Luke 11
11
Prayer
(Matthew 6.9-13; 7.7-11)
1When Jesus had finished praying, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his followers to pray.”
2So Jesus told them, “Pray in this way:
‘Father, help us
to honor your name.
Come and set up
your kingdom.
3Give us each day
the food we need.#11.3 the food we need: Or “food for today” or “food for the coming day.”
4Forgive our sins,
as we forgive everyone
who has done wrong to us.
And keep us
from being tempted.’ ”
5Then Jesus went on to say:
Suppose one of you goes to a friend in the middle of the night and says, “Let me borrow three loaves of bread. 6A friend of mine has dropped in, and I don't have a thing for him to eat.” 7And suppose your friend answers, “Don't bother me! The door is bolted, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you something.”
8He may not get up and give you the bread, just because you are his friend. But he will get up and give you as much as you need, simply because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.
9So I tell you to ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you. 10Everyone who asks will receive, everyone who searches will find, and the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. 11Which one of you fathers would give your hungry child a snake if the child asked for a fish? 12Which one of you would give your child a scorpion if the child asked for an egg? 13As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks.
Jesus and the Ruler of Demons
(Matthew 12.22-30; Mark 3.20-27)
14Jesus forced a demon out of a man who could not talk. And after the demon had gone out, the man started speaking, and the crowds were amazed. 15#Mt 9.34; 10.25. But some people said, “He forces out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons!”
16 #
Mt 12.38; 16.1; Mk 8.11. Others wanted to put Jesus to the test. So they asked him to show them a sign from God. 17Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said:
A kingdom where people fight each other will end up in ruin. And a family that fights will break up. 18If Satan fights against himself, how can his kingdom last? Yet you say that I force out demons by the power of Beelzebul. 19If I use his power to force out demons, whose power do your own followers use to force them out? They are the ones who will judge you. 20But if I use God's power to force out demons, it proves that God's kingdom has already come to you.
21When a strong man arms himself and guards his home, everything he owns is safe. 22But if a stronger man comes and defeats him, he will carry off the weapons in which the strong man trusted. Then he will divide with others what he has taken. 23#Mk 9.40. If you are not on my side, you are against me. If you don't gather in the crop with me, you scatter it.
Return of an Evil Spirit
(Matthew 12.43-45)
24When an evil spirit leaves a person, it travels through the desert, looking for a place to rest. But when it doesn't find a place, it says, “I will go back to the home I left.” 25When it gets there and finds the place clean and fixed up, 26it goes off and finds seven other evil spirits even worse than itself. They all come and make their home there, and that person ends up in worse shape than before.
Being Really Blessed
27While Jesus was still talking, a woman in the crowd spoke up, “The woman who gave birth to you and nursed you is blessed!”
28Jesus replied, “That's true, but the people who are really blessed are the ones who hear and obey God's message!”#11.28 That's true, but the people who are really blessed … message: Or “That's not true, the people who are blessed … message.”
A Sign from God
(Matthew 12.38-42; Mark 8.12)
29 #
Mt 16.4; Mk 8.12. As crowds were gathering around Jesus, he said:
You people of today are evil! You keep looking for a sign from God. But what happened to Jonah#11.29 what happened to Jonah: Jonah was in the stomach of a big fish for three days and nights (see Matthew 12.40). is the only sign you will be given. 30#Jon 3.4. Just as Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh, the Son of Man will be a sign to the people of today. 31#1 K 10.1-10; 2 Ch 9.1-12. When the judgment comes, the Queen of the South#11.31 South: Sheba, probably a country in southern Arabia. will stand there with you and condemn you. She traveled a long way to hear Solomon's wisdom, and yet here is something far greater than Solomon. 32#Jon 3.5. The people of Nineveh will also stand there with you and condemn you. They turned to God when Jonah preached, and yet here is something far greater than Jonah.
Light
(Matthew 5.15; 6.22,23)
33 #
Mt 5.15; Mk 4.21; Lk 8.16. No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a clay pot. A lamp is put on a lampstand, so everyone who comes into the house can see the light. 34Your eyes are the lamp for your body. When your eyes are good, you have all the light you need. But when your eyes are bad, everything is dark. 35So be sure your light isn't darkness. 36If you have light, and nothing is dark, then light will be everywhere, as when a lamp shines brightly on you.
Jesus Condemns the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law of Moses
(Matthew 23.1-36; Mark 12.38-40; Luke 20.45-47)
37When Jesus finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him home for a meal. Jesus went and sat down to eat.#11.37 sat down to eat: See the note at 7.36. 38The Pharisee was surprised that he did not wash his hands#11.38 did not wash his hands: The Jewish people had strict laws about washing their hands before eating, especially if they had been out in public. before eating. 39So the Lord said to him:
You Pharisees clean the outside of cups and dishes, but on the inside you are greedy and evil. 40You fools! Didn't God make both the outside and the inside?#11.40 Didn't God make both the outside and the inside: Or “Doesn't the person who washes the outside always wash the inside too?” 41If you would only give what you have to the poor, everything you do would please God.
42 #
Lv 27.30. You Pharisees are in for trouble! You give God a tenth of the spices from your gardens, such as mint and rue. But you cheat people, and you don't love God. You should be fair and kind to others and still give a tenth to God.
43You Pharisees are in for trouble! You love the front seats in the synagogues, and you like to be greeted with honor in the market. 44But you are in for trouble! You are like unmarked graves#11.44 unmarked graves: Tombs were whitewashed to keep anyone from accidentally touching them. A person who touched a dead body or a tomb was considered unclean and could not worship with other Jewish people. that people walk on without even knowing it.
