Luke 18:1-18

1Then Jesus told them a parable to show them they should always pray and not lose heart.

2He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people.

3There was also a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

4For a while he refused, but later on he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people,

5yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out by her unending pleas.’”

6And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says!

7Won’t God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long to help them?

8I tell you, he will give them justice speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

9Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else.

10“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

11The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers – or even like this tax collector.

12I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

13The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’

14I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

15Now people were even bringing their babies to him for him to touch. But when the disciples saw it, they began to scold those who brought them.

16But Jesus called for the children, saying, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

17I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

18Now a certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”