Luke 11

Instruction about Prayer

1It happened that while 1Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2And He said to them, “2When you pray, say: ‘3Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.3Give us 4each day our 5daily bread.4And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who 6is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’”

5Then He said to them, “7Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children 8and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet 9because of his 10persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

9“So I say to you, 1112ask, and it will be given to you; 13seek, and you will find; 14knock, and it will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. 11Now 15suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a 16fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? 1317If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your 18heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Pharisees’ Blasphemy

1419And He was casting out a demon, and it 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 20by 21Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 16Others, 22to test Him, 23were demanding of Him a 24sign from heaven. 1725But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “26Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against 27itself falls. 18If 28Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by 29Beelzebul. 19And if I by 30Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will be your judges. 20But if I cast out demons by the 31finger of God, then 32the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21When 33a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are 34undisturbed. 22But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. 2335He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.

24“36When the unclean spirit goes out of 37a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 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 go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

27While 38Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “39Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.” 28But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are 40those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

The Sign of Jonah

29As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “41This generation is a wicked generation; it 42seeks for a 43sign, and yet no 44sign will be given to it but the 45sign of Jonah. 30For just as 46Jonah became a 47sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31The 48Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and 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 stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because 49they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

33“50No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. 3451The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is 52clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is 53bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness. 36If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”

Woes upon the Pharisees

37Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table. 38When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first 5455ceremonially washed before the 56meal. 39But 57the Lord said to him, “Now 58you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but 59inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. 4060You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? 41But 61give that which is within as charity, and 62then all things are 63clean for you.

42“64But woe to you Pharisees! For you 65pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 43Woe to you Pharisees! For you 66love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places. 4467Woe to you! For you are like 68concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”

45One of the 6970lawyers said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.” 46But He said, “Woe to you 71lawyers as well! For 72you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, 73while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 4774Woe to you! For you build the 75tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. 48So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. 49For this reason also 76the wisdom of God said, ‘77I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will 78persecute, 50so that the blood of all the prophets, shed 79since the foundation of the world, may be 80charged against this generation, 51from 81the blood of Abel to 82the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be 83charged against this generation.’ 52Woe to you 8485lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; 86you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”

53When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, 5487plotting against Him 88to catch 89Him in something He might say.