It happened that while ¹Jesus 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, “^aWhen you pray, say:‘¹Father, ²hallowed be Your name.³Your kingdom come.

5 And He said to them, “¹Suppose 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 ¹and 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 ^abecause of his ¹shamelessness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

9 “So I say to you, ^1aask, and it will be given to you; ²seek, and you will find; ³knock, 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 ¹which one of you fathers will his son ask for a ²fish, 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 ^aif you, despite being ¹evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will ²your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

14 ^aAnd 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 ^aby ^bBeelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 16 Others, ¹to test Him, ^awere demanding of Him a ²sign from heaven. 17 ^aBut He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against ¹itself falls. 18 And if ^aSatan also has been divided against himself, how will his kingdom ¹stand? For you claim that I cast out the demons by ^bBeelzebul. 19 Yet if by ^aBeelzebul 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 ¹the ^afinger of God, then ^bthe kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When ¹a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are ²secure. 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 ^aThe one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.

24 “^aWhen the unclean spirit comes out of ¹a 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 ¹Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “^aBlessed is the womb that carried You, and the breasts at which You nursed!” 28 But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are ^athose who hear the word of God and follow it.”

29 Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “^aThis generation is a wicked generation; it ^bdemands a ¹sign, and so no ²sign will be given to it except the ³sign of Jonah. 30 For just as ^aJonah became a ¹sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The ^aQueen 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 ^athey repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

33 “^aNo 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 ^aYour eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is ¹clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is ²bad, 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.”

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 ^1aceremonially washed before the ²meal. 39 But ^athe Lord said to him, “Now ^byou Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish; but your inside is full of greed and wickedness. 40 ^aYou foolish ones, did He who made the outside not make the inside also? 41 But ^agive that which is within as a charitable gift, and ¹then all things are ^bclean for you.

42 “^aBut woe to you Pharisees! For you ^bpay tithes of mint, rue, and every kind of garden herb, and yet you ¹ignore 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 ^alove the seat of honor in the synagogues and personal greetings in the marketplaces. 44 ^aWoe to you! For you are like ¹unseen tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”

45 One of the ^1alawyers *said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us too.” 46 But He said, “Woe to you ^alawyers as well! For ^byou load people with burdens that are hard to bear, ¹while you yourselves will not even ²touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47 ^aWoe to you! For you build the ¹tombs 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 ¹tombs. 49 For this reason also, ^athe wisdom of God said, ‘^bI will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill, and some they will ¹persecute, 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed ^asince the foundation of the world, may be charged ¹against this generation, 51 from ^athe blood of Abel to ^bthe blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged ¹against this generation.’ 52 Woe to you ^1alawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; ^byou 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 ^aplotting against Him ^bto catch ¹Him in something He might say.