Luke 16:24

Luk 16:24-25. He cried, Father Abraham, have mercy on me — Being in an agony of pain, by reason of the flames, and the anguish felt in his conscience, he cried to Abraham to take pity on him, his son, and send Lazarus to give him, if it were but the very least degree of relief, by dipping the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue, for his torment was intolerable. Abraham might have replied, Thou art not my son, I disown thee; what has become of thy purple and fine linen, thy perfumes, thy feastings, thy dancings? Where are thy delicious wines, now that thou art so earnestly begging a drop of water to cool thy tongue? Instead of thy stately palace, thou art shut up in hell; instead of pleasure, thou art filled with pain; instead of music and mirth, nothing is heard but wailing and gnashing of teeth. No: such speeches, however just, would not have been suitable to the humanity of blessed Abraham; for which reason that good patriarch did not so much as put this wicked man in mind of his ill-spent life; only, being to justify God for having made so sudden and so remarkable a change in his state, he called him his son, and spake of his past debauched way of living in the softest manner possible, showing us the sweet disposition of the blessed in heaven. It cannot be denied, that there is one precedent here in Scripture, of praying to a departed saint: but who is he that prays? and with what success? Will any one who considers this be inclined to imitate him? And Abraham said, Son — That is, according to the flesh; remember, &c. — Is it not worthy of observation, that Abraham will not revile, even a damned soul? And shall living men revile one another? That thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things — He bade him consider, that in his lifetime he chose and accepted of worldly things, as his good, his happiness, despising heaven, and valuing, and seeking nothing but the riches, pleasures, and honours of earth. And can any be at a loss then to know why he was in torments? This damnable idolatry, had there been nothing else, was enough to sink him to the nethermost hell. But Abraham further intimates to him, that having enjoyed the good things of this world in the greatest perfection, he could not think it hard if, by the sentence of God, in the open violation of whose laws he had lived, especially of the great law enjoining sincere and fervent love to God and man, he was deprived of that heaven, and of those spiritual and eternal blessings, which he had always despised. And likewise Lazarus evil things — He reminded him that Lazarus, on the other hand, had borne the miseries of life with patience, had trusted in God, and looked forward to a better state: but now he is comforted — His afflictions are all brought to an end, and he is refreshed with eternal joys, which know neither hunger, nor cold, nor pain. He who had no house in which to hide his head, is now a free citizen, and blessed inhabitant of heaven: immortal joys and everlasting love refresh his soul, who lately desired the crumbs from thy table. Glory is his splendid robe for ever, health and gladness attend him always, who was covered only with sores and ulcers upon earth; and he is delighted with the sweet society of God, of angels, and of all the saints, whom no man regarded upon earth, and whose sores the dogs licked, more compassionate than his fellow-creatures. And thou art tormented — Instead of thy purple robe and fine linen, thou art invested with a robe of fiery flame: instead of sumptuous fare, art fed with bitter tears, and gnawed continually by a condemning conscience; instead of thy past elegancies and comforts, nothing but torment and anguish surrounds thee. Observe well, reader, it is not the merely being in a state of poverty and affliction on the one hand, or of wealth, affluence, and ease on the other, that causes this difference in the future conditions of men, that in itself saves or destroys their souls: but it is the right or wrong use of either state. When a man considers the good things of this life as his chief good; when his heart is taken up by them, and he is so intent on the gaining, the retaining, the increasing, or the enjoyment of them, as to neglect making his peace with God, and giving his heart to him in holy love, and his life in uniform obedience; or, when he makes his riches the instruments of pride, luxury, and uncharitableness; of impiety toward God, and inhumanity toward his fellow-creatures; — then he so receives his good things here as to give up all right to the good things hereafter; and having been here comforted by the enjoyment of temporal goods, will hereafter be tormented by the suffering of eternal evils. “For,” as an able writer well observes, and as is intimated in the note on Luk 16:21, “our Lord’s principal view in this discourse most evidently was, to warn men of the danger of that worldly- mindedness, neglect of religion, and devotedness to pleasure and profit, which is not so much any one vice, as it is the foundation and source of all vices. It is that which makes men regardless of futurity, and not to have God in all their thoughts. It is that deceitfulness of riches, ambition, and voluptuousness, and the care of things temporal, which stifle all sense of religion, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16:24 I am in anguish in these flames: See Matt 25:41; Rev 20:10, 14-15. • Send Lazarus: Ironically, the man was still treating Lazarus as a lowly servant.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 16:24. Αὐτὸς, himself). No longer now does he enjoy the attendance of slaves, but is a beggar himself.—πάτερ, father) Implying his “glorying in the flesh” [boasting of mere outward privileges of descent from the father of the faithful]: ‘Son’ in Luk 16:25 corresponds to ‘Father’ here.—πέμψον, send) Even as yet the self-indulger holds in little esteem Lazarus, even as yet in little esteem Moses: Luk 16:30.—ἵνα βάψῃ, that he may dip) This verb does not always imply a great abundance of water: from it is derived βαπτίζω. Not even the slightest mitigation is vouchsafed. This truly is “the wine of the wrath of God poured out, ἄκρατον, without mixture.” Rev 14:10, (Chrysostom observes, ἡ τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης σταγὼν ἀμίκτως ἔχει πρὸς τὴν ἀπήνειαν, A drop of the Divine compassion is not mixed with the unfeeling hard-heartedness of this rich feaster.—γλῶσσαν, tongue) His tongue it was that had especially sinned.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_16:24. Καὶ αὐτός] and he, on his part, as opposed to the patriarch and to Lazarus.

