What Does Luke 16:25 Mean?
But Abraham said, Child, remember that in your living you received your good things in full, and Lazarus likewise his harms; but now he is comforted here, and you are pained.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
The repeated “now” turns the sentence on one hinge: what each person received before does not determine who is comforted now.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a whole life beside its present condition: what is received as good in one season does not settle what is true now. Lazarus is comforted while the rich man is tormented, and both realities are named plainly. Its repeated “now” makes the reversal immediate.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that receiving good things guarantees lasting comfort. A former condition does not lock in the present one.
THE ROOT
παρακαλεῖται
parakaleitai
GROWS FROM
παρακαλέω
parakaleō
To comfort or console; also to urge or appeal.
The Greek verb used for Lazarus being comforted also appears in the rich man’s “I pray thee” in verse 27, where it means appeal or urge. English separates those actions, while the shared root puts a plea for relief and received comfort in the same word family.
ALSO GROWS
parakalō: I appeal; I urge.
παρακαλῶ
The rich man’s “I pray thee” in Luke 16:27 uses this verb, linking his plea with Lazarus’s comfort.
paraklēsis: Comfort; consolation.
παράκλησις
This related noun names comfort directly, showing the same word family in another form.
ὀδυνᾶσαι
odynasai
GROWS FROM
ὀδυνάω
odynaō
To cause pain or suffer pain; to experience anguish.
“pained” in this verse is odynasai. The Greek word names experienced pain and anguish without specifying their mechanism. A related form is also translated “sorrowing,” placing grief and torment inside the same word family.
ALSO GROWS
odynē: Pain, anguish, sorrow.
ὀδύνη
This related noun shows that the root’s range includes grief as well as suffering.
odynōmenoi: Suffering with grief; sorrowing.
ὀδυνώμενοι
This form appears as “sorrowing” in Luke 2:48, showing the same anguish-root in a different English rendering.
THE PATTERN
Present fullness and deprivation are not permanent verdicts; scripture shows them being turned.
The LORD strips, and makes rich; he lays low, and lifts high.Flourishing are the hungering now, for you will be filled. Flourishing are the weeping now, for you will laugh.But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort in full.THE THREAD
And he said, I ask you then, father, that you would send him to my father's house.The rich man’s “I pray thee” (παρακαλῶ, parakalō; appeal or urge) and Lazarus being “comforted” (παρακαλεῖται, parakaleitai) are forms of one Greek verb. English separates plea from comfort; Greek places them in the same word family.
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