Luke
11
- One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.
When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to
pray, just as John taught his disciples."
- He said to them, "When you pray, say:
"'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
- Give us each day our daily bread.
- Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive
everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'"
- Then he said to them, "Suppose one
of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend
me three loaves of bread,
- because a friend of mine on a journey has
come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'
- "Then the one inside answers, 'Don't
bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed.
I can't get up and give you anything.'
- I tell you, though he will not get up and
give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness
he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
- "So I say to you: Ask and it will be
given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to
you.
- For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks
finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
- "Which of you fathers, if your son
asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
- Or if he asks for an egg, will give him
a scorpion?
- If you then, though you are evil, know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
- Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute.
When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed.
- But some of them said, "By Beelzebub,
the prince of demons, he is driving out demons."
- Others tested him by asking for a sign from
heaven.
- Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them:
"Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided
against itself will fall.
- If Satan is divided against himself, how
can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons
by Beelzebub.
- Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub,
by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.
- But if I drive out demons by the finger
of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.
- "When a strong man, fully armed, guards
his own house, his possessions are safe.
- But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers
him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils.
- "He who is not with me is against me,
and he who does not gather with me, scatters.
- "When an evil spirit comes out of a
man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it
says, 'I will return to the house I left.'
- When it arrives, it finds the house swept
clean and put in order.
- Then it goes and takes seven other spirits
more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition
of that man is worse than the first."
- As Jesus was saying these things, a woman
in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and
nursed you."
- He replied, "Blessed rather are those
who hear the word of God and obey it."
- As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This
is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given
it except the sign of Jonah.
- For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites,
so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.
- The Queen of the South will rise at the
judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from
the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than
Solomon is here.
- The men of Nineveh will stand up at the
judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching
of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.
- "No one lights a lamp and puts it in
a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its
stand, so that those who come in may see the light.
- Your eye is the lamp of your body. When
your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are
bad, your body also is full of darkness.
- See to it, then, that the light within you
is not darkness.
- Therefore, if your whole body is full of
light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the
light of a lamp shines on you."
- When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee
invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table.
- But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did
not first wash before the meal, was surprised.
- Then the Lord said to him, "Now then,
you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full
of greed and wickedness.
- You foolish people! Did not the one who
made the outside make the inside also?
- But give what is inside the dish to the
poor, and everything will be clean for you.
- "Woe to you Pharisees, because you
give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but
you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter
without leaving the former undone.
- "Woe to you Pharisees, because you
love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
- "Woe to you, because you are like unmarked
graves, which men walk over without knowing it."
- One of the experts in the law answered him,
"Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also."
- Jesus replied, "And you experts in
the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly
carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.
- "Woe to you, because you build tombs
for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them.
- So you testify that you approve of what
your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.
- Because of this, God in his wisdom said,
'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others
they will persecute.'
- Therefore this generation will be held responsible
for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of
the world,
- from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah,
who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this
generation will be held responsible for it all.
- "Woe to you experts in the law, because
you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered,
and you have hindered those who were entering."
- When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and
the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with
questions,
- waiting to catch him in something he might
say.
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