Luke 11:4-43

⁴Forgive us our sins, just as we forgive everyone who sins against us. Keep us from temptation.’”

⁵Jesus went on to tell them, “Say you have a friend and you go to him in the middle of the night and ask, ‘My friend, lend me three loaves of bread

⁶because a friend of mine has come to visit me, and I don't have any food to give him.’

⁷Your friend in the house might reply, ‘Don't bother me—I've already locked the door, and I and my children have gone to bed. I can't get up to give you anything now.’

⁸I tell you, even though he refuses to get up and give you anything, despite you being his friend, if you are persistent, your friend will get up and give you everything you need.

⁹I tell you: ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you.

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

¹¹Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, would give him a snake instead?

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

¹³So if you, even though you are evil, still know to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

¹⁴Jesus was driving out a demon that had made a man dumb. When the demon had left, the man who was dumb spoke, and the crowds were amazed.

¹⁵But some of them said, “He is driving out demons using the power of Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.”

¹⁶Others were trying to test Jesus by demanding a miraculous sign from heaven.

¹⁷Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Any kingdom divided against itself will be destroyed. A family divided against itself will fall.

¹⁸If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? You say that I cast out demons using the power of Beelzebub.

¹⁹But if I drive out demons by the power of Beelzebub, by whose power do your own people drive them out? They themselves will condemn you as wrong!

²⁰However, if I am driving out demons by the power of God, then this proves God's kingdom has arrived. It's right here among you!

²¹When a strong man who is fully armed guards his house, all he owns is safe.

²²But if a stronger man comes and defeats him, taking from him all his weapons that he depended on, then he can carry off all his possessions.

²³Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who doesn't build together with me is breaking it all apart.

²⁴When an evil spirit leaves someone, it goes through the desert looking for a place to stay. When it doesn't find anywhere, it says, ‘I'll return to the house I left.’

²⁵When it returns, it finds its old home is swept and tidy.

²⁶So it goes and finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there. In the end that man is worse off than before.”

²⁷As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the womb from where you came and the breasts that nursed you.”

²⁸But Jesus said, “Even more blessed are those who hear God's word, and follow what it says.”

²⁹As people crowded around him, Jesus began telling them, “This is an evil generation for it's looking for some miraculous sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

³⁰In the same way that Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be a sign to this generation.

³¹The queen of the south will rise in the judgment together with the people of this generation and will condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon's wisdom, and now there is someone greater than Solomon here!

³²The people of Nineveh rise in the judgment together with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented when they heard Jonah's message, and now there's someone greater than Jonah here!

³³No one lights a lamp and then hides it or places it under a bowl. No, you put it on a lamp stand so that those who come into the house can see the light.

³⁴Your eye is the light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body is in the dark.

³⁵So make sure the light you have in you is not actually darkness.

³⁶If your whole body is full of light, with no areas of darkness, then it will be completely illuminated, just as a bright lamp gives you light.”

³⁷After Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to come and eat with him. So Jesus went and sat down to a meal.

³⁸The Pharisee was surprised that Jesus didn't wash his hands before eating as ceremonially required.

³⁹So the Lord told him, “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you're full of greed and wickedness.

⁴⁰You're so foolish! Don't you think the one who made the outside made the inside as well?

⁴¹If, acting from within, you do acts of kindness to others, then everything will be clean to you.

⁴²Shame on you Pharisees! You pay tithe on herbs and plants, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You need to pay attention to the latter, while not leaving the former things undone.

⁴³Shame on you Pharisees! You love to have the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect when you go to the markets.