1And it came to pass, as he was in a certain place praying, that when he ceased one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.
2And he said to them, When ye pray, say, Father, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come;
3give us day by day our daily bread;
4and forgive us our sins, for even we ourselves forgive every one that is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation.
5And he said to them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him Friend, lend me three loaves;
6for a friend of mine hath come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him?
7And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and I and my children are in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
8I say to you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
9And I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and ye will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
10For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, the door will be opened.
11And what father is there, among you, who, if his son ask for bread, will give him a stone? or if he ask for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent?
12or, if he ask for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
13If ye then, though evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
14And he was casting out a demon, and it was dumb; and it came to pass, when the demon had gone out, that the dumb man spoke. And the multitudes wondered.
15But some of them said, He casteth out the demons through Beelzebul, the prince of the demons;
16and others, to make trial of him, asked of him a sign from heaven.
17But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and house divided against house falleth.
18And if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? For ye say that I cast out the demons through Beelzebul.
19But if I cast out the demons through Beelzebul, through whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore shall they be judges of you.
20But if I cast out the demons through the finger of God, then hath the kingdom of God already come to you.
21When a strong man armed guardeth his palace, his goods are in peace;
22but when one stronger than he cometh upon him and overcometh him, he taketh from him his whole armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
23He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
24When the unclean spirit is gone out from a man, it goeth through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, it saith, I will return to my house whence I came out.
25And on coming, it findeth it swept and put in order.
26Then it goeth, and taketh with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they enter in, and dwell there; and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first.
27And it came to pass, as he was saying these things, that a certain woman lifted up her voice from the crowd, and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the breasts from which thou drewest nourishment.
28But he said, Blessed rather are they that hear the word of God and keep it.
29And when the crowds were thronging about him, he began to say, This generation is a wicked generation; it seeketh a sign; and no sign will be given it, but the sign of Jonah.
30For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will also the Son of man be to this generation.
31The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and will condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and lo! something more than Solomon is here.
32The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and lo! something more than Jonah is here.
33No one when he has lighted a lamp, puts it into a secret place, or under the bushel, but on the lamp-stand, that they who come in may see the light.
34The lamp of the body is thine eye. When thine eye is clear, thy whole body also is in the light; but when it is disordered, thy body also is in darkness.
35Take heed therefore, that the light which is within thee be not darkness.
36If then thy whole body is enlightened, having no part dark, the whole will be as fully enlightened, as when a lamp with its bright shining giveth thee light.
37And when he had done speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him. And he went in and reclined at the table.
38And the Pharisee, seeing it, wondered that he did not bathe before dinner.
39But the Lord said to him, Now ye Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inside is full of rapacity and wickedness.
40Fools, did not he who made the outside, make the inside also?
41But give what they contain in alms, and lo! all is clean to you.
42But woe to you Pharisees! for ye pay tithes of the mint, and the rue, and every herb; and pass by justice and the love of God. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave those undone.
43Woe to you Pharisees! for ye love the chief seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the markets.
44Woe to you, for ye are as tombs which are unseen, and men walking over them know it not.
45And one of the lawyers answering saith to him, Teacher, in saying these things, thou revilest us also.
46And he said, To you lawyers also, woe! for ye load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.
47Woe to you! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
48So then ye bear witness to and approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and ye are building [[their tombs]].
49Therefore the wisdom of God also said, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute;
50that the blood of all the prophets, which hath 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 was slain between the altar and the temple. Yea, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.
52Woe to you lawyers! because ye have taken away the key of knowledge; ye have not entered yourselves, and those who were entering ye have hindered.
53And as he came out thence, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very spiteful, and to press him to speak off hand about many things,
54lying in wait to catch something out of his mouth.