The poetical discourse as it advances now gives us a conversation from the two parts of Hades (for Rabbinical analogies, see in Lightfoot, p. 864 f.), in which, however, the prayer for the service of Lazarus is not on the part of the rich man continued presumption[212] (Lange, L. J. II. 1, p. 394: that Lazarus was to be sent on an errand for him), but finds its motive simply in the fact that it is precisely Lazarus whom he sees reposing on Abrahams bosom. The text does not go further, but leaves to be felt with sufficient profundity what is the humiliating reversal of the relation (that the despised beggar was now to be the reviver of the rich man).

τὸ ἄκρον τ. δακτ.] even only such a smallest cooling, what a favour it would be to him in his glowing heat! Lange grotesquely conjectures that he asks only for such a delicate touching, because he had seen Lazarus in the impurity of his sores. In his condition he certainly had done with such reflections.

ὕδατος] Genitivus materiae. See Bernhardy, p. 168; Buttmann, Neut. Gr. p. 148 [E. T. 170].

[212] Comp. also Bengel: Adhuc vmpendit Lazarum heluo.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 16:24 . Πάτερ Ἀ .: the rich man, like Lazarus, is a Jew, and probably, as a son of Abraham, very much surprised that he should find himself in such a place (Mat 3:8-9 ), and still hoping that the patriarch can do something for him. καταψύξῃ ( καταψύχω , here only in N.T.): surely that small service will not be refused! If the flames cannot be put out, may the pain they cause not be mitigated by a cooling drop of water on the tip of the tongue? a pathetic request.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Father Abraham--a well-founded, but unavailing, claim of natural descent (Luk 3:8; Joh 8:37).

mercy on me--who never showed any (Jam 2:3).

send Lazarus--the pining victim of his merciless neglect.

that he may--take me hence? No; that he dares not to ask.

dip . . . tongue--that is the least conceivable and the most momentary abatement of his torment; that is all. But even this he is told is (1) unreasonable.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(24) Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger . . .—The words, in their relation to the effect of the punishment on the rich man’s character, offer two tenable explanations. On the one hand, they have been thought to indicate the old selfish arrogance and heartlessness of the man who still looks on Lazarus as one who may be sent hither and thither, at any cost of suffering, to do his bidding and minister to his ease; on the other, we may see in them the traces of pride conquered, and the cry for mercy at last coming from lips that had never uttered it before, and the craving for help and sympathy from one whom in his lifetime he had despised as beneath his notice. There is something terribly significant in the fact that it is the “tongue” that suffers most in that agonising flame. That was the organ of the sense which the man had pampered by his riotous and sumptuous living: that is now the chief instrument of retribution. The lesson is the same as that which a poet of our own has taught us—

“The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices

Make instruments to scourge us.”—

Shakespeare, King Lear, v. 3.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. I am tormented] Rather, I am suffering pain. The verb is not basanizomai but odundmai, as in Luk_2:48, where it is rendered ‘sorrowing.’

in this flame] Perhaps meant to indicate the agony of remorseful memories. In Hades no

“Lethe the river of oblivion rolls:

Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks

Forthwith his former state and being forgets,

Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.”

