The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, enjoying himself in splendor every day. ²⁰ And a poor man named Lazarus ^(A)was laid at his gate, covered with sores, ²¹ and longing to be fed from the scraps which fell from the rich man’s table; not only that, the dogs also were coming and licking his sores. ²² Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to ^[a](B)Abraham’s arms; and the rich man also died and was buried. ²³ And in ^(C)Hades he raised his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his ^[b]arms. ²⁴ And he cried out and said, ‘^(D)Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in ^(E)this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that ^(F)during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. ²⁶ And ^[c]besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set, so that those who want to go over from here to you will not be able, nor will any people cross over from there to us.’ ²⁷ And he said, ‘Then I request of you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—in order that he may ^(G)warn them, so that they will not come to this place of torment as well.’ ²⁹ But Abraham *said, ‘They have ^[d](H)Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ ³⁰ But he said, ‘No, ^(I)father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ ³¹ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

The Macedonian Vision

16 Now Paul also came to ^(A)Derbe and to ^(B)Lystra. And a disciple was there, named ^(C)Timothy, the son of a ^(D)Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, ² and he was well spoken of by ^(E)the brothers and sisters who were in ^(F)Lystra and ^(G)Iconium. ³ Paul wanted this man to leave with him; and he ^(H)took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴ Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering ^(I)the ordinances for them to follow which had been determined by ^(J)the apostles and ^(K)elders in Jerusalem. ⁵ So ^(L)the churches were being strengthened ^[a]in the faith, and were ^(M)increasing in number daily.

¹⁶ For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for ^(A)I am under compulsion; for woe to me if I do not preach ^(B)the gospel. ¹⁷ For if I do this voluntarily, I have a ^(C)reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a ^(D)commission nonetheless. ¹⁸ What, then, is my ^(E)reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel ^(F)without charge, so as ^(G)not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹ For though I am ^(H)free from all people, I have made myself ^(I)a slave to all, so that I may ^(J)gain more. ^20 (K)To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the Law, I became as one under the Law, though ^(L)not being under the Law myself, so that I might gain those who are under the Law; ²¹ to those who are ^(M)without the Law, I became ^(N)as one without the Law, though not being without the law of God but ^(O)under the law of Christ, so that I might gain those who are without the Law. ²² To the ^(P)weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become ^(Q)all things to all people, ^(R)so that I may by all means save some. ²³ I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.