1Now it happened that while he was praying in a certain place, when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
2And he said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation.’”
5And he said to them, “Which of you will have a friend, and will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
6since a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;
7and that one from inside will answer and say, ‘Do not bother me. The door is already shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’?
8I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his shameless persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9So I tell 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.
11Which father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?
12Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?
13If you then, 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. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the crowds were amazed.
15But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”
16And others, to test him, were seeking from him a sign from heaven.
17But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and house falls upon house.
18If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.
19And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
20But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
21When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are safe.
22But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away his full armor in which he 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 a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came out.’
25And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.
26Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person becomes worse than the first.”
27As he was saying these things, a woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!”
28But he said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
29As the crowds were increasing, 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.
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 be raised up in the judgment with the men of this generation and will 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.
32The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
33No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.
34The lamp of your body is your eye. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is bad, your body is also full of darkness.
35Therefore be careful that the light in you is not darkness.
36If, then, your whole body is full of light, having no dark part, it will be entirely full of light, as when a lamp with its brightness illuminates you.
37And as he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at the table.
38But the Pharisee was amazed when he saw 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 platter, but your inside is full of greed and wickedness.
40You fools! Did not the one who made the outside also make the inside?
41But give what is inside as alms, and behold, all things are clean for you.
42But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every kind of herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
43Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
44Woe to you! For you are like unmarked tombs, and people who walk over them do not know it.
45Then one of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things, you insult us too.”
46But he said, “Woe to you experts in the law also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
47Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them.
48So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your fathers, because they killed them, and you build.
49For this reason also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’
50so that the blood of all the prophets, shed 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 sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.
52Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”
53When he went out from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely and to press him with questions about many things,
54lying in wait for him, to catch something from his mouth.
Open in the interactive reader →