Luke 11

¹ One day he was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples."

² He said to them, "When you pray, say:
'Father,
may your name be held holy.
May your kingdom come.

³ Give us each day our bread for the coming day.

⁴ And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us into testing.'"

⁵ Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

⁶ because a friend of mine has arrived from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.'

⁷ And the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.'

⁸ I tell you, even if he won't get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his shameless persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

⁹ So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you.

¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

¹¹ What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?

¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

¹³ So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

¹⁴ He was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon came out, the mute man spoke, and the crowds were amazed.

¹⁵ But some of them said, "By Beelzebul, the ruler of demons, he drives out demons."

¹⁶ Others, testing him, were seeking from him a sign from heaven.

¹⁷ But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a household against itself falls.

¹⁸ If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? — since you say I drive out demons by Beelzebul.

¹⁹ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

²⁰ But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own estate, his possessions are secure.

²² But when someone stronger than he attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which he trusted and divides up his plunder.

²³ The one who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with me scatters.

²⁴ "When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none, it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'

²⁵ And when it arrives, it finds the house swept and put in order.

²⁶ Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle there. And the final condition of that person becomes worse than the first."

²⁷ As he was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts that nursed you!"

²⁸ But he said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it."

²⁹ As the crowds were increasing, he began to say, "This generation is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

³⁰ For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.

³¹ The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon — and look, something greater than Solomon is here.

³² The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah — and look, something greater than Jonah is here.

³³ "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a hidden place or under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light.

³⁴ Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light. But when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness.

³⁵ Watch out, then, that the light in you is not darkness.

³⁶ So if your whole body is full of light, with no part dark, it will be entirely radiant, as when a lamp illuminates you with its rays."

³⁷ While he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him. So he went in and reclined at the table.

³⁸ The Pharisee was surprised to see that he did not first wash before the meal.

³⁹ But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

⁴⁰ Fools! Did not the one who made the outside also make the inside?

⁴¹ But give as alms the things that are within, and look — everything is clean for you.

⁴² "But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every garden herb, but you neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.

⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴ Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and the people who walk over them don't know it."

⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law answered him, "Teacher, by saying these things you insult us too."

⁴⁶ And he said, "Woe to you experts in the law as well! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

⁴⁷ Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your ancestors killed them.

⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and you approve of the deeds of your ancestors, because they killed them and you build their tombs.

⁴⁹ For this reason also the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,'

⁵⁰ so that the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world may be charged against this generation —

⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.

⁵² Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering."

⁵³ When he left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things,

⁵⁴ lying in wait for him to catch something from his mouth.