Luke 11
11
The Lord’s Prayer
1Now Jesus#11:1 Greek he was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, #See ch. 5:33as John taught his disciples.” 2And he said to them, #For ver. 2-4, [Matt. 6:9-13] “When you pray, say:
#
John 20:17; 1 Pet. 1:17 “Father, #
Isa. 29:23; [ch. 1:49; 1 Pet. 3:15] hallowed be #
John 17:6 your name.
# [Matt. 3:2; 4:17] Your kingdom come.
3 #
Prov. 30:8 Give us # [Matt. 6:34] each day our daily bread, # 11:3 Or our bread for tomorrow
4 and # See ch. 7:48 forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And # ch. 22:40, 46; Matt. 26:41; Mark 14:38; [1 Cor. 10:13] lead us not into temptation.”
5And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything #[ch. 18:1-6]because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence#11:8 Or persistence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9And I tell you, #For ver. 9-13, see Matt. 7:7-11 ask, and #Matt. 18:19; 21:22; Mark 11:24; John 14:13; 15:7, 16; 16:23, 24; James 1:5, 6, 17; 1 John 3:22; 5:14, 15 it will be given to you; #1 Chr. 28:9; 2 Chr. 15:2; Prov. 8:17; Jer. 29:13; [Isa. 55:6] seek, and you will find; #[Rev. 3:20]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. 11What father among you, if his son asks for#11:11 Some manuscripts insert bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, #Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Matt. 12:34 who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father #[John 4:10; Acts 2:38]give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Jesus and Beelzebul
14 # For ver. 14, 15, see Matt. 12:22-24; [Matt. 9:32-34] Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. 15But some of them said, “He casts out demons #See Matt. 10:25by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” 16while others, #See John 8:6to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. 17#For ver. 17-22, see Matt. 12:25-29; Mark 3:23-27 But he, #See Matt. 9:4knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, #[Acts 19:13] by whom do #[2 Kgs. 2:7]your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20But if it is by #Ex. 8:19; 31:18; Deut. 9:10; Ps. 8:3 the finger of God that I cast out demons, then #ch. 17:21; Matt. 19:24; 21:31, 43the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; 22#Isa. 49:24-26 but when one stronger than he attacks him and #[John 16:33] overcomes him, he takes away his #Eph. 6:11 armor in which he trusted and #[Isa. 53:12]divides his spoil. 23#Matt. 12:30; [ch. 9:50; Mark 9:40]Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Return of an Unclean Spirit
24 # For ver. 24-26, see Matt. 12:43-45 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through # [Ps. 63:1; Jer. 2:6] waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And #2 Pet. 2:20-22; [John 5:14]the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
True Blessedness
27As he said these things, #ch. 12:13 a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, #[2 Chr. 9:7]; See ch. 1:48“Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28But he said, #[Rev. 1:3; 22:7] “Blessed rather are those #ch. 8:21; See James 1:22 who hear the word of God and #Lev. 22:31keep it!”
The Sign of Jonah
29 # ch. 12:1 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, #For ver. 29-32, see Matt. 12:39-42; [Mark 8:11, 12] “This generation is an evil generation. #ver. 16; See Matt. 12:38It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30For as #Jonah 1:17Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31#1 Kgs. 10:1; 2 Chr. 9:1 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and #Heb. 11:7; [Jer. 3:11; Ezek. 16:51, 52; Rom. 2:27] condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, #[Matt. 12:6]something greater than Solomon is here. 32#Jonah 1:2 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and #[See ver. 31 above] condemn it, for #Jonah 3:5 they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, #[See ver. 31 above]something greater than Jonah is here.
The Light in You
33 # ch. 8:16; Matt. 5:15; Mark 4:21 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 34Your eye is #Matt. 6:22, 23 the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is #Deut. 15:9bad, your body is full of darkness. 35#[See ver. 34 above]Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 36If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, #[Matt. 5:16]as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”
Woes to the Pharisees and Lawyers
37While Jesus#11:37 Greek he was speaking, #ch. 7:36; 14:1a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38The Pharisee was astonished to see #Matt. 15:2; Mark 7:3, 4that he did not first wash before dinner. 39And the Lord said to him, #Matt. 23:25, 26; [ch. 20:47] “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of #[ch. 16:14]greed and wickedness. 40#ch. 12:20 You fools! #[See ver. 39 above]Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41But #ch. 12:33; [ch. 16:9; Dan. 4:27] give as alms those things that are within, and behold, #[Titus 1:15]everything is clean for you.
