Citations of the Bible Biblical citations in this edition follow the accepted
standard: a semicolon is used between book references and between chapter
references, and a comma between verse references. Therefore “Matthew
5 : 11 , 12 ; 6 : 1 ; 10 : 41 , 42 ; Luke 6 : 23 , 35 ” refers to Matthew chapter 5 , verses 11
and 12 ; Matthew chapter 6 , verse 1 ; Matthew chapter 10 , verses 41 and 42 ;
and Luke chapter 6 , verses 23 and 35. Swedenborg often incorporated
the numbers of verses not actually represented in his text when listing
verse numbers for a passage he quoted; these apparently constitute a kind
of “see also” reference to other material he felt was relevant, and are gen-
erally retained in this edition. This edition also follows Swedenborg
where he cites contiguous verses individually (for example, John 14 : 8 , 9 ,
10 , 11 ), rather than as a range (John 14 : 8 – 11 ). Occasionally this edition
supplies a full, conventional Bible reference where Swedenborg omits
one after a quotation.
Quotations in Swedenborg’s works Some features of the original Latin
text of Heaven and Hell have been modernized in this edition. For exam-
ple, Swedenborg’s fi rst edition relies on context or italics rather than on
quotation marks to indicate passages taken from the Bible or from other
works. The manner in which these conventions are used in the original
suggests that Swedenborg did not feel it necessary to belabor the distinc-
tion between direct quotation and paraphrase of the Bible; neither did
he mark his omissions from or changes to material he quoted, a practice
in which this edition generally follows him.
Italicized terms Any words in indented scriptural extracts that are here
set in italics refl ect a similar emphasis in the fi rst edition.
The author’s footnotes Swedenborg’s footnotes, referenced by super-
script letters appearing in the main text, comprise references to his previ-
ously published Secrets of Heaven ( 1749 – 1756 ). These references
sometimes have obvious errors. Where a plausible correction has been
found, it has been inserted in square brackets. These corrections have,
furthermore, been italicized as an indication that they are intended to
replace the preceding entry, not augment it. In the two instances where
no alternative has been found, the reading of the fi rst edition is followed
by a question mark in italicized square brackets: [?]; in another instance,
a reference that seems to have been intended by Swedenborg but was
inadvertently omitted by him has been inserted in roman brackets. It
should be observed that Swedenborg used the lettering series a–z, aa–zz,
and aaa–zzz before starting over at a, whereas in this edition the lettering
starts over after each chapter heading. A few comments by the translator
have been included in brackets within Swedenborg’s footnotes.
x HEAVEN and HELL