²⁷ People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

The Day of the Lord

5 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates^(A) we do not need to write to you,^{(B) 2} for you know very well that the day of the Lord^(C) will come like a thief in the night.^{(D) 3} While people are saying, “Peace and safety,”^(E) destruction will come on them suddenly,^(F) as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.^(G)

¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool!^(A) This very night your life will be demanded from you.^(B) Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’^(C)

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.^{(A) 20} At his gate was laid a beggar^(B) named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.^(C) Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.

¹⁴ The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing:^(H) “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned^(I) for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

³⁶ When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high^(A) spirits and very drunk.^(B) So she told^(C) him nothing at all until daybreak. ³⁷ Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone.^{(D) 38} About ten days later, the Lord struck^(E) Nabal and he died.

¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,^{(A) 13} and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget^(B) the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.