7189. 'And with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land' means that with all their strength and power they will make them flee from their proximity. This is clear from the meaning of 'with a strong hand' as with all their strength and power, dealt with immediately above in 7188; from the meaning of 'driving them out' as making them flee; and from the meaning of 'his land' as proximity. The land where those who belong to the spiritual Church are molested by falsities is in close proximity to the hells that molest them and is called the lower earth, see 7090. Therefore 'out of his land' means from their proximity.

7188. 'For with a strong hand he will send them away' means that with all their strength and power they will flee from them. This is clear from the meaning of 'a strong hand' as all the strength and power (for the meaning of 'hand' as power, see 878, 3387, 4931, 5327, 5318, 6947, 7011); and from the meaning of 'sending them away' as fleeing from them. The implications of this are that when punishments deter those belonging to hell from carrying out evil they at length refrain from molestation; they wish to leave those they have been molesting and to flee. Yet because the one and only delight of their life consists in carrying out what is evil and molesting they are unable to refrain unless they summon up all their strength and power to remove themselves. For since that which is the delight of any person's life is at the centre of his love it is at the centre of his life, and he is carried away; it is irresistible unless the unpleasantness of punishment weighs more heavily with him than the delight of carrying out evil. This is the reason for the punishments that the evil suffer in the next life.