“Carried by the angels to Abraham's side”
One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. And the rich man also died and was buried. (Luke 16:19–31 BSB)
What it sounds like today
'Abraham's bosom' sounds like a mystical location.
The cultural key
It is a banquet seat. Diners reclined in a line, and the guest of honor lay immediately in front of the host, literally against his chest (the beloved disciple occupies exactly this spot at Jesus' side, John 13:23). Lazarus, who lay at the gate longing for table scraps while dogs (unclean scavengers) licked his sores, now reclines in the place of honor at Abraham's feast. The rich man's costume was the point of his introduction: purple (murex dye, the most expensive substance in the wardrobe) and fine linen, feasting sumptuously daily. He is the only character in any parable left unnamed while the beggar gets a name: Lazarus, 'God helps.'
Recovered meaning
A total inversion staged as a banquet: the man who feasted alone now begs; the man who begged now has the best couch at the feast. And the closing line aims past the story: if Moses and the Prophets do not move them, 'neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'