864. [verse 10] 'And the devil leading them astray was cast into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they shall be tormented days and nights for ages of ages' signifies those who were in evils as to life and in untruths as to doctrine cast into hell, where they will be interiorly infested by the love of their own untruth and by the lusts of their own evil continually forever. By 'the devil leading them astray' is understood the dragon as is plain from the things preceding, and by 'the dragon' are understood in general those who are in evils as to life and in untruths as to doctrine (n. 841). He is termed 'the devil leading them astray' that it might be known that it was the dragon, because he led astray (as is plain from vers. 2, 3, 7, 8 of this chapter). By 'the lake of fire' into which he was cast is signified hell where are the loves of untruth and the lusts of evil (n. 835). By 'the beast and the false prophet' are signified those who by both life and doctrine are in faith alone, the unlearned as well as the learned; by 'the beast' the unlearned, and by 'the false prophet' the learned (n. 834). By 'to be tormented days and nights' is signified to be interiorly infested continually, and by 'for ages of ages' forever. And because it is said that 'they were cast into the lake of fire and sulphur', and by that is signified where the loves of untruth and the lusts of evil are (n. 835), it is these by which they will be infested interiorly; for every one in hell is tormented by reason of his own love and the lusts thereof, for these make the life of each one there, and the life is tormented: and therefore there are degrees of torment in accordance with the degrees of the love of evil and of the untruth therefrom.