Luke 11

¹And it came to pass, while he was in a certain place praying, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him: Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.

³Our bread for the day give us each day.

⁵And he said to them: Which of you will have a friend and go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves,

⁶since a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to set before him.

⁷and from within he answers and says: Do not cause me trouble; the door is already shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you.

⁸I tell you, even if he will not rise and give to him because of being his friend, yet because of his shameless persistence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

⁹And I myself say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

¹¹Now which of you who is a father, if his son asks for a fish, will instead give him a serpent?

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

¹³If therefore you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

¹⁴And he was casting out a demon, and it was mute. And it came to pass when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds marveled.

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

¹⁶And others, testing him, were seeking a sign from heaven from him.

¹⁷But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house falls against a house.

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

¹⁹And if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they themselves will be your judges.

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

²¹When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own courtyard, his possessions are in peace.

²²But when one stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes away his full armor in which he had trusted, and distributes his plunder.

²³The one who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with me scatters.

²⁴When the unclean spirit goes out from the man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest. And not finding any, it then says: I will return to my house from which I came out.

²⁵And having come, it finds it swept and put in order.

²⁶Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and having entered they dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.

²⁷And it came to pass while he was saying these things, a woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed.

²⁸But he said: Yes indeed, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

²⁹Now while the crowds were pressing around, he began to say: This generation is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.

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

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

³³No one, having lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under the basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.

³⁴The lamp of the body is your eye. When therefore your eye is sound, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is in darkness.

³⁵Take heed therefore lest the light that is in you be darkness.

³⁶If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be completely full of light, as when a lamp illumines you with its rays.

³⁷Now while he was speaking, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him; and having entered he reclined.

³⁸The Pharisee, having seen this, marveled that he did not first wash before the meal.

³⁹But the Lord said to him: Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but your inside is full of plunder and wickedness.

⁴⁰Fools! Did not the one who made the outside also make the inside?

⁴¹But give what is within as alms, and behold, everything is clean for you.

⁴²But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and you pass over justice and love of God. These things it was necessary to do, and not to neglect those others.

⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the seat of honor in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and the people walking over them do not know it.

⁴⁵And one of the lawyers answering said to him: Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.

⁴⁶And he said: Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens heavy to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with even one of your fingers.

⁴⁷Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, yet your fathers killed them.

⁴⁸So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they indeed killed them, and you build their monuments.

⁵⁰so that the blood of all the prophets, poured out from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation,

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

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

⁵³And when he went out from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press upon him violently and to question him about many things,

⁵⁴lying in wait for him and seeking to catch him in something out of his mouth, so that they might accuse him.