AC 10431 - the Lord is never

AC 10431
In many passages of the Word
it is said of Jehovah that He burns with anger and is wroth,
and also that He consumes and destroys.
But it is so said because it so appears to the person
who turns himself away from the Lord,
as is the case when he does evil;
and as then he is not heard, and is even punished,
he believes that the Lord is in anger against him;
although the Lord is never angry, and never consumes,
for He is mercy itself and good itself.
From this it is evident
what is the nature of the Word as to the letter, namely,
that it is according to the appearance with a person.
In like manner it is said that "Jehovah repents,"
. . . when yet Jehovah never repents,
for He foresees all things from eternity;
from which it can be seen how many errors those fall into
who when reading the Word
do not think beyond the sense of the letter,
thus who read it without doctrine from the Word
to teach them how the case really is.