42 #
Matt. 23:23 “But woe to you Pharisees! For # ch. 18:12; Deut. 14:22 you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect #
Ps. 33:5; Jer. 5:1; Mic. 6:8; Zech. 7:9 justice and # [1 John 3:17] the love of God. # [1 Sam. 15:22] These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 43Woe to you Pharisees! For #ch. 20:46; Matt. 23:6, 7; Mark 12:38, 39; [ch. 14:7]you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44Woe to you! #Matt. 23:27For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”
45One of #ver. 46, 52; See ch. 7:30the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” 46And he said, “Woe to you #ver. 45, 52 lawyers also! For #Matt. 23:4; [Matt. 11:28-30; Acts 15:10]you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47#Matt. 23:29, 30Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48#Matt. 23:31 So you are witnesses and you #See Rom. 1:32 consent to the deeds of #Acts 7:51, 52your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49Therefore also #[ch. 7:35; Prov. 8:12, 22, 23, 30; Matt. 11:19; 1 Cor. 1:24, 30; Col. 2:3] the Wisdom of God said, #For ver. 49-51, [Matt. 23:34-36] ‘I will send them #See Acts 13:1; 1 Cor. 12:28 prophets and apostles, #See Matt. 21:35 some of whom they will #1 Thess. 2:15 (Gk.)kill and persecute,’ 50so that #Rev. 18:24 the blood of all the prophets, shed #See Matt. 13:35 from the foundation of the world, may be #Gen. 42:22; 2 Chr. 24:22; Ezek. 3:18charged against this generation, 51from the blood of #Gen. 4:4, 8; Heb. 11:4; 1 John 3:12 Abel to the blood of #2 Chr. 24:20, 21 Zechariah, who perished between #Ex. 40:6; 2 Kgs. 16:14; Ezek. 40:47 the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be #[See ver. 50 above]required of this generation. 52Woe to you #ver. 45, 46 lawyers! #Matt. 23:13; [Mal. 2:7, 8] For you have taken away the key of #Rom. 2:20 knowledge. You #[ch. 7:30; Matt. 5:20; 21:31]did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”
53As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, 54#ch. 20:20; Mark 3:2; John 8:6; [Isa. 29:21] lying in wait for him, #Matt. 22:15; Mark 12:13to catch him in something he might say.
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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Luke 11
11
The Lord’s Prayer.#Mt 6:9–15. 1#Luke presents three episodes concerned with prayer. The first (Lk 11:1–4) recounts Jesus teaching his disciples the Christian communal prayer, the “Our Father”; the second (Lk 11:5–8), the importance of persistence in prayer; the third (Lk 11:9–13), the effectiveness of prayer. He was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”#The Matthean form of the “Our Father” occurs in the “Sermon on the Mount” (Mt 6:9–15); the shorter Lucan version is presented while Jesus is at prayer (see note on Lk 3:21) and his disciples ask him to teach them to pray just as John taught his disciples to pray. In answer to their question, Jesus presents them with an example of a Christian communal prayer that stresses the fatherhood of God and acknowledges him as the one to whom the Christian disciple owes daily sustenance (Lk 11:3), forgiveness (Lk 11:4), and deliverance from the final trial (Lk 11:4). See also notes on Mt 6:9–13. 2#Your kingdom come: in place of this petition, some early church Fathers record: “May your holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us,” a petition that may reflect the use of the “Our Father” in a baptismal liturgy. He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
3Give us each day our daily bread#Daily bread: see note on Mt 6:11. The final test: see note on Mt 6:13.
4and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”
Further Teachings on Prayer.#18:1–5. 5And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ 7and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ 8I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
The Answer to Prayer.#Mt 7:7–11. 9“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.#Mt 21:22; Mk 11:24; Jn 14:13; 15:7; 1 Jn 5:14–15. 10For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? 12Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? 13If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit#The holy Spirit: this is a Lucan editorial alteration of a traditional saying of Jesus (see Mt 7:11). Luke presents the gift of the holy Spirit as the response of the Father to the prayer of the Christian disciple. to those who ask him?”