As for the material flame and the burning tongue, “we may,” says Archbishop Trench, “safely say that the form in which the sense of pain, with the desire after alleviation, embodies itself, is figurative.” Even the fierce and gloomy Tertullian says that how to understand what is meant by these details “is scarcely perhaps discovered by those who enquire with gentleness, but by contentious controversialists never.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But Abraham said, son,.... He calls him "son", not in a spiritual sense; he was not one of Abraham's spiritual seed, that trod in the steps of his faith; but because he was so according to the flesh; and in return to his calling him father: good men have not always good children, nor is any trust to be put in birth and parentage:

remember, that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things; temporal good things; a land flowing with milk and honey; all the outward blessings of life that could be wished for, the Jews had, whilst they were in their own land; and also ecclesiastical good things, as the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises, the fathers, and the Messiah according to the flesh, even all external privileges and ordinances, Rom 9:4.

And likewise Lazarus evil things; Christ was surrounded with the infirmities of human nature, he assumed; was attended with much outward meanness and poverty; was loaded with calumnies and reproaches; and followed with the wrath, hatred, and persecution of men; and suffered many evil things, as buffetings, scourging, spitting, and cruel mockings, and at last death itself:

but now he is comforted; see Psa 16:9 compared with Act 2:25. Christ being raised from the dead, and set in human nature at the right hand of God, is comforted with the presence of God, which for a while he was deprived of, when on the cross; and is delighted with the glory that it put upon him as man; and with pleasure sees the travail of his soul continually, his elect and redeemed ones, called and gathered by the grace of God, who are his jewels, his portion, and goodly heritage:

and thou art tormented; as were many of the Jews, his implacable enemies and persecutors in hell, and others in captivity, bondage, and distress.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

24 And he 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 tormented in this flame.

Ver. 24. And cool my tongue] In his tongue he was most tortured, quia plus lingua peccaverat, saith Cyprian. So Nestorius the heretic had his tongue eaten up with worms. {a} So Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester (two notorious persecutors), died with their tongues thrust out, big swollen, and black with inflammation of their bodies. A spectacle worthy to be noted of all such bloody burning persecutors.

{a} Nestorii lingua vermibus exesa. Evang.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Father Abraham - The Jews considered it a signal honor that Abraham was their “father” - that is, that they were “descendants” from him. Though this man was now in misery, yet he seems not to have abandoned the idea of his relation to the father of the faithful. The Jews supposed that departed spirits might know and converse with each other. See Lightfoot on this place. Our Saviour speaks in conformity with that prevailing opinion; and as it was not easy to convey ideas about the spiritual world without some such representation, he, therefore, speaks in the language which was usual in his time. We are not, however, to suppose that this was “literally” true, but only that it was designed to represent more clearly the sufferings of the rich man in hell.

Have mercy on me - Pity me. The rich man is not represented as calling on “God.” The mercy of God will be at an end when the soul is lost. Nor did he “ask” to be released from that place. Lost spirits “know” that their sufferings will have no end, and that it would be in vain to ask to escape the place of torment. Nor does he ask to be admitted where Lazarus was. He had no “desire” to be in a holy place, and he well knew that there was no restoration to those who once sink down to hell.

Send Lazarus - This shows how low he was reduced, and how the circumstances of people change when they die. Just before, Lazarus was laid at his gate full of sores; now he is happy in heaven. Just before, he had nothing to give, and the rich man could expect to derive no benefit from him; now he asks, as the highest favor, that he might come and render him relief. Soon the poorest man on earth, if he is a friend of God, will have mercies which the rich, if unprepared to die, can never obtain. The rich will no longer despise such people; they would “then” be glad of their friendship, and would beg for the slightest favor at their hands.

Dip the tip ... - This was a small favor to ask, and it shows the greatness of his distress when so small a thing would be considered a great relief.

Cool my tongue - The effect of great “heat” on the body is to produce almost insupportable thirst. Those who travel in burning deserts thus suffer inexpressibly when they are deprived of water. So “pain” of any kind produces thirst, and particularly if connected with fever. The sufferings of the rich man are, therefore, represented as producing burning “thirst,” so much that even a drop of water would be refreshing to his tongue. We can scarce form an idea of more distress and misery than where this is continued from one day to another without relief. We are not to suppose that he had been guilty of any particular wickedness with his “tongue” as the cause of this. It is simply an idea to represent the natural effect of great suffering, and especially suffering in the midst of great heat.

I am tormented - I am in anguish - in insupportable distress.

