11 When Jesus was praying in a certain place, after he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 So Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Father, holy is Your name.[405] May Your Kingdom come. [406] 3 Give us the bread we need every day. 4 Forgive us our sins, as we forgive everyone who sins against us. And keep us from temptation.’”
    5 Then he said to them, “If you have a friend and you go to him in the middle of the night and say, ‘My friend, lend me three loaves of bread 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to visit me, and I do not have anything to give him.’ 7 Your friend might answer from inside the house, ‘Do not bother me. I have already locked the door, and my children and I have gone to bed. I cannot get up to give you anything now.’  8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you anything because he is your friend, yet because of your persistence your friend will get up and give you everything you need.
    9 “So I say to you, keep asking, and you will receive; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who keeps asking, receives; and everyone who keeps seeking, finds; and everyone who keeps knocking has the door opened to them.  11 Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, gives him a snake instead of a fish?  12 Or if he asks for an egg, do you give him a scorpion?  13 So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give holy spirit[407] to those who ask Him?”
    14 Jesus was driving out a demon that caused muteness. When the demon had gone out, the man who was mute spoke, and the crowds were astonished. 15 But some of them said, “He is casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”  16 Others wanted to test Jesus by demanding from him a miraculous sign from heaven.  17 But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any kingdom which is divided against itself is destroyed, and a house divided against itself falls.  18 If Satan was divided against himself, how would his kingