Luke 11

1One time Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”

2He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, may your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come.

3Give us each day our daily bread.

4And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is in debt to us. And do not lead us into temptation.’”

5Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

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

7And suppose he answers from inside, ‘Do not bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot 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 as much as he needs.

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

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

11Which 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 give him a scorpion?

13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

14Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed.

15But some of them said, “It is by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that he drives out the demons.”

16Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven.

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

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

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

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

21When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe.

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

23Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

24When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest. When it finds none, it says, ‘I will go back to my house that I came out of.’

25When it comes, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.

26Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there. And the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first.”

27As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts that nursed you!”

28But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

29As the crowds were growing larger, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

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

31The 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.

32The people 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 basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who come in can see the light.

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

35So watch out that the light in you is not darkness.

36If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it dark, it will be full of light through and through, as when a lamp shines on you with its brightness.”

37While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat a meal with him, so he went in and reclined at the table.

38The Pharisee was surprised when he saw that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.

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

40You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside too?

41But give what is inside as gifts to the poor, and then everything will be clean for you.

42But woe to you Pharisees! You give a tenth of mint and rue and every garden herb, yet you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced these things without neglecting the others.

43Woe to you Pharisees! You love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

44Woe to you! You are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”

45One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.”

46Jesus said, “Woe to you experts in the law as well! You load people with burdens that are hard to carry, but you yourselves will not touch those burdens with one of your fingers.

47Woe to you! You build the tombs of the prophets, but it was your ancestors who killed them.

48So you are witnesses, and you approve of what your ancestors did, because they killed the prophets and you build their tombs.

49That is why the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’

50so that this generation may be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world,

51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it.

52Woe to you experts in the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not go in, and you hindered those who were trying to go in.”

53When Jesus went out from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely and to question him closely about many things,

54lying in wait for him to catch him in something he might say.