Luke 10:17–12:12

THE RETURN OF THE SEVENTY-TWO

¹⁷The seventy-two^Bav returned with joy, saying,^aw “Lord, even the demons^ax submit to us in your name.”^ay

¹⁸He said to them, “I watched Satan^az fall from heaven like lightning.^{ba 19}Look, I have given you the authority^bb to trample^bc on snakes^bd and scorpions^be and over all the power of the enemy;^bf nothing at all will harm you.^{bg 20}However, don’t rejoice that^C the spirits^bh submit to you,^bi but rejoice that your names are written^bj in heaven.”

THE SON REVEALS THE FATHER

²¹At that time^a he^D rejoiced in the Holy^E Spirit^b and said, “I praise^F you, Father,^c Lord of heaven and earth,^d because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent^e and revealed them to infants.^f Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure.^{Ag 22}All things have^B been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son desires^C to reveal him.”^h

²³Then turning to his disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see the things you see! ²⁴For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see the things you see but didn’t see them; to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them.”ⁱ

THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN

²⁵Then^j an expert in the law^k stood up to test^l him, saying, “Teacher,^m what must I do to inherit eternal life?”ⁿ

²⁶“What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?”

²⁷He answered, “Love the Lord your God^o with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,”^p and “your neighbor as yourself.”^Dq

²⁸“You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.”^r

²⁹But wanting to justify himself,^s he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”^t

³⁰Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. ³¹A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³²In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³But a Samaritan^u on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion.^{v 34}He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil^w and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵The next day^E he took out two denarii, ^Fgave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

³⁶“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

³⁷“The one who showed mercy^x to him,” he said.

Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

MARTHA AND MARY

³⁸While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha^y welcomed him into her home.^{G 39}She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s^H feet^z and was listening to what he said.^{I 40}But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care^aa that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”^Jab

⁴¹The Lord^D answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things,^{ac 42}but one thing is necessary.^Lad Mary has made the right choice,^A and it will not be taken away from her.”

THE LORD’S PRAYER

11He was praying^ae in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”^af

²He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say,^ag

Father,^Bah

your name^ai be honored as holy.^aj

Your kingdom come.^Cak

³Give us each day our daily bread.^Dal

⁴And forgive us our sins,^am

for we ourselves also forgive everyone

in debt to us.^Ean

And do not bring us into temptation.”^Fao

ASK, SEARCH, KNOCK

⁵He also said to them, “Suppose one of you^G 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 on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.’ ⁷Then he will answer from inside and say, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ ⁸I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s shameless boldness,^H he will get up and give him as much as he needs.^a

⁹“So^b I say to you, ask,^c and it will be given to you. Seek,^d and you will find. Knock,^e 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. ¹¹What father among you, if his son^I 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 evil,^f know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father^g give the Holy Spirit^h to those who ask him?”

A HOUSE DIVIDED

¹⁴Nowⁱ he was driving out a demon^j that was mute.^k When the demon came out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. ¹⁵But some of them said, “He drives out demons by Beelzebul,^l the ruler^m of the demons.”^{n 16}And others, as a test,^o were demanding of him a sign^p from heaven.

¹⁷Knowing their thoughts,^q he told them, “Every kingdom divided^r against itself is headed for destruction, and a house divided against itself falls. ¹⁸If Satan^s also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom^t stand? For you say I drive out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons^u drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges. ²⁰If I drive out demons by the finger of God,^v then the kingdom of God^w has come upon you. ²¹When a strong man, fully armed, guards his estate, his possessions are secure. ²²But when one stronger than he attacks and overpowers^x him, he takes from him all his weapons^y he trusted^z in, and divides up his plunder.^{aa 23}Anyone who is not with me is against me,^ab and anyone who does not gather with me scatters.

AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT’S RETURN

²⁴“When^ac an unclean spirit^ad comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places looking for rest,^ae and not finding rest, it then^B says, ‘I’ll go back to my house that I came from.’ ²⁵Returning, it finds the house swept and put in order. ²⁶Then it goes and brings seven other spirits^af more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first.”^ag

TRUE BLESSEDNESS

²⁷As he was saying these things, a woman from the crowd^ah raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the one who nursed you!”^ai

²⁸He said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God^aj and keep it.”^ak

THE SIGN OF JONAH

²⁹As the crowds were increasing, he began saying, “This generation^al is an evil generation.^am It demands a sign,^an but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.^{Cao 30}For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also the Son of Man^ap will be to this generation. ³¹The queen of the south^aq will rise up at the judgment^ar with the men of this generation and condemn^as them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon,^at 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 Jonah’s preaching, and look—something greater than Jonah is here.

THE LAMP OF THE BODY

³³“No^au one lights a lamp^av and puts it in the cellar or under a basket,^D but on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see its light. ³⁴Your eye is the lamp of the body.^aw When your eye is healthy, your whole body is also full of light. But when it is bad,^ax your body is also full of darkness. ³⁵Take care, then, that the light in you is not darkness. ³⁶If, therefore, your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be entirely illuminated, as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

RELIGIOUS HYPOCRISY DENOUNCED

³⁷As he was speaking, a Pharisee^a asked him to dine with him. So he went in and reclined at the table. ³⁸When the Pharisee saw this, he was amazed that he did not first perform the ritual washing^Eb before dinner.^{c 39}But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed^d and evil.^{e 40}Fools!^f Didn’t he who made the outside make the inside too? ⁴¹But give from what is within to the poor,^Ag and then everything is clean^h for you.

⁴²“But woeⁱ to you Pharisees! You give a tenth^Bj of mint, rue, and every kind of herb, and you bypass^C justice^k and love for God.^Dl These things you should have done without neglecting the others.

⁴³“Woe to you Pharisees! You love the front seat^m in the synagoguesⁿ and greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴“Woe to you!^E You are like unmarked graves;^o the people who walk over them don’t know it.”

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

⁴⁶Then he said, “Woe also to you experts in the law! You load people with burdens^q that are hard to carry, and yet you yourselves don’t touch these burdens with one of your fingers.^r

⁴⁷“Woe to you! You build tombs^F for the prophets,^s and your fathers killed^t them. ⁴⁸Therefore, you are witnesses^u that you approve^Gv the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their monuments.^{H 49}Because of this, the wisdom of God^w said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles,^x and some of them they will kill and persecute,’^{y 50}so that this generation^z may be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world^Iaa—⁵¹from the blood of Abel^ab to the blood of Zechariah,^ac who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.

“Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible.^J

⁵²“Woe to you experts in the…