Luke 10–12

The Mission of the Seventy-Two

¹⁰After this the Lord appointed seventy-two^c others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.^{* 2}He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.^{* 3}Go on your way; I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.^{* 4}Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.^{* 5}Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’^{* 6}And if a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you. ⁷Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.^{* 8}Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; ⁹cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’^{d* 10}But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’^{e* 12}I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.^*

Woes to Unrepentant Cities

¹³“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.^{* 14}Indeed, at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵And you, Capernaum,

will you be exalted to heaven?

No, you will be brought down to Hades.^*

¹⁶“Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”^*

The Return of the Seventy-Two

¹⁷The seventy-two^f returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!”^{* 18}He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.^{* 19}Indeed, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.^{* 20}Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”^*

Jesus Rejoices

²¹At that very hour Jesus^g rejoiced in the Holy Spirit^h and said, “I thankⁱ you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.^{j* 22}All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”^*

²³Then turning to the disciples, Jesus^k said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!^{* 24}For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”^*

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

²⁵An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.^l “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”^{* 26}He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” ²⁷He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.”^{* 28}And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”^*

²⁹But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”^{* 30}Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. ³¹Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³²So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion.^{* 34}He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ ³⁶Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” ³⁷He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Jesus Visits Martha and Mary

³⁸Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him.^{m* 39}She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’sⁿ feet and listened to what he was saying.^{* 40}But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.” ⁴¹But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, ⁴²but few things are needed—indeed only one.^o Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”^*

The Lord’s Prayer

¹¹He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”^{* 2}So he said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father,^p may your name be revered as holy.

May your kingdom come.^q

³Give us each day our daily bread.^r

⁴And forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

And do not bring us to the time of trial.”^s*

Perseverance in Prayer

⁵And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, ⁶for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ ⁷And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything out of friendship, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.^*

⁹“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.^{* 10}For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for^t a fish, would give a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if the child asked for an egg, would give a scorpion? ¹³If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit^u to those who ask him!”

Jesus and Beelzebul

¹⁴Now he was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed.^{* 15}But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” ¹⁶Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven.^{* 17}But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.^{* 18}If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?—for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists^v cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.^{* 21}When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. ²²But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder. ²³Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.^*

The Return of the Unclean Spirit

²⁴“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵When it returns, it finds it swept and put in order. ²⁶Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first.”^*

True Blessedness

²⁷While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!”^{* 28}But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”^*

The Sign of Jonah

²⁹When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.^{* 30}For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. ³¹The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed, something greater than Solomon is here!^{* 32}The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and indeed, something greater than Jonah is here!^*

The Light of the Body

³³“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel basket;^w rather, one puts it on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.^{* 34}Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but if it is unhealthy, your body is full of darkness.^{* 35}Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. ³⁶But if your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.”

Jesus Denounces Pharisees and Experts in the Law

³⁷While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him, so he went in and…