Instruction About Prayer

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

2So he said to them, “When you pray, say,
‘ ¹⁷⁷Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be yoʋr name.
Yoʋr kingdom come.
¹⁷⁸Yoʋr will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

3Give us each day our daily bread.

4And forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into ¹⁷⁹temptation,
but deliver us from evil.’ ”

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

6for a ¹⁸⁰friend on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him,’

7and he answers from inside and says, ‘Do not bother me! The door is already shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up to give yoʋ anything.’

8I tell you, even if he will not get up and give yoʋ anything because yoʋ are his friend, yet because of yoʋr shameless persistence, he will get up and give yoʋ as much as yoʋ need.

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

10For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and for him who knocks, the door will be opened.

11Now what father among ¹⁸¹you, when his son asks for bread, will give him a stone; or again, when he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent instead of a fish;

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

13If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give ¹⁸²the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Jesus and Beelzebul

14Now Jesus was casting out a demon that made a certain man mute. When the demon came out, the mute man began to speak, and the crowds were amazed.

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

16Others were asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him.

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

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

19Now if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom ¹⁸³do your followers cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

20But if I cast 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 palace, his possessions are secure.

22But when a stronger man attacks and overpowers him, he takes away all the armor in which the man trusted and then distributes the plunder.

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

An Unclean Spirit Returns

24“When an unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it goes through waterless places seeking rest. But when it does not find any, it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’

25When it arrives, it finds the house ¹⁸⁴swept and put in order.

26Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they ¹⁸⁵go and dwell there, and the last state of that person becomes worse than the first.”

True Blessedness

27As Jesus was saying these things, a woman from among the crowd lifted up her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore yoʋ, and the breasts at which yoʋ nursed.”

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

The Sign of Jonah

29Now as the crowds were increasing, Jesus began to say, “This generation is ¹⁸⁶evil. It asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of ¹⁸⁷the prophet Jonah.

30For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also will the Son of Man ¹⁸⁸be to this generation.

31The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for 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 at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

The Lamp of the Body

33“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a hidden place ¹⁸⁹or under a basket. Instead, it is put on a lampstand, so that those who come in can see its light.

34¹⁹⁰The lamp of the body is the eye. ¹⁹¹So when yoʋr eye is clear, yoʋr whole body is full of light. But when yoʋr eye is bad, yoʋr body is full of darkness.

35Therefore make sure that the light within yoʋ is not darkness.

36If then yoʋr whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be entirely light, like when a lamp gives yoʋ light with its rays.”

Woe to the Pharisees and Lawyers

37As Jesus was ¹⁹²speaking, a Pharisee invited him to have a meal with him, so Jesus went in and reclined at the table.

38The Pharisee was amazed when he saw that Jesus did not first perform the ritual washing before the meal.

39So the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but inside you are filled with thoughts of robbery and wickedness.

40You fools! Did not he who made the outside also make the inside?

41But give as alms the things that are on the inside, and behold, everything will be clean for you.

42“But woe to you, Pharisees! For you tithe mint, rue, and every herb, yet you ignore justice and the love of God. These you ought to have practiced without neglecting the other things.

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

44Woe to ¹⁹³you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without realizing it.”

45In response one of the lawyers said to him, “Teacher, by saying these things, yoʋ insult us as well.”

46But Jesus said, “Woe also to you lawyers! For you burden people with burdens that are hard to bear, but you yourselves do not touch the burdens with even one of your fingers.

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

48So you ¹⁹⁴bear witness to and approve of the works of your fathers; for they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.

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

50As a result, this generation will be held accountable for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed from the foundation of the world,

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

52Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were trying to enter.”

53As he ¹⁹⁵was saying these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely and to question him closely about many things,

54lying in wait for him ¹⁹⁶and seeking to catch him in some word coming out of his ¹⁹⁷mouth, so that they might accuse him.