830. The hell of those who mislead people by cunning deception - putting on a smile and a pleasant tone of voice while concealing venomous deceit within, and in this way getting hold of people with the intent of destroying them - is more horrible than anybody else's, more horrible in fact than the murderers' hell. To themselves they seem to be living among snakes; and the more treacherous their deceits have been, the more dreadful and venomous the snakes appear to be, and the more there are which surround and torment them. Nor do they know of them as anything other than snakes, for the pains and agony they endure are just like those caused by snakes. Few will perhaps believe this, but it is nevertheless the truth. These are people who premeditate the deceits they practise and feel the joy of life in doing so. Punishments for deceivers are various, depending on the nature of the deceit. In general they are not tolerated in communities but are expelled from them, for whatever a spirit is thinking those around him know and perceive in an instant. They accordingly know and perceive whether there is any deceit in him, and the nature of it. This is why deceivers are ultimately cast out of communities and dwell all alone. Their face at such times has a broad look, stretched to a width four or five times that of other people's faces, with a broad whitish hat made of straw. As they dwell there in their agony they are semblances of death. There are others who by nature are deceivers, and so act less premeditatedly and less surreptitiously behind a false countenance. They are recognized immediately and their thinking is perceived clearly. They even boast about it as though they wished to seem clever. Theirs is not the same kind of hell. But more about deceivers will in the Lord's Divine mercy be presented later on.