997、“我将这一切都赐给你们”表示享有它，因为它是有用的，也就是可作“食物”，或说因功用而享有；事实上，凡给作食物的东西都是为了功用。至于功用，情况是这样：那些处于仁爱，也就是对邻之爱（包含在享受中的活的快乐就来自这爱）的人，并不关心享乐，除非是为了功用。因为没有仁爱的行为，就没有仁爱。仁爱在于仁爱的实践或功用。一个爱邻如己的人除非在仁爱的实践或功用中，否则永远感受不到仁爱的快乐。因此，仁爱的生活是功用的生活。这种生活遍及整个天堂，因为主的国是相爱的国，故是功用的国。因此，源于仁爱的一切享受都以功用为快乐，或说从功用中获得快乐。功用越显著，快乐就越大。这就是为何天使照其功用的性质和品质从主那里获得幸福。
一切低级享受都是这样，即：其功用越显著，其快乐就越大。以婚姻之爱的快乐为例：这爱因是人类社会的苗床，并由此而是主天国的苗床，也就是最大的功用，故包含大量快乐在自己里面，以至于构成天堂的幸福。这同样适用于其它一切享受，它们的差别取决于功用的优劣。这些功用如此多种多样，甚至几乎无法划分为属和种。有些功用与主的国或主联系更紧密、更直接；有些功用则联系更遥远、更间接。由此进一步清楚看出，一切享受都被赐给人，但仅仅是为了功用的缘故；因此，尽管他们照着所发挥的功用而各不相同，但都共享天堂的幸福，并从这幸福中获得生命。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]997. All of it given to you means enjoying it because it is useful, which is the same as receiving it as food, since anything given as food is given for a useful purpose.
As far as usefulness is concerned, the case is this: People who have charity inside, that is, love for their neighbor (which is the source of any living kind of appeal in the lower pleasures) look at the enjoyment of pleasure solely in terms of its usefulness.
Charity, after all, is nothing without the work of charity. Charity consists in doing — in being useful, in other words. If we love our neighbor as ourselves, we do not feel any delight in charity unless we are being active or useful. As a consequence, the life of charity is a life of usefulness. This is the life found throughout heaven, because the Lord's kingdom, since it is a realm of mutual love, is a realm of useful activity. Accordingly, all the gratification that charity offers acquires its appeal from usefulness. The more marked the usefulness, the greater the appeal. That is why the essential nature and quality of an angel's occupation determines the kind of happiness the Lord gives him or her.
[2] The situation is the same with all lower pleasures; the more marked their usefulness, the greater their appeal. Take for a single example the pleasure that married love entails. Because this pleasure provides the breeding ground for human society and through it for the Lord's realm in the heavens, and because this is the most important function there is, it holds within it such ecstasy that it is, as they say, heavenly bliss.
Circumstances are similar for all other kinds of gratification, with variations due to the importance of the service they perform. Those services are so richly varied that it would be hard to break them down into their major and minor categories. They all look toward the Lord's kingdom, that is, to the Lord, some more closely and directly and others more distantly and indirectly.
This again leads to the conclusion that all kinds of lower pleasures are granted to us, but only for the sake of their use, and that as a result, because of the use they perform, each in its own way is brimming and alive with heaven's happiness.
Potts(1905-1910) 997
997. Have I given it all to you. That this signifies enjoyment on account of use, is because it is "for food"; for whatever is given for food is for use. With regard to use: those who are in charity, that is, in love to the neighbor (from which is the delight in pleasures that is alive), pay no regard to the enjoyment of pleasures except on account of the use. For there is no charity apart from works of charity; it is in its practice or use that charity consists. He who loves the neighbor as himself perceives no delight in charity except in its exercise, or in use; and therefore a life of charity is a life of uses. Such is the life of the whole heaven; for the kingdom of the Lord, because it is a kingdom of mutual love, is a kingdom of uses. Every pleasure therefore which is from charity, has its delight from use. The more noble the use, the greater the delight. Consequently the angels have happiness from the Lord according to the essence and quality of their use. [2] And so it is with every pleasure-the more noble its use, the greater its delight. For example, the delight of conjugial love: because this love is the seminary of human society, and thereby of the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, which is the greatest of all uses, it has in it so much delight that it is the very happiness of heaven. It is the same with all other pleasures, but with a difference according to the excellence of the uses, which are so manifold that they can scarcely be classed in genera and species, some having regard more nearly and directly, and some more remotely and indirectly, to the kingdom of the Lord, or to the Lord. From these things it is further evident that all pleasures are granted to man, but only for the sake of use; and that they thus, with a difference from the use in which they are, partake of heavenly happiness and live from it.
