Luke 16:23

Plain English Version

He went to a place where dead people go. A big fire there was hurting him a lot. Then he looked up, and he saw Abraham, a long way off, and he saw Lazarus there with Abraham.

Cross References

Matthew 5:22

But now I’m telling you this. Don’t even get angry with anybody. That is bad too. If you are angry with somebody, God will be your judge, and he will punish you. Or if you call somebody bad names, you will end up in God’s court. And if you get really angry with somebody, and if you tell them, ‘You are a stupid fool,’ God will judge you for that, and he can send you into the big fire called hell.”

Matthew 5:29

You see, if things in your life push you to go wrong, then you have to get rid of them, even if it is hard to do. Be careful about how you use your eyes. If you see something that gets you to go wrong, then stop looking. That might be hard to do, like you are pulling out your eye and throwing it away. But it is better to lose one eye here on the earth now, than to keep 2 eyes and go to the bad place called hell.

Luke 16:24

So he yelled out loud. He said, ‘Grand-father Abraham, this fire is hurting me a lot. Feel sorry for me, and send Lazarus to bring some water to me, and put his finger in it and then put it on my tongue, to cool it a little bit.’

Luke 16:28

I’ve got 5 brothers there. Get Lazarus to tell them about this bad place, so they will stop doing bad things. If they turn around and live God’s way, they will not end up in this bad place.’

2 Peter 2:4

Think about these stories from a long time ago. At one time, some of God’s angel messengers did the wrong thing. They didn’t do what God told them to do, so God punished them. He threw them down into the dark hole called hell. He is keeping them there now, and later he will judge them.