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.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham - a well-rounded but unavailing claim of natural descent (see Luke 3:8; John 8:37),
Have mercy on me - `Have mercy on me who never showed any mercy to my fellow-men.' Not daring to cry to God, he applies in his desperation to one who has no power to help him.
And send Lazarus (the pining victim of his merciless neglect), that he may (do what? take him out of that place of torment? No, that he presumes not to ask; but merely), that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. What does this wretched man ask? He asks the least conceivable and the most momentary abatement of his torment-that is all. But even that is denied him, for two awfully weighty reasons. First, IT IS UNREASONABLE.