Luke 11:19-52

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

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

²¹When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are in peace.

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

²³He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

²⁴“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and not finding any, he says, ‘I will return to my house from where I came out.’

²⁵And coming, he finds it swept and adorned.

²⁶Then he goes and takes along seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they come and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

²⁷And it happened, while He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb which bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”

²⁸But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

²⁹Now as the crowds gathered even more, He began to say, “This generation is evil. 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 the Son of Man will be to this generation.

³¹The queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and shall condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed one greater than Solomon is here.

³²The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed one greater than Jonah is here.

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

³⁴The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is evil, your body also is dark.

³⁵Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.

³⁶Therefore if your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives light to you.”

³⁷And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked that He would eat with him. And having entered, He reclined to eat.

³⁸And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before the meal.

³⁹But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but the inside of you is full of greed and evil.

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

⁴¹Nevertheless give what is inside as alms; and see, all things are clean to you.

⁴²“But woe to you Pharisees! Because you pay a tithe of mint and rue and every vegetable, and you pass over justice and the love of God. These things you ought to have done, and not have neglected the others.

⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! Because you love the first seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you are like unmarked graves, and the men walking over them do not know it.”

⁴⁵Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, “Teacher, by saying these things You insult us also.”

⁴⁶And He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! Because you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

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

⁴⁸Consequently, you bear witness to and approve of the deeds of your fathers; because they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs.

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 which was 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 temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.

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