Luke 11

1And it happened that while he was praying in a certain place, when he stopped, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”

2And he said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.’”

3Give us each day our daily bread.

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

5And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves,’”

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

7and he from inside answers and says, ‘Do not trouble me. The door has already been shut, and my children are with me in bed. I am not able to get up and give you anything.’

8I tell you, even if he will not 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.

9And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

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

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

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

13If you, then, 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.

14And he was casting out a mute demon. Then, when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the crowds marveled.

15But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, he casts out demons.”

16But others, testing him, were seeking from him a sign from heaven.

17But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a house falls upon a house.”

18But if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul.

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

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

21When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own courtyard, his possessions are secure.

22But when one stronger than he comes upon him and overpowers him, he takes away his full armor on which he had relied, and distributes his plunder.

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

24When the unclean spirit has gone out from the man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house, from which I came out.’

25And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.

26Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.

27And it happened, as he was saying these things, that a woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you, and the breasts that nursed you.”

28But he said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

29As the crowds were gathering, 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.”

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

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

32The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

33No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it in a hidden place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.

34The lamp of your body is your eye. When your eye is healthy, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is dark.

35Therefore, watch out lest the light in you be darkness.

36If, then, your whole body is full of light, having no dark part, it will be wholly full of light, as when a lamp lights you with its brightness.

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

38But the Pharisee, when he saw it, was astonished that he had not first washed before the meal.

39But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but your inside is full of greed and wickedness.”

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

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

42But woe to you Pharisees, because you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and you pass by justice and the love of God. These things you ought to have done, without neglecting those things.

43Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

44Woe to you, because you are like unmarked tombs, and the men walking over them do not know it.

45Then one of the lawyers answered and said to him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.”

46But he said, “Woe also to you lawyers, because you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”

47Woe to you, because you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed.

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

49For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’

50so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation,

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

52Woe to you lawyers, because you took away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.

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

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