Luke 16:15-26

¹⁵He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted amongst men is an abomination in the sight of God.

¹⁶“The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the Good News of God’s Kingdom is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall.

¹⁸“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. He who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.

¹⁹“Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.

²⁰A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores,

²¹and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²²The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.

²³In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.

²⁴He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’

²⁵“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted and you are in anguish.

²⁶Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’