1Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he stopped, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples."
2He said to them, "When you pray, say, 'Our Father who is in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.'"
3"'Give us day by day our daily bread.'"
4"'And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who owes us anything. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'"
5And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread.'"
6"'A friend of mine is travelling and has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'"
7"And the man inside answers, 'Do not trouble me. The door is shut now, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.'"
8"I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because the man keeps on asking he will get up and give him as much as he needs."
9"And I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you."
10"For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks the door will be opened."
11"If a son asks any of you who is a father for bread, will you give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will you give him a snake instead of a fish?"
12"Or if he asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion?"
13"So if you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
14Jesus was driving out a demon, and the man could not speak. When the demon had gone out, the man who had been unable to speak began to talk, and the people were amazed.
15But some of them said, "He drives out demons by Beelzebub, the chief of the demons."
16Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
17But he knew their thoughts, and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a house divided against a house falls."
18"If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I drive out demons by Beelzebub."
19"And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons drive them out? So they will be your judges."
20"But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you."
21"When a strong man with his weapons guards his own palace, his goods are safe."
22"But when someone stronger than he is comes and overcomes him, he takes away all the armour the man trusted in, and divides up what he took from him."
23"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters."
24"When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it walks through dry places looking for rest. Finding none, it says, 'I will go back to my house that I came out of.'"
25"And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order."
26"Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first."
27As he was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out to him, "Blessed is the womb that carried you, and the breasts that fed you."
28But he said, "Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it."
29When the crowds were pressing in thickly, he began to say, "This is an evil generation. They look for a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonas the prophet."
30"For as Jonas was a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of man will be a sign to this generation."
31"The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and look, someone greater than Solomon is here."
32"The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and look, someone greater than Jonas is here."
33"No one lights a lamp and puts it in a hidden place, or under a basket. He puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light."
34"The light of the body is the eye. So when your eye is clear, your whole body is full of light too. But when your eye is evil, your body is full of darkness."
35"So be careful that the light which is in you is not darkness."
36"If then your whole body is full of light, with no part dark, it will all be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light."
37As he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to eat with him. So he went in and sat down at the table.
38When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that Jesus had not first washed before the meal.
39And the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness."
40"You fools, did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?"
41"Rather, give what is inside as alms to the poor, and look, everything is clean for you."
42"But woe to you, Pharisees, for you give a tenth of your mint and rue and every kind of herb, and you pass over justice and the love of God. You ought to have done these things, and not left the others undone."
43"Woe to you, Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the market places."
44"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you are like graves that do not show, and people walk over them without knowing it."
45Then one of the lawyers answered him, "Teacher, when you say this, you insult us too."
46And he said, "Woe to you also, you lawyers, for you load people with burdens too heavy to carry, and you yourselves will not touch the burdens with one of your fingers."
47"Woe to you, for you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them."
48"So you are witnesses, and you agree with what your fathers did. They killed them, and you build their tombs."
49"That is why the wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,'"
50"so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation:"
51"from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, who died between the altar and the temple. I tell you the truth, it will be charged against this generation."
52"Woe to you, lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not go in yourselves, and you stopped those who were going in."
53As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard, and to draw him out on many subjects,
54lying in wait for him, trying to catch something he might say, so that they could accuse him.