Luke
Chapter 11
1 As he was praying in a certain place, when he stopped, one of his followers asked him, “Teach us to pray, just like John taught his followers.”
2 He told them, “When you pray, say, ‘Father in heaven, your name is holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’”
3 Give us our bread every day.
4 Forgive our sins, as we forgive everyone who does wrong to us. Don’t let us be tempted, but save us from evil.
5 He asked them, “If one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight to ask, ‘Friend, give me three loaves of bread;’
6 A friend of mine on a trip has come to me, and I have nothing to give him.
7 The person inside will reply, “Don’t bother me. The door is closed, and my kids are in bed with me; I can’t get up to give you anything.”
8 I tell you, even if he won’t get up and help him because they’re friends, he will get up and give him what he needs because he keeps asking.
9 I tell you, ask and you will receive; look and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.
10 Everyone who asks receives; whoever seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 If a child asks for bread from one of you who is a parent, will you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, will you give them a snake?
12 If he asks for an egg, will he be given a scorpion?
13 If you, even though you are not perfect, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will God in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?
14 He was driving out a demon that could not speak. When the demon left, the once-silent person began to speak, and the crowd was amazed.
15 Some of them said, “He drives out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the leader of the demons.”
16 Some people, testing him, asked him for a sign from the sky.
17 He knew what they were thinking and said to them, “A kingdom fighting against itself will be ruined; and a family split apart will fall.”
18 If Satan fights against himself, how can his kingdom last? This is because you claim I force out demons using Beelzebub’s power.
19 If I drive out demons using Beelzebub, who do your own people use to drive them out? So they will judge you.
20 If I use God’s power to drive out demons, then God’s kingdom has surely come to you.
21 When a strong man with weapons guards his home, his belongings are safe.
22 When someone stronger attacks and beats him, he takes away all his weapons that he relied on, and shares what he has taken.
23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not help me gather, spreads everything out.
24 When the evil spirit leaves a person, it wanders through dry areas, looking for a place to rest; not finding one, it says, I will go back to the home I left.
25 When he comes, he finds it clean and tidy.
26 Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself; they go inside and live there. So the person ends up in a worse situation than before.
27 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Happy is the mother who gave birth to you and the breasts you nursed from.”
28 But he said, “Yes, even more blessed are those who hear God’s word and follow it.”
29 When many people came together, he started to say, “This is a bad generation: they want a sign; but no sign will be given to them, except the sign of Jonah the prophet.”
30 Just as Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
31 The queen from the south will stand up at the time of judgment with the people of today, and accuse them because she traveled from far away to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and look, someone greater than Solomon is here.
32 People from Nineveh will stand up with this generation on judgment day and condemn it because they changed their ways after hearing Jonah’s message. But now, someone greater than Jonah is here.
33 When someone lights a candle, they don’t hide it or put it under a bowl but on a candle holder so that people coming in can see the light.
34 The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be dark.
35 Be careful that the light inside you is not actually darkness.
36 If your whole body is full of light, with no dark part, it will all be bright, like when a candle’s glow gives you light.
37 While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to have dinner with him. So he went in and sat down to eat.
38 When the Pharisee saw this, he was amazed that he didn’t wash before eating.
39 God said to him, “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and evil.”
40 You fools, didn’t the one who made the outside also make the inside?
41 Instead, give to the poor from what you have; and then everything will be pure for you.
42 But trouble will come to you, Pharisees! You give a tenth of your mint, rue, and all other herbs, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.
43 Trouble comes to you, Pharisees, because you like the best seats in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces.
44 Trouble to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, pretenders! You are like hidden graves that people walk over without knowing.
45 One of the legal experts replied, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.”
46 He said, “How terrible for you lawyers! You load people with hard-to-carry burdens, but you don’t help carry these burdens at all.”
47 You are in trouble because you make tombs for the prophets, but your ancestors killed them.
48 You really show that you agree with what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.
49 So God’s wisdom said, “I will send them prophets and messengers, and they will kill and mistreat some of them.”
50 So that this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been spilled since the world began.
51 From Abel’s death to Zacharias’s death, who died between the altar and the temple, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible.
52 Pity you, lawyers! You’ve removed the key to knowledge: you didn’t go in yourselves, and you blocked others who were trying to enter.
53 As he spoke to them, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees started to strongly challenge him, trying to get him to talk about many topics.
54 Waiting for him, they wanted to hear him say something wrong so they could accuse him.