167、他们的太阳在我们看来是一颗星星，但在那里显为火焰色，有我们太阳的四分之一大。按我们地球上的天数来算的话，他们一年约有200天，一天15小时。这个星球本身是星空中最小的星球之一，方圆不到500德国里。这些观察是天使们通过对比在我或我的记忆里所看到的有关我们地球的事实作出的。他们以天使的观念得出这些结论，天使的观念使他们能立刻根据别处的空间和时间精确测量出空间和时间。天使的观念因是属灵的，故远远超越世人的属世观念。
注：1德国里相当于6.64英里。
167. The sun there (which is a star to us) looks fiery to them and about a quarter the size of our sun. Their year is about two hundred days, and their days fifteen hours, using the length of days on our planet for comparison. The planet itself is one of the smallest extrasolar planets, barely five hundred German miles in circumference. 1Some angels said this on the basis of comparable facts about our planet that they saw in me or in my memory. They reached their conclusions on the basis of angelic concepts that enable them instantly to know measures of space and time in true proportion to space and time in other locations. Angelic concepts, being spiritual, are vastly better in such respects than human concepts, which are earthly.
Footnotes:
1. The Oxford English Dictionary (under “German,” 4) defines a German mile as “between four and five English miles,” or between 6.44 and 8.05 kilometers. Chadwick and Rose 2008 (under Germanicus) define it as 7.4 kilometers. Accepting this latter value, five hundred German miles would be approximately 2300 miles, or 3700 kilometers. Such a planet would indeed be diminutive: the circumference of the Moon, which is too small even to retain an appreciable atmosphere, is 6,786 miles, or 10,921 kilometers. [GFD, SS, LSW]
167. The sun there, which is a star to us, looks flame-coloured, about a quarter the size of our sun. Their year is approximately two hundred days, and their day is fifteen hours measured by days in our world. The planet itself is one of the smallest in the starry sky, hardly five hundred German miles 1in circumference. These observations were made by angels who had compared the facts about our world, which they had seen through me or in my memory. They reached these conclusions by angelic ideas, which allow them to appreciate instantly the measurements of space and time accurately measured against space and time elsewhere. The ideas of angels being spiritual, go far beyond those of men, which are natural.
Footnotes:
1. [The German mile was equivalent to 6.64 English miles, giving a figure of 3320 miles or about 5300 km for the circumference.-TR.]
167. Their sun which to us is a star, appears flaming there, and about one-fourth as large as our own sun. In their year are about two hundred days, and the days of fifteen hours length, as compared with the days on our earth. The earth itself is among the smallest in the starry heavens, being scarcely five hundred German miles 1in circumference. This I learned from angels by comparison with such things as they saw in me, or in my memory, in relation to our earth. They formed these conclusions by angelic ideas, by which the measures of spaces and times are immediately known in their just relation to the spaces and times elsewhere. In such comparisons angelic ideas, which are spiritual, immensely exceed human idea which are natural.
Footnotes:
1. Or two thousand English geographical miles.
167. Sol ibi, qui nobis stella, apparet ibi flammeus, magnitudine fere quartae partis nostri Solis; Annus illis est 200 dierum circiter, ac Dies 15 horarum respective ad tempus dierum in nostra Tellure: ipsa Tellus inter minimas est in Coelo astrifero, vix 500 milliarium Germanicorum in circumferentia: haec dixerunt Angeli ex comparatione facta cum talibus in nostra Tellure, quae in me seu in mea memoria videbant; concludebant illa per ideas angelicas, per quas illico sciuntur mensurae spatiorum et temporum in justa ratione respective ad spatia et tempora alibi: ideae angelicae, quae spirituales, in talibus immensum excedunt ideas humanas, quae naturales.