¹And it came to pass when he was praying in a certain place, when he stopped, that one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John for his part taught his disciples.” ²So he said to them, “When you pray, say,

‘Our father in the heavens,

May your name be sanctified.

May your kingdom come.

May your will be done,

As in heaven,

So on the earth.

³Give us our oncoming bread daily,

⁴And forgive us our sins,

For indeed we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But save us from evil.’ ”

⁵Then he said to them, “Who among you has a friend, and would go to him in the middle of the night and say to him, ‘My friend, lend me three loaves, ⁶because a friend has arrived at my house from a journey, and I do not have anything to serve him’? ⁷Then from indoors he would reply and say, ‘Do not give me trouble. The door has already been shut and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you any.’ ⁸I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him something because he is his friend, he will get up anyway and give him what he needs because of his shameless behaviour. ⁹And I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. ¹¹Which of you, as the father, if your son were to ask for bread, would give him a stone? Or also if he were to ask for a fish, instead of a fish would give him a serpent? ¹²Or also if he were to ask for an egg, would give him a scorpion? ¹³So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father from heaven give holy spirit to those who ask him!” ¹⁴Subsequently, he was casting out a demon, and it was mute. And it came to pass that when the demon had come out, the mute man spoke, and the crowds were amazed. ¹⁵But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons”, ¹⁶whereas others, testing him, wanted a sign from heaven from him. ¹⁷But he, knowing their cogitations, said to them, “Every kingdom which is divided against itself is made desolate, and a house divided against a house falls. ¹⁸So then, if Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹And if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people cast them out? By this logic, they themselves will be judges over you. ²⁰But if I cast out the demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹As long as a strong man, fully armed, guards his estate, his possessions are in peace, ²²but as soon as one stronger than he arrives and overcomes him, he will take his weaponry, in which he trusted, and he will divide his spoils. ²³He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. ²⁴Whenever an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it traverses arid places seeking a resting place, and if it does not find it, it says, ‘I will return to my house from where I came out’, ²⁵and when it has arrived there, it finds it swept clean and tidied up. ²⁶Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself along with it, and they go and dwell there, and the latter state of that man becomes worse than the first.” ²⁷And it came to pass as he was saying these things that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb which carried you and the breasts which you sucked.” ²⁸But he said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” ²⁹As the crowds continued to accumulate, he went on to say, “This generation is wicked. It is looking for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet, ³⁰for as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so the son of man will also be to this generation. ³¹The queen of the south will rise in the judgment with the men of this generation and will 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. ³²The men of Nineveh will rise in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. ³³And no-one lights a lamp and puts it in a vault, or under a bushel of corn, but on a lampstand, so that those coming in can see its glow. ³⁴The light of the body is the eye. So when your eye is clear-sighted then the whole of your body will be bright, but if it is ill-disposed then your body is dark. ³⁵So watch out that the light in you is not actually darkness. ³⁶Therefore, if the whole of your body is bright, not having any dark part, it will be bright all over, as when a lamp lights you up with its brilliance.” ³⁷Now while he was speaking, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him, and he went and reclined at table. ³⁸And the Pharisee, when he saw it, was astounded that he did not first perform ablutions before the meal. ³⁹Then the Lord said to him, “Well now, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but your inside is full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰You fools, did not he who made the outside also make the inside? ⁴¹But give as alms inward things, and you will find that everything is clean for you. ⁴²But woe to you, you Pharisees, because you give tithes of mint and rue, and every herb, but you pass by the judgment and love of God. You ought to have done these things, while not neglecting the former things. ⁴³Woe to you Pharisees, for you love the privileged seating in the synagogues and the greetings in the market places. ⁴⁴Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like the inconspicuous tombs, and the men walking around above them are unaware of them.” ⁴⁵Then one of the scholars in the law answered and said to him, “Teacher, by saying these things, you are insulting us as well.” ⁴⁶But he said, “Woe to you scholars in the law too, for you burden men with burdens which are hard to bear, but you yourselves do not feel what the burdens are like with a single one of your fingers. ⁴⁷Woe to you, because you build the sepulchres of the prophets, but your fathers killed them. ⁴⁸Consequently, you bear witness and approve of the works of your fathers, because they themselves killed them, whereas you build their sepulchres. ⁴⁹On account of this the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them’, but they will kill some of them and persecute them, ⁵⁰so that an account is required from this generation of the blood of all the prophets which has been shed since the overthrow of the world, ⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the house. Yes, I say to you, an account will be required from this generation. ⁵²Woe to you scholars of the law, because you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not go in, and you have prevented those who were going in.” ⁵³Now while he was saying these things to them, the scribes and Pharisees began to harbour an intense grudge and to draw him out on very many matters, ⁵⁴ensnaring him, looking for a way to catch something out of his mouth, in order to accuse him.