Luke 11

CHAPTER 11

The Lord’s Prayer

1 And it 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.”

2 And He said to them, “aWhen you pray, say:

‘1Father, hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

3 ‘Give us aeach day our 1daily bread.

4 ‘And forgive us our sins,

For we ourselves also forgive everyone who ais indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation.’”

5 Then He said to them, “Which of you has a friend and will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves,

6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;

7 and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children 1and I are in bed; I cannot rise up and give you anything.’

8 “I tell you, even though he will not arise and give him anything because he is his friend, yet abecause of his 1persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

9 “So I say to you, 1aask, and it will be given to you; 2seek, and you will find; 3knock, and it will be opened to you.

10 “For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.

11 “But what father among you, if his son asks for a 1fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?

12 “Or, if his son asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

13 “aIf you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your 1heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

A Kingdom Divided

14 aAnd He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. Now it happened that when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the crowds marveled.

15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons aby bBeelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

16 And others, testing Him, awere seeking from Him 1a sign from heaven.

17 aBut He knew their thoughts and said to them, “1Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a house divided against 2itself falls.

18 “But if aSatan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by bBeelzebul.

19 “And if I by aBeelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason, they will be your judges.

20 “But if I cast out demons by the afinger of God, then bthe kingdom of God has come upon you.

21 “When 1a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are 2undisturbed.

22 “But 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.

23 “aHe who is not with Me is against Me and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.

24 “aWhen the unclean spirit goes out of 1a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

25 “And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.

26 “Then 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.”

27 Now it happened that while 1Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “aBlessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.”

28 But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are athose who hear the word of God and keep it.”

The Sign of Jonah

29 Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “aThis generation is a wicked generation; it bseeks 1a sign, and yet no 2sign will be given to it but the 3sign of Jonah.

30 “For just as aJonah became 1a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

31 “The aQueen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation 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.

32 “The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because athey repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

33 “aNo 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.

34 “aThe eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is 1clear, your whole body also is full of light, but when it is 2bad, your body also is full of darkness.

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

36 “If 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 to the Pharisees and Lawyers

37 Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee *asked Him to have a meal with him. And He went in and reclined at the table.

38 But when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first 1aceremonially washed before the 2meal.

39 But athe Lord said to him, “Now byou Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but 1inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness.

40 “aYou foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also?

41 “But agive that which is within as charity, and 1then all things are bclean for you.

42 “aBut woe to you Pharisees! For you bpay 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.

43 “Woe to you Pharisees! For you alove the best seat in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the marketplaces.

44 “aWoe to you! For you are like 1concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”

45 Now one of the ascholars of the Law answered and said to Him, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us too.”

46 But He said, “Woe to you ascholars of the Law as well! For byou weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

47 “aWoe to you! For you build the 1tombs of the prophets, but your fathers killed them.

48 “So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs.

49 “For this reason also athe wisdom of God said, ‘bI will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will 1persecute,

50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed asince the foundation of the world, may be 1charged against this generation,

51 from athe blood of Abel to bthe blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be 1charged against this generation.’

52 “Woe to you, ascholars of the Law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; byou yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”

53 And when He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects,

54 aplotting bto catch 1Him in something He might say.