Elliott(1983-1999) 997
997. Its being 'given all to you' means enjoyment on account of use, which is 'for food', for whatever is given for food is for use. As regards use, the situation is this: People who are governed by charity, that is, who dwell in love towards the neighbour - from which love the living delight contained in pleasures derives - have no regard for the enjoyment of pleasures except on account of the use that is served; for charity does not exist if there are no works of charity. It is in the exercise of it, that is, in use, that charity consists. Someone who loves the neighbour as himself never experiences the delight of charity except in the exercise of it, or in use. Consequently the life of charity is a life of uses. Such life pervades the whole of heaven, for the Lord's kingdom, being a kingdom of mutual love, is a kingdom of uses. Every pleasure therefore that springs from charity finds its delight in use, and the more pre-eminent the use the greater the delight. For this reason it is the very being and nature of a use which determines the happiness that angels have from the Lord.
[2] The situation with every pleasure is that the more pre-eminent its use is, the greater is its delight. Take one example, the delight of conjugial love: since the seed-bed of human society derives from it, and from that seed-bed the Lord's kingdom in heaven, which constitutes the greatest use of all, it therefore contains, as has been stated, so much delight within itself as to constitute heavenly happiness. The same applies to all other pleasures, their differences depending on the excellence of their respective uses. Those uses are so many and various that they can scarcely be divided into genera and species. One use will relate more closely and directly to the Lord's kingdom, or the Lord, another more remotely and indirectly. From these considerations it is also clear that all pleasures are available to man, yet only for the sake of the use they serve; and thus though they vary according to the use they serve, they share in and receive their life from heavenly happiness.
Latin(1748-1756) 997
997. Quod 'dari vobis id omne' significet fruitionem ob usum, quod est 'in cibum,' nam quicquid in cibum datur, est in usum; quod usum attinet, ita se habet, quod illi qui in charitate, hoc est, in amore erga proximum sunt, a quo amore jucundum voluptatum quod vivum est, non spectent fruitionem voluptatum quam propter usum; nam charitas nulla est nisi sint opera charitatis; in exercitio seu usu consistit charitas; qui amat proximum ut se, nusquam jucundum charitatis percipit nisi in exercitio seu in usu, quare vita charitatis est vita usuum; talis vita est totius caeli, nam regnum Domini quia est regnum amoris mutui, est regnum usuum; ideo omnis voluptas quae ex charitate, ex usu habet suum jucundum; quo insignior usus, eo majus jucundum; inde est quod secundum essentiam et qualitatem usus, angeli habeant felicitatem a Domino. [2] Ita se habet cum omni voluptate, quo insignior usus ejus est, eo jucundum ejus est majus; ut solum pro exemplo jucundum amoris conjugialis, quia inde seminarium societatis humanae, et ex hoc regnum Domini in caelis, qui usus omnium maximus est, ideo tantum jucunditatis ei inest, ut dictum, quod sit felicitas caelestis: cum ceteris voluptatibus se similiter habet sed cum differentia secundum praestantiam usuum; qui usus tam multiplices sunt ut vix in genera et species possint dispesci; quorum unus proximius et directius, alter remotius et obliquius, spectat regnum Domini seu Dominum. Ex his quoque constat quod omnes voluptates homini concessae sint sed propter usum; quae sic ex usu in quo sunt, cum differentia, ex felicitate caelesti participant et vivunt.