45A teacher of the Law of Moses spoke up, “Teacher, you said cruel things about us.”
46Jesus replied:
You teachers are also in for trouble! You load people down with heavy burdens, but you won't lift a finger to help them carry the loads. 47Yes, you are really in for trouble. You build monuments to honor the prophets your own people murdered long ago. 48You must think that was the right thing for your people to do, or else you would not have built monuments for the prophets they murdered.
49Because of your evil deeds, the Wisdom of God said, “I will send prophets and apostles to you. But you will murder some and mistreat others.” 50You people living today will be punished for all the prophets who have been murdered since the beginning of the world. 51#Gn 4.8; 2 Ch 24.20-22. This includes every prophet from the time of Abel to the time of Zechariah,#11.51 from the time of Abel … Zechariah: Genesis is the first book in the Jewish Scriptures, and it tells that Abel was the first person to be murdered. Second Chronicles is the last book in the Jewish Scriptures, and the last murder that it tells about is that of Zechariah. who was murdered between the altar and the temple. You people will certainly be punished for all of this.
52You teachers of the Law of Moses are really in for trouble! You carry the keys to the door of knowledge about God. But you never go in, and you keep others from going in.
53Jesus was about to leave, but the teachers and the Pharisees wanted to get even with him. They tried to make him say what he thought about other things, 54so they could catch him saying something wrong.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Luke 11
11
1And it came to pass as he was in a certain place praying, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples. 2And he said to them, When ye pray, say, Father, thy name be hallowed; thy kingdom come; 3give us our needed bread for each day; 4and remit us our sins, for we also remit to every one indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation. 5And he said to them, Who among you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, let me have three loaves, 6since a friend of mine on a journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him; 7and he within answering should say, Do not disturb me; the door is already shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise up to give it thee? 8— I say to you, Although he will not get up and give them to him because he is his friend, because of his shamelessness, at any rate, he will rise and give him as many as he wants. 9And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. 10For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it will be opened. 11But of whom of you that is a father shall a son ask bread, and the father shall give him a stone? or also a fish, and instead of a fish shall give him a serpent? 12or if also he shall ask an egg, shall give him a scorpion? 13If therefore ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
14And he was casting out a demon, and it was dumb; and it came to pass, the demon being gone out, the dumb man spoke. And the crowds wondered. 15But some from among them said, By Beelzebub the prince of the demons casts he out demons. 16And others tempting him sought from him a sign out of heaven. 17But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation: and a house set against a house falls; 18and if also Satan is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom subsist? because ye say that I cast out demons by Beelzebub. 19But if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, your sons — by whom do they cast them out? For this reason they shall be your judges. 20But if by the finger of God I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God is come upon you. 21When the strong man armed keeps his own house, his goods are in peace; 22but when the stronger than he coming upon him overcomes him, he takes away his panoply in which he trusted, and he will divide the spoil he has taken from him. 23He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters. 24When the unclean spirit has gone out of the man, he goes through dry places seeking rest; and not finding any he says, I will return to my house whence I came out. 25And having come, he finds it swept and adorned. 26Then he goes and takes seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in, they dwell there; and the last condition of that man becomes worse than the first.
27And it came to pass as he spake these things, a certain woman, lifting up her voice out of the crowd, said to him, Blessed is the womb that has borne thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. 28But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.
29But as the crowds thronged together, he began to say, This generation is a wicked generation: it seeks a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it but the sign of Jonas. 30For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninevites, thus shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 31A queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn them: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, more than Solomon is here. 32Men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold, more than Jonas is here. 33But no one having lit a lamp sets it in secret, nor under the corn-measure, but on the lamp-stand, that they who enter in may see the light. 34The lamp of the body is thine eye: when thine eye is simple, thy whole body also is light; but when it is wicked, thy body also is dark. 35See therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 36If therefore thy whole body is light, not having any part dark, it shall be all light as when the lamp lights thee with its brightness.
37But as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him that he would dine with him; and entering in he placed himself at table. 38But the Pharisee seeing it wondered that he had not first washed before dinner. 39But the Lord said to him, Now do ye Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but your inward parts are full of plunder and wickedness. 40Fools, has not he who has made the outside made the inside also? 41But rather give alms of what ye have, and behold, all things are clean to you. 42But woe unto you, Pharisees, for ye pay tithes of mint and rue and every herb, and pass by the judgment and the love of God: these ye ought to have done, and not have left those aside. 43Woe unto you, Pharisees, for ye love the first seat in the synagogues and salutations in the market-places. 44Woe unto you, for ye are as the sepulchres which appear not, and the men walking over them do not know it. 45And one of the doctors of the law answering says to him, Teacher, in saying these things thou insultest us also. 46And he said, To you also woe, doctors of the law, for ye lay upon men burdens heavy to bear, and yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47Woe unto you, for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, but your fathers killed them. 48Ye bear witness then, and consent to the works of your fathers; for they killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. 49For this reason also the wisdom of God has said, I will send to them prophets and apostles, and of these shall they kill and drive out by persecution, 50that the blood of all the prophets which has been poured out from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, who perished between the altar and the house; yea, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation. 52Woe unto you, the doctors of the law, for ye have taken away the key of knowledge; yourselves have not entered in, and those who were entering in ye have hindered. 53And as he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him urgently, and to make him speak of many things; 54watching him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.