Woe to Oppressors

³ Therefore this is what the Lord says:

Instruction about Prayer

11 It happened that while ^[a]Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” ² And He said to them, “^(A)When you pray, say:

⁵ And He said to them, “^[f]Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, ⁶ because a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to serve him’; ⁷ and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children ^[g]and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet ^(D)because of his ^[h]shamelessness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹ “So I say to you, ^[i](E)ask, and it will be given to you; ^[j]seek, and you will find; ^[k]knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened. ¹¹ Now ^[l]which one of you fathers will his son ask for a ^[m]fish, and instead of a fish, he will give him a snake? ¹² Or he will even ask for an egg, and his father will give him a scorpion? ¹³ So ^(F)if you, despite being ^[n]evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will ^[o]your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Pharisees’ Blasphemy

^14 (G)And He was casting out a mute demon; when the demon had gone out, the man who was previously unable to speak talked, and the crowds were amazed. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He casts out the demons ^(H)by ^(I)Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” ¹⁶ Others, ^[p]to test Him, ^(J)were demanding of Him a ^[q]sign from heaven. ^17 (K)But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against ^[r]itself falls. ¹⁸ And if ^(L)Satan also has been divided against himself, how will his kingdom ^[s]stand? For you claim that I cast out the demons by ^(M)Beelzebul. ¹⁹ Yet if by ^(N)Beelzebul I cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I cast out the demons by ^[t]the ^(O)finger of God, then ^(P)the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹ When ^[u]a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are ^[v]secure. ²² But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, that man takes away his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. ^23 (Q)The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.

²⁴ “^(R)When the unclean spirit comes out of ^[w]a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it then says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they come in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first.”

²⁷ While ^[x]Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “^(S)Blessed is the womb that carried You, and the breasts at which You nursed!” ²⁸ But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are ^(T)those who hear the word of God and follow it.”

The Sign of Jonah

²⁹ Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “^(U)This generation is a wicked generation; it ^(V)demands a ^[y]sign, and so no ^[z]sign will be given to it except the ^[aa]sign of Jonah. ³⁰ For just as ^(W)Jonah became a ^[ab]sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. ³¹ The ^(X)Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because ^(Y)they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

³³ “^(Z)No one lights a lamp and puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. ^34 (AA)Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is ^[ac]clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is ^[ad]bad, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ So watch out that the light in you is not darkness. ³⁶ Therefore if your whole body is full of light, without any dark part, it will be wholly illuminated, as when the lamp illuminates you with its light.”

Woes upon the Pharisees

³⁷ Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee *asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in and reclined at the table. ³⁸ When the Pharisee saw this, he was surprised that Jesus had not first ^[ae](AB)ceremonially washed before the ^[af]meal. ³⁹ But ^(AC)the Lord said to him, “Now ^(AD)you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish; but your inside is full of greed and wickedness. ^40 (AE)You foolish ones, did He who made the outside not make the inside also? ⁴¹ But ^(AF)give that which is within as a charitable gift, and ^[ag]then all things are ^(AG)clean for you.

⁴² “^(AH)But woe to you Pharisees! For you ^(AI)pay tithes of mint, rue, and every kind of garden herb, and yet you ^[ah]ignore justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. ⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! For you ^(AJ)love the seat of honor in the synagogues and personal greetings in the marketplaces. ^44 (AK)Woe to you! For you are like ^[ai]unseen tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”

⁴⁵ One of the ^[aj](AL)lawyers *said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us too.” ⁴⁶ But He said, “Woe to you ^(AM)lawyers as well! For ^(AN)you load people with burdens that are hard to bear, ^[ak]while you yourselves will not even ^[al]touch the burdens with one of your fingers. ^47 (AO)Woe to you! For you build the ^[am]tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and you approve of the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their ^[an]tombs. ⁴⁹ For this reason also, ^(AP)the wisdom of God said, ‘^(AQ)I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill, and some they will ^[ao]persecute, ⁵⁰ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed ^(AR)since the foundation of the world, may be charged ^[ap]against this generation, ⁵¹ from ^(AS)the blood of Abel to ^(AT)the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged ^[aq]against this generation.’ ⁵² Woe to you ^[ar](AU)lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; ^(AV)you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³ When He left that place, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to interrogate Him about many subjects, ^54 (AW)plotting against Him ^(AX)to catch ^[as]Him in something He might say.