622. That "to corrupt" is predicated of persuasions, is evident in Isaiah:
They shall not hurt, nor corrupt, in all the mountain of My holiness; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah (Isa. 11:9);
and so in 65:25, where "to hurt" has relation to the will, or to cupidities, and "to corrupt" to the understanding, or to persuasions of falsity. Again:
Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, sons that are corrupters (Isa. 1:4).
Here, as in other places, "nation" and the "seed of evildoers" denote evils which are of the will, or of cupidities; "people" and "sons that are corrupters" falsities which are of the understanding, or of persuasions. In Ezekiel: Thou wast more corrupt than they in all thy ways (Ezek. 16:47).
Here "corrupt" is predicated of things of the understanding, of the reason, or of the thought; for "way" is a word that signifies truth. In David:
They have done what is corrupt, and have done abominable work (Ps. 14:1).
Here "what is corrupt" denotes dreadful persuasions, and "abominable" the foul cupidities which are in the work, or from which the work is done. In Daniel:
After sixty and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off, and there shall be none belonging to Him; and the people of the leader that shall come shall corrupt the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood (Dan. 9:26).
Here likewise "to corrupt" denotes persuasions of what is false, of which a "flood" is predicated.