the Lord's Divine mercy will be dealt with in proper order later on. The THIRD is the prophetical style, the offspring of the style of the Most Ancient Church, a style which they revered. However it is not continuous, nor does it take quasi-historical form as the most ancient style did. Instead it is diffuse and scarcely ever intelligible except in the internal sense where very deep arcana reside, linked together and following in perfect order. These arcana focus on the external man and the internal, the many states of the Church, heaven itself, and inmostly on the Lord. The FOURTH style is that of the Psalms of David, which varies between the prophetical style and ordinary speech. There in the personage of David asking the internal sense deals with the Lord.
Latin(1748-1756) 66
66. Sunt in genere quatuor differentes stili in Verbo; PRIMUS est qui fuit Ecclesiae Antiquissimae; modus illorum exprimendi erat talis ut cum nominarent terrestria et mundana, quod cogitarent de spiritualibus et caelestibus quae repraesentabant; quare non solum per repraesentativa exprimebant, sed etiam seriem quandam quasi historicam redigebant ut magis viverent, quod iis delectabile quam maxime erat. Hic stilus est intellectus cum prophetavit Hannah dicens, Loquimini altum, altum, exeat antiquum ab ore vestro, 1 Sam. ii 3. Repraesentativa illa vocantur apud Davidem, Aenigmata ab antiquitate, Ps. lxxviii 2-4. Ex Antiquissimae Ecclesiae posteris habuit Moses haec de Creatione, de horto Edenis, usque ad Abrami tempus. SECUNDUS stilus est historicus, qui in Libris Mosis ab Abrami tempore et ulterius, inque Josuae, Judicum, Samuelis, et Regum, in quibus historica talia prorsus sunt qualia in sensu litterae comparent, sed usque omnia et singula continent prorsus illa in sensu interno, de quibus, ex Divina Domini Misericordia, suo ordine in sequentibus. TERTIUS est propheticus, qui natus a stilo Antiquissimae Ecclesiae, quem adorabant; sed non est continuus et sicut historicus qualis antiquissimus, sed est sparsus vix usquam intelligibilis nisi in sensu interno, ubi arcanissima, quae concinno ordine sequuntur connexa et spectant hominem externum, et internum, Ecclesiae plures status, ipsum caelum, ac in intimis Dominium. QUARTUS est Psalmorum Davidis, qui est medius inter propheticum et communem loquentium; ibi sub Davidis ut regis persona, in sensu interno agitur de Domino.