42.一个内义或灵义同样存在于启示录的每个字里面；这内义或灵义包含关于天上和地上教会状态的奥秘；这些奥秘只能被揭示给一个知道内义或灵义，同时获准与天使来往，并与他们在属灵层次上交谈的人。因此，为免得启示录中所写的东西向世人隐藏，最终因无法理解而遭到忽视，甚至离弃，内义或灵义的内容向我披露。只因内容过于庞大，非这本薄书所能尽述，所以我打算从头到尾解释整本书，把包含在它里面的奥秘都披露出来。我将在两年之内公布这一解释，一同公布的还有但以理书中的某些经文；迄今为止，这些经文一直是个秘密，因为它们的灵义不为人知。
42. An inner or spiritual meaning is similarly present in every word of the Book of Revelation; that meaning contains secrets about the state of the church in the heavens and on earth; and those secrets can be revealed only to someone who is familiar with that meaning and has also been granted to be in the company of angels and to talk with them on a spiritual level. Therefore, so that what is written in the Book of Revelation will not remain hidden from human view and eventually be abandoned as incomprehensible, its inner contents have been disclosed to me. They are so extensive that they cannot be set forth in this booklet, so I intend to give an explanation of the whole Book of Revelation from beginning to end and disclose the secrets that lie within it. This explanation is to be published within two years, and will also deal with some material from Daniel that has remained hidden because of people's lack of awareness of the spiritual meaning. 1
Footnotes:
1. It would in fact be not two but eight years before the publication of a study of the Book of Revelation by Swedenborg. Evidently, though, he did immediately start writing a volume on this topic, for which he ultimately chose the title The Book of Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a). He carried this work well into the nineteenth of Revelation's twenty-two chapters, including the preparation of a fair copy for the printer, before laying it aside. In 1763, five years after the 1758 publication of Last Judgment, he published a number of other works-the so-called Four Doctrines (The Lord, Sacred Scripture, Life, and Faith), Supplements, and Divine Love and Wisdom; and in 1764 he published Divine Providence. Thereafter he made a fresh start on the promised exegetical task and completed his new book on the topic, Revelation Unveiled, within two years. While his published study has some 125 scattered references to the Book of Daniel, there are proportionally more references to longer books, and Daniel is nowhere singled out for special treatment. For Swedenborg's outline of the inner sense of Daniel, see Draft on the Inner Meaning of Prophets and Psalms on Daniel (= Swedenborg 1996e, 135-144). For other sections focused on spiritual meanings in various parts of the Book of Daniel, see, for example, Last Judgment 54:2; Faith 65-67; Revelation Unveiled 574; True Christianity 179-181, 760-761, 788; Revelation Explained 316:15-16, 1029:5-10; Draft of “Supplements” 180-181 [Rogers's numbering] = 180-182 [Potts's numbering] (= Swedenborg 1997a, 125-126). [GFD, LSW, SS]
42. There is likewise an internal or spiritual sense contained in every word of Revelation, and that sense contains secrets about the state of the church in the heavens and on earth. Since these could only be revealed to someone familiar with that sense and at the same time permitted to associate with angels, speaking with them spiritually, the contents of that sense have been disclosed to me, to prevent what is written there being concealed from human view and subsequently abandoned because not understood. There is too much to be described in this short book. So I should like to explain Revelation from beginning to end and expound the secrets contained in it. I shall publish this explanation within two years, and accompany it with some passages of Daniel which have so far remained a mystery because the spiritual sense has not been recognised. 1
Footnotes:
1. [This promise was fulfilled in 1766 by the publication of THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED. See further in Translator's Preface.]
42. Since in like manner there is an internal or spiritual sense in every word in the Apocalypse, and since that sense contains the arcana of the state of the church in the heavens, and on the earth; and since those arcana can be revealed to no one, but to him who knows that sense, and to whom at the same time it has been granted to have consort with the angels, and to speak spiritually with them, therefore, lest the things which are therein written should be hidden to men, and should hereafter be disregarded, because they are not understood, its contents have been disclosed to me; but because they are many they cannot be described in this little work. On which account I will explain the whole book from beginning to end, and disclose the arcana which are within it. This explanation shall be published in less than two years, together with certain things in Daniel, which have hitherto lain hidden, because their spiritual sense was unknown.
42. Quia sensus internus seu spiritualis similiter inest omni voci in Apocalypsi, et quia sensus ille continet arcana status ecclesiae in caelis et in terris, et quia illa non alicui revelari possunt nisi qui illum sensum novit, et simul nisi cui datum est consortium habere cum angelis, et spiritualiter cum illis loqui, ideo, ne illa quae ibi scripta sunt, lateant coram hominibus, et in posterum deserantur ob non intellecta, mihi detecta sunt quae inibi continentur; quae quia sunt multa, non possunt in hoc opusculo describi; quare velim totum illum librum a principio ad finem explicare, ac retegere arcana, quae intus inibi sunt: quae explicatio publico sistetur intra biennium; et simul ibi aliqua quae in Daniele, quae ob non cognitum sensum spiritualem, huc usque recondita latuerunt.