1And it happened that while he was in a certain place praying, when he stopped a certain one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” 2And he said to them, “When you pray, say,“Father,may your name be treated as holy.May your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4And forgive us our sins,for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.And do not lead us into temptation.” 5And he said to them, “Who of you will have a friend, and will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6because a friend of mine has come to me on a journey, and I do not have anything to set before him.’ 7And that one will answer from inside and say, ‘Do not cause me trouble! The door has already been shut and my children are with me in bed! I am not able to get up to give you anything.’ 8I tell you, even if he does not give him anythingafter he gets up because he is his friend, at any rate because of his impudence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. 9And I tell you, ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened for you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11But what father from among you, if his son will ask for a fish, instead of a fish will give him a snake? 12Or also, if he will ask for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13Therefore if you, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” 14And he was expelling a demon, and it was mute. Now it happened that when the demon came out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were astonished. 15But some of them said, “By Beelzebul the ruler of demons he expels demons!” 16And others, in order to test him, were demanding from him a sign from heaven. 17But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and ˻a divided household˼ falls. 18So if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I expel demons by Beelzebul. 19But if I expel demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons expel them? For this reason they will be your judges! 20But if I expel 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 ˻safe˼. 22But when a stronger man attacks him and conquers him, he takes away his full armor in which he trusted and distributes his plunder. 23The one who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with me scatters. 24“Whenever an unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it travels through waterless places searching for rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came out.’ 25And when it arrives it finds the house swept and put in order. 26Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there. And the last state of that person becomes worse than the first!” 27Now it happened that as he said these things, a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28But he said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and follow it!” 29And as the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation! It demands a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah! 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 will rise up at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here! 32The people of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here! 33“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who come in can see the light. 34Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is sincere, your whole body is full of light also. But when it is evil, your body is dark also. 35Therefore pay careful attention that the light in you is not darkness! 36If therefore your whole body is full of light, not having any part dark, it will be completely full of light, as when the lamp with its light gives light to you.” 37And as he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him ˻to have a meal˼ with him, and he went in and reclined at table. 38And the Pharisee, when he saw it, was astonished that he did not first wash before the meal. 39But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but your inside is full of greediness and wickedness. 40Fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41But give as charitable giving the things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. 42“But woe to you, Pharisees, because you pay a tenth of mint and rue and every garden herb, and neglect justice and love for God! But it was necessary to do these things without neglecting those things also. 43Woe to you, Pharisees, because you love the best seat in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces! 44Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, and the people who walk over them do not know it! 45And one of the legal experts answered and said to him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also!” 46So he said, “Woe to you also, legal experts, because you load people 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! 48As a result you are witnesses, and you approve of the deeds of your fathers, because they 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 that has been 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 building. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation! 52Woe to you, legal experts, because you have taken away the key to knowledge! You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering!” 53And when he departed from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly hostile, and to question him closely about many things, 54plotting to catch him with reference to something ˻he might say˼.