Jesus and Beelzebul.#Mt 12:22–30; Mk 3:20–27. 14He was driving out a demon [that was] mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute person spoke and the crowds were amazed. 15Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.”#Mt 9:34. 16Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.#Mt 12:38; 16:1; Mk 8:11; 1 Cor 1:22. 17But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. 18And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. 19If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people#Your own people: the Greek reads “your sons.” Other Jewish exorcists (see Acts 19:13–20), who recognize that the power of God is active in the exorcism, would themselves convict the accusers of Jesus. See also note on Mt 12:27. drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20But if it is by the finger of God that [I] drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.#Ex 8:19. 21When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. 22But when one stronger#One stronger: i.e., Jesus. Cf. Lk 3:16 where John the Baptist identifies Jesus as “mightier than I.” than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. 23Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.#9:50; Mk 9:40.
The Return of the Unclean Spirit.#Mt 12:43–45. 24“When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’ 25But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. 26Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first.”#Jn 5:14.
True Blessedness.#The beatitude in Lk 11:28 should not be interpreted as a rebuke of the mother of Jesus; see note on Lk 8:21. Rather, it emphasizes (like Lk 2:35) that attentiveness to God’s word is more important than biological relationship to Jesus. 27While he was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.”#1:28, 42, 48. 28He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
The Demand for a Sign.#The “sign of Jonah” in Luke is the preaching of the need for repentance by a prophet who comes from afar. Cf. Mt 12:38–42 (and see notes there) where the “sign of Jonah” is interpreted by Jesus as his death and resurrection. 29While still more people gathered in the crowd, he said to them,#Mt 12:38–42; Mk 8:12. “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.#Mt 16:1, 4; Jn 6:30; 1 Cor 1:22. 30Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here.#1 Kgs 10:1–10; 2 Chr 9:1–12. 32At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.#Jon 3:8, 10.
The Simile of Light. 33“No one who lights a lamp hides it away or places it [under a bushel basket], but on a lampstand so that those who enter might see the light.#8:16; Mt 5:15; Mk 4:21. 34The lamp of the body is your eye.#Mt 6:22–23. When your eye is sound, then your whole body is filled with light, but when it is bad, then your body is in darkness. 35Take care, then, that the light in you not become darkness. 36If your whole body is full of light, and no part of it is in darkness, then it will be as full of light as a lamp illuminating you with its brightness.”
Denunciation of the Pharisees and Scholars of the Law.#This denunciation of the Pharisees (Lk 11:39–44) and the scholars of the law (Lk 11:45–52) is set by Luke in the context of Jesus’ dining at the home of a Pharisee. Controversies with or reprimands of Pharisees are regularly set by Luke within the context of Jesus’ eating with Pharisees (see Lk 5:29–39; 7:36–50; 14:1–24). A different compilation of similar sayings is found in Mt 23 (see also notes there). 37#20:45–47; Mt 23:1–36; Mk 12:38–40. After he had spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at table to eat.#7:36; 14:1. 38The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal.#Mt 15:2; Mk 7:2–5. 39The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees!#Mt 23:25–26. Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. 40You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? 41But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you. 42Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others.#Lv 27:30; Mt 23:23. 43Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces.#20:46; Mt 23:6; Mk 12:38–39. 44Woe to you! You are like unseen graves#Unseen graves: contact with the dead or with human bones or graves (see Nm 19:16) brought ritual impurity. Jesus presents the Pharisees as those who insidiously lead others astray through their seeming attention to the law. over which people unknowingly walk.”#Mt 23:27.
45Then one of the scholars of the law#Scholars of the law: see note on Lk 10:25. said to him in reply, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.”#Mt 23:4. 46And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them. 47#Mt 23:29–32. Woe to you! You build the memorials of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. 48Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building. 49#Mt 23:34–36. Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles;#I will send to them prophets and apostles: Jesus connects the mission of the church (apostles) with the mission of the Old Testament prophets who often suffered the rebuke of their contemporaries. some of them they will kill and persecute’ 50in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah#From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah: the murder of Abel is the first murder recounted in the Old Testament (Gn 4:8). The Zechariah mentioned here may be the Zechariah whose murder is recounted in 2 Chr 24:20–22, the last murder presented in the Hebrew canon of the Old Testament. who died between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!#Gn 4:8; 2 Chr 24:20–22. 52Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.”#Mt 23:13. 53When he left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things,#6:11; Mt 22:15–22. 54for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.#20:20.
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