958. EXPLANATION. Verses 1, 2. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the vials of the anger of God into the earth. And the first went forth and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there came a great* and noxious sore upon the men that had the mark of the beast and that adored his image. 1. "And I heard a voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels," signifies manifestation by the Divine truth from the Word of the evils and falsities that have devastated the church (n. 959); "Go, pour out the vials of the anger of God into the earth," signifies the state of the devastated church (n. 960). 2. "And the first went forth and poured out his vial upon the earth," signifies manifestation of the state of the church in general (n. 961); "and there came a great* and noxious sore," signifies evil works therein, and consequent falsifications of the Word (n. 962); "upon the men that had the mark of the beast and that adored his image," signifies those who acknowledge faith alone and its doctrine, and who live according to it (n. 963). * In the text at the beginning of the chapter it reads "malum et noxium," "evil and noxious" here in the photolithograph Swedenborg first wrote "malum" but crossed this out and wrote over it "magnum" "great," through the following explanation he wrote "magnum" where the word is quoted. The Greek word means evil. In The Apocalypse Revealed Swedenborg translates it "malum" "evil," wherever quoted.