But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Parallel translations
- WEB “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But now here he is comforted and you are in anguish.
- BSB But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.
- NKJV But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.
- NASB But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that 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.
- NLT “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Abraham reminds him of the reversal: he enjoyed good things in life while Lazarus suffered, and now their states are exchanged.
Overview
The point is not that wealth itself damns or poverty saves, but that a life of self-indulgent comfort without faith or mercy ends in loss. Abraham gently but firmly states the justice of the reversal. Earthly ease without God leads to eternal anguish; suffering endured in faith finds comfort.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 22
- Luke 6:24But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
- 1 Jn 2:15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- Ps 17:14From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
- Mark 9:45And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
- Rom 8:7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
- Phil 3:19Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
- Ps 37:35–36I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
- Acts 14:22Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
- 1 Th 3:3That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.
- Heb 11:25Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
- Job 22:18Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
- Lam 1:7Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.
- Ps 73:12–19Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
- Luke 16:20And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
- Dan 5:22–23And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;
- John 16:33These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
- Luke 16:23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
- Dan 5:30In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
- Ps 49:11Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.
- Job 21:13–14They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
- Rev 7:14And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
- Ps 73:7Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 16:25 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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