Luke 11

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

²He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say: ‘Father, may your name be treated as holy. May your kingdom come. ³Give us day by day the bread we need for the coming day. ⁴And cancel our sins, for we ourselves release everyone in debt to us. And do not lead us into a time of trial.’”

⁵And 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, ⁶because a friend of mine has arrived from a journey and I have nothing to set before him.’ ⁷And from inside he answers, ‘Do not bother me; the door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸I tell you, even if he will not get up and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s shameless audacity he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹So I tell you: keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and it will be opened for you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened. ¹¹Which of you fathers, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³If you then, who are flawed, 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!”

¹⁴Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the crowds were amazed. ¹⁵But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of demons.” ¹⁶Others, to test him, were seeking a sign from heaven from him. ¹⁷But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to ruin, and a house divided against a house falls. ¹⁸If Satan is also divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. ²⁰But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has overtaken you.

²¹When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own manor, his possessions are in peace. ²²But when someone stronger than he attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the full armor in which he trusted 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 an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest. Finding none, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵And when it arrives, it finds it swept and put in order. ²⁶Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they enter and settle there. And the last state of that person becomes worse than the first.”

²⁷As 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!” ²⁸But he said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and guard it.”

²⁹As the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation. It seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ³⁰For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. ³¹The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men 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. ³²The 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.

³³No one lights a lamp and puts it in a cellar or under a bushel basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. ³⁴Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but when it is sickly, your body is full of darkness. ³⁵Watch out, therefore, that the light in you is not darkness. ³⁶If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be entirely radiant, as when a lamp shines on you with its rays.”

³⁷While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to take a meal with him. So he went in and reclined at the table. ³⁸The Pharisee was surprised to see that he did not first perform a ritual washing before the meal. ³⁹But the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but your inside is full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰You thoughtless ones! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹Rather, give the things within as a gift to the poor, and look, everything is clean for you.

⁴²But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every garden herb, yet you bypass justice and the love of God. You should have practiced these without neglecting the others. ⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the seat of honor in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves that people walk over without knowing it.”

⁴⁵One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, by saying these things you insult us too.” ⁴⁶And he said, “Woe to you experts in the law as well! For you load people with burdens hard to carry, yet you yourselves do not touch the burdens with a single finger. ⁴⁷Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, yet your fathers killed them. ⁴⁸So you are witnesses and you approve of the deeds of your fathers; for they killed them, and you do the building. ⁴⁹This is why the Wisdom of God said: ‘I will send to them prophets and messengers; some of them they will kill and others they will persecute,’ ⁵⁰so that this generation may be held accountable for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world— ⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held accountable. ⁵²Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³When he left that place, the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely and to grill him with questions about many things, ⁵⁴lying in wait to catch him in something he might say.