< Luke 11 >
1 It happened, that when he finished praying in a certain place, one of his talmidim said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his talmidim."
2 So he said to them, "When you pray, say, 'Our Father in heaven, holy be your name. May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'"
5 He said to them, "Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight, and tell him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him,'
7 and he from within will answer and say, 'Do not bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give it to you'?
8 I tell you, although he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs.
9 "I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.
11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, he won't give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?
12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Ruach ha-Kodesh to those who ask him?"
14 He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. It happened, when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed.
15 But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons."
16 Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven.
17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. A house divided against itself falls.
18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.
19 But if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore will they be your judges.
20 But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you.
21 "When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe.
22 But when someone stronger attacks him and overcomes him, he takes from him his whole armor in which he trusted, and divides up his plunder.
23 "He that is not with me is against me. He who does not gather with me scatters.
24 The unclean spirit, when he has gone out of the person, passes through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none, he says, 'I will turn back to my house from which I came out.'
25 When he returns, he finds it swept and put in order.
26 Then he goes, and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that person becomes worse than the first."
27 It came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the crowd lifted up her voice, and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you."
28 But he said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it."
29 When the crowds were gathering together to him, he began to say, "This generation is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. No sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.
30 For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will also the Son of Man be to this generation.
31 The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the people of this generation, and will condemn them: for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look, one greater than Solomon is here.
32 The people of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it: for they repented at the proclaiming of Jonah, and look, one greater than Jonah is here.
33 "No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, that those who come in may see the light.
34 The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness.
35 Therefore see whether the light that is in you is not darkness.
36 If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light."
37 Now as he spoke, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him. He went in, and sat at the table.
38 When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that he had not first washed himself before dinner.
39 The Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.
40 You foolish ones, did not he who made the outside make the inside also?
41 But give as tzedakah those things which are within, and see, all things will be clean to you.
42 But woe to you Pharisees. For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and the love of God. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.
43 Woe to you Pharisees. For you love the best seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplaces.
44 Woe to you. For you are like hidden graves, and the people who walk over them do not know it."
45 One of the Law scholars answered him, "Teacher, in saying this you insult us also."
46 He said, "Woe to you Law scholars also. For you load people with burdens that are difficult to carry, and you yourselves won't even lift one finger to help carry those burdens.
47 Woe to you. For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
48 So you are witnesses and consent to the works of your fathers. For they killed them, and you build their tombs.
49 Therefore also the wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and emissaries; and some of them they will kill and persecute,
50 that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
51 from the blood of Hevel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.' Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.
52 Woe to you Law scholars. For you took away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered."
53 And when he left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose him bitterly, and to provoke him to speak about many things;
54 lying in wait for him, seeking to catch him in something he might say, that they might accuse him.
