Instruction about Prayer

11 It happened that while ^[a]Jesus was praying in a certain place, after 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 Then He said to them, “^[d]Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; ⁶ for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; ⁷ and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children ^[e]and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet ^(D)because of his ^[f]persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹ “So I say to you, ^[g](E)ask, and it will be given to you; ^[h]seek, and you will find; ^[i]knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. ¹¹ Now ^[j]suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a ^[k]fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? ¹² Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? ^13 (F)If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your ^[l]heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Pharisees’ Blasphemy

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

²⁴ “^(R)When the unclean spirit goes out of ^[s]a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it 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 takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

²⁷ While ^[t]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 bore 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 observe it.”

The Sign of Jonah

²⁹ As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “^(U)This generation is a wicked generation; it ^(V)seeks for a ^[u]sign, and yet no ^[v]sign will be given to it but the ^[w]sign of Jonah. ³⁰ For just as ^(W)Jonah became a ^[x]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 hear 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, after lighting a lamp, 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)The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is ^[y]clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is ^[z]bad, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness. ³⁶ If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”

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 it, he was surprised that He had not first ^[aa](AB)ceremonially washed before the ^[ab]meal. ³⁹ But ^(AC)the Lord said to him, “Now ^(AD)you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but ^[ac]inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. ^40 (AE)You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ But ^(AF)give that which is within as charity, and ^[ad]then all things are ^(AG)clean for you.

⁴² “^(AH)But woe to you Pharisees! For you ^(AI)pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard 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 chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places. ^44 (AK)Woe to you! For you are like ^[ae]concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”

⁴⁵ One of the ^[af](AL)lawyers *said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.” ⁴⁶ But He said, “Woe to you ^(AM)lawyers as well! For ^(AN)you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, ^[ag]while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers. ^47 (AO)Woe to you! For you build the ^[ah]tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ For this reason also ^(AP)the wisdom of God said, ‘^(AQ)I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will ^[ai]persecute, ⁵⁰ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed ^(AR)since the foundation of the world, may be ^[aj]charged 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 ^[ak]charged against this generation.’ ⁵² Woe to you ^[al](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 there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, ^54 (AW)plotting against Him ^(AX)to catch ^[am]Him in something He might say.

Parables on Prayer

18 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ^(A)ought to pray and not to ^(B)lose heart, ² saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not ^(C)respect man. ³ There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘^[a]Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ ⁴ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor ^(D)respect man, ⁵ yet ^(E)because this widow bothers me, I will ^[b]give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will ^[c](F)wear me out.’” ⁶ And ^(G)the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; ⁷ now, will not God ^(H)bring about justice for His ^(I)elect who cry to Him day and night, ^[d]and will He ^(J)delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, ^(K)will He find ^[e]faith on the earth?”

The Pharisee and the Publican

⁹ And He also told this parable to some people who ^(L)trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and ^(M)viewed others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men ^(N)went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee ^(O)stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I ^(P)fast twice a week; I ^(Q)pay tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, ^(R)standing some distance away, ^(S)was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but ^(T)was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be ^[f]merciful to me, the sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; ^(U)for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

^15 (V)And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ Truly I say to you, ^(W)whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”

The Rich Young Ruler

^18 (X)A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments, ‘^(Y)Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” ²¹ And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” ²² When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; ^(Z)sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have ^(AA)treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” ²³ But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. ²⁴ And Jesus looked at him and said, “^(AB)How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ For ^(AC)it is easier for a camel to ^[g]go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ They who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ But He said, “^(AD)The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”

²⁸ Peter said, “Behold, ^(AE)we have left ^[h]our own homes and followed You.” ²⁹ And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, ^(AF)there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, ³⁰ who will not receive many times as much at this time and in ^(AG)the age to come, eternal life.”

^31 (AH)Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, ^(AI)we are going up to Jerusalem, and ^(AJ)all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. ^32 (AK)For He will be ^[i]handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, ³³ and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.” ³⁴ But ^(AL)the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said.

Bartimaeus Receives Sight

^35 (AM)As ^[j](AN)Jesus was approaching Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging. ³⁶ Now hearing a crowd going by, he began to inquire what this was. ³⁷ They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. ³⁸ And he called out, saying, “Jesus, ^(AO)Son of David, have mercy on me!” ³⁹ Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet; but he kept crying out all the more, “^(AP)Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁰ And Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to Him; and when he came near, He questioned him, ⁴¹ “What do you want Me to do for you?” And he said, “Lord, I want to regain my sight!” ⁴² And Jesus said to him, “^[k]Receive your sight; ^(AQ)your faith has ^[l]made you well.” ⁴³ Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, ^(AR)glorifying God; and when ^(AS)all the people saw it, they gave praise to God.