In this flame - The lost are often represented as suffering “in flames,” because “fire” is an image of the severest pain that we know. It is not certain, however, that the wicked will be doomed to suffer in “material” fire. See the notes at Mar 9:44.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. Father Abraham—He reminds the great father of his descent from him. And he who sat at the banquet once, and refused the crumb to the beggar, now sees the beggar at the banquet, and is refused his supplication.

Dip… cool my tongue… this flame—That tongue which had so often been pampered with sensual gratifications, is now parched with the terrible deprivation. Those licentious passions which had heated his blood will now, in the atmosphere of the new world, kindle to a flame. Besides, the effeminacy which he had cultivated induces him to magnify his new sufferings, and he is perfectly miserable. But all these miseries are, it may be, rather natural than penal. This is the intermediate state, after death, but before the judgment-day. Sentence has not yet been pronounced, and penalty is not yet in its full sense now inflicted. So that we have here, perhaps, the natural sorrow of the lost spirit on leaving the body. Accommodation to his condition may enable his wretched excitement to subside into a permanent state of quiet, settled, and, perhaps, even contented consciousness of badness and woe. This poor wretch prays not to God but to a holy father. The result is a poor encouragement for praying to dead saints.

Flame—Are the damned tormented by a real material fire? We might, perhaps, answer—the visible fire may be but a material emblem of an immaterial power. The element of the very lake of fire may be to the human soul what the fire is to the visible human body.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he 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 tormented in this flame. His intense longing seems to be for companionship. "Oh for a friend," he seems to say, "who could speak to me, comfort me, give me the smallest alleviation of the pain I suffer!" What picture of a hell was ever painted by man comparable to this vision of eternal solitude, peopled alone by remorseful memories, described by Jesus? As the Divine Speaker advanced in his thrilling, melancholy description of the rich man"s condition in the world to come, how vividly must the listeners have recalled the Master"s earnest advice to them, in his former parable of the steward, to make to themselves while here friends who would receive them into everlasting habitations! They saw the meaning of that detail of the parable then. Were flay, in their luxurious abundance, were they making friends here who would help them there in the eternal tents? Were they not, perhaps, making the same mistake as the rich man of the story? The question might be asked Why is Abraham, the father of the chosen race, the centre of this blessed life in Hades? In reply, firstly, it must be remembered that the whole colouring of this parable is peculiarly rabbinic, and in the schools of the rabbis the life of the blessed in Paradise is represented as a banquet, over which, until Messiah come, Abraham is represented as presiding. And, secondly, when the parable was spoken, the Saviour was actually on earth; his great redemption work had still to be accomplished. There was truth as well as error mingled in that strange rabbinical teaching. Messiah, as Messiah, when the parable was being probably acted, had not entered that realm where Abraham and many another holy and humble man of heart were in the enjoyment of exquisite bliss.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Father Abraham, have mercy on me - It cannot be denied, but here is one precedent in Scripture of praying to departed saints: but who is it that prays, and with what success? Will any, who considers this, be fond of copying after him?

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, 1. The place where the rich man suffers, it is in hell: the souls of wicked men, when they leave their bodies, do certainly go into a place of torment, which is not only beyond expression, but our apprehension also; Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, those dreadful things which God hath prepared for them that hate him.

Observe, 2. The sin for which he suffers: it is the sin of unmercifulness.

Thence learn, that uncharitableness and unmercifulness to the poor, is a very great sin, and such a sin as alone, and without any other guilt, is sufficient to ruin a man forever; there is found in this sin great impiety towards God, and great inhumanity towards our own nature.

Observe, 3. The nature and quality of his sufferings; they are exceedingly painful, and void of the least degree of comfort; not a drop of water is granted to cool an inflamed tongue.

Learn thence, that the least refreshments are impatiently desired by the damned souls in hell, but righteously denied and withheld from them: a drop of water was desired, but not granted. No cup of water, no bowls of wine in hell; there is but one full cup in hell, and that is the cup of God’s wrath, without any mixture of mercy or pity. That throat will be forever parched with thirst then, which is drenched and drowned with excess now: the songs of the drunkard here, will be turned into howlings and lamentations there.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. And he cried. The only instance in the New Testament of prayers to the saints. Father Abraham. His trust was in his fleshly descent. He said, “We have Abraham to our father.” Send Lazarus. He seems to think that he has some claims on him, in return for his crumbs. Dip the tip of his finger in water. He only dares ask the smallest favors. Tormented in this flame. “Flame may be regarded as a figurative term, to represent acutest suffering of which a spirit is susceptible by a material image of misery the most dire.”—Greswell.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

he cried out and said

"the rich man called out to say" or "he shouted out to Abraham"

