Luke 11

And it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place, that when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”

And he said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Father, may your name be treated as holy. May your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread,

and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not bring us into temptation.’”

And he said to them, “Which of you has a friend, and will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

for a friend of mine has just come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’

And he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me. The door has already been locked and my children are with me in bed. I am not able to get up and give you anything.’

“I say to you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s shameless persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

“And I say to you, keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who keeps asking receives, and the one who keeps seeking finds, and to the one who keeps knocking the door will be opened.

“And what father is there among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?

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

If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more certainly will your heavenly Father give holy spirit to those who ask him?”

And he was casting out a demon that made people unable to speak. And it came to pass when the demon had gone out the mute man spoke, and the crowd was amazed.

But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

And others, testing him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.

But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.

And also, if the Adversary is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? I say this because you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

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

But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.

“When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own court, his possessions are in peace.

But when a stronger man than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him his armor in which he had trusted and distributes his plunder.

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.

“When the unclean spirit goes out of the person, it passes through waterless places seeking a resting place, and yet finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.

Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter in and live there, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

And it came to pass as he said these things, a certain woman in the crowd lifted up her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you, and the breasts that you sucked.”

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

And when the multitudes were gathering together to him, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation, it seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

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

The queen of the south will rise up at the Judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.

The men of Nineveh will stand up at the Judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.

“No one, when he has lighted a lamp, puts it in a covered place, nor under a peck basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter can see the light.

The lamp of your body is your eye. When your eye is single, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness.

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

So if your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be full of light like when a lamp with its radiance gives you light.”

Now as he spoke, a Pharisee asked him to eat a meal with him, and he went in and reclined to eat.

And when the Pharisee saw it, he was amazed that he had not first washed himself before the meal.

And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but inside of you, you are full of greed and wickedness.

You senseless people! Didn’t the one who made the outside make the inside also?

But give those things that are within as charitable gifts, and look, all things will be clean for you.

“But how terrible it will be for you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every garden plant, and pass over justice and the love of God. But it is necessary to do those things, and not leave the other undone.

“How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! For you love the most important seats in the synagogues and the greetings you get in the marketplaces.

“How terrible it will be for you! For you are like unmarked graves, and the people who walk over them do not know it.”

And one of the lawyers answering said to him, “Teacher, in saying this you reproach us also.”

And he said, “How terrible it will be for you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens that are hard to carry, and yet you yourselves do not touch the loads with one of your fingers.

“How terrible it will be for you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.

So you are witnesses and fully approve of the works of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.

Because of this, the wisdom of God also said, I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute

with the result that the blood of all the prophets that was shed from the foundation of the world will be required of this generation,

from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I say to you, it will be required of this generation.

“How terrible it will be for you lawyers! For you took away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”

And when he had come out from there, the experts in the law and the Pharisees began to press upon him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things,

laying in wait for him in order to catch something that he might say.