The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ “Now there was a certain rich man who was habitually dressed in expensive purple and fine linen, and celebrated and lived joyously in splendor every day. ²⁰ And a poor man named Lazarus, was laid at his gate, covered with sores. ²¹ He [eagerly] longed to eat the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. ²² Now it happened that the poor man died and his spirit was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s ^[a]bosom (paradise); and the rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom (paradise). ²⁴ And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in severe agony in this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things [all the comforts and delights], and Lazarus likewise bad things [all the discomforts and distresses]; but now he is comforted here [in paradise], while you are in severe agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you [people] a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to come over from here to you will not be able, and none may cross over from there to us.’ ²⁷ So the rich man said, ‘Then, father [Abraham], I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—in order that he may solemnly warn them and witness to them, so that they too will not come to this place of torment.’ ²⁹ But Abraham said, ‘They have [the Scriptures given by] Moses and the [writings of the] Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ³⁰ He replied, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent [they will change their old way of thinking and seek God and His righteousness].’ ³¹ And he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to [the messages of] Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”