Father Abraham

Abraham was the ancestor of all the Jews, including the rich man.

have mercy on me

"please have pity on me" or "please be merciful to me"

and send Lazarus

"by sending Lazarus" or "and tell Lazarus to come to me"

he may dip the tip of his finger

This indicates the smallness of the amount requested. AT: "he may wet the tip of his finger"

I am in anguish in this flame

"I am in terrible pain in this flame" or "I am suffering terribly in this fire"

translationWords

ancestor

Abraham

mercy

anguish

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

24. ὕδατος. The partitive genitive—‘in some water.’ But he who refused the crumbs is denied the drops.

ὀδυνῶμαι. ‘I am suffering pain.’ The verb is not βασανίζομαι. See Luk 2:48, where ὀδυνῶμαι is rendered ‘sorrowing.’

ἐν τῇ φλογὶ ταύτη. Perhaps meant to indicate the agony of remorseful memories. In Hades no

“Lethe the river of oblivion rolls:

Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks

Forthwith his former state and being forgets,

Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.”

As for the material flame and the burning tongue, “we may,” says Archbishop Trench, “safely say that the form in which the sense of pain, with the desire after alleviation, embodies itself, is figurative.” Even the fierce and gloomy Tertullian says that how to understand what is meant by these details “is scarcely perhaps discovered by those who inquire with gentleness, but by contentious controversialists never.”

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24.] ‘Superbus temporis, mendicus inferni.’ (Trench, Par. in loc.)

On πάτερ Ἀβρ. see Mat 3:9.

φλογί, not subjective only, though perhaps mainly. The omission of the article before βασάνοις points no doubt to subjective torments;—but where lies the limit between inner and outer to the disembodied? Hardened sinners have died crying ‘Fire!’—Did the fire leave them, when they left their bodies?

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. Πάτερ Ἀβραάμ. He appeals to their relationship, and to his fatherly compassion. Will not Abraham take pity on one of his own sons? Comp. Joh 8:53. Note the characteristic καὶ αὐτός (see on 1:17, 5:14). The φωνήσας implies raising his voice, in harmony with ἀπὸ μακρόθεν.

πέμψον Λάζαπον. Not that he assumes that Lazarus is at his beck and call, although Lange thinks that this is “the finest masterstroke of the parable” that Dives unconsciously retains his arrogant attitude towards Lazarus. See also his strange explanation of the finger-drop of water (L of C. i. p. 507). On earth Dives was not arrogant; he did not drive Lazarue from his gate; but neglectful. In Hades he is so humbled by his pain that he is willing to receive alleviation from anyone, even Lazarus.

ἵνα βάψῃ τὸ ἄκρον τοῦ δακτύλου αὐτοῦ ὕδατος. The smallest alleviation will be welcome. On earth no enjoyment was too extravagant: now the most trifling is worth imploring.

With the part. gen. ὕδατος comp. βάψει τὸν δάκτυλον τὸν δεξιὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐλαίου (Lev 14:16). To understand τι and make ὔδατός τι nom. to βάψη is an improbable constr. See win. xxx. 8. c, p. 252.

ὀδυνῶμαι ἐν τῇ φλογὶ ταύτῃ. “I am in anguish in this flame” of insatiable desires and of remorse: a prelude to the γέεννα τοῦ πυρός (Mat 5:22). For ὀδυνῶμαι see on 2:48.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Cool [καταψυχειν] . Only here in New Testament. Common in medical language. See on ch. Luk 21:26. Compare the exquisite passage in Dante, where Messer Adamo, the false coiner, horribly mutilated, and in the lowest circle of Malebolge, says :

" I had, while living, much of what I wished; And now, alas! a drop of water crave.

The rivulets that from the verdant hills Of Cassentin descend down into Arno, Making their channels to be soft and cold, Ever before me stand, and not in vain : For far more doth their image dry me up Than the disease which strips my face of flesh. " Inferno, 30, 65 sq.

Tormented [οδυνωμαι] . Used by Luke only. Tormented is too strong.

The word is used of the sorrow of Joseph and Mary when the child Jesus was missing (ch. 2 48); and of the grief of the Ephesian elders on parting with Paul (Act 20:38). Rev., I am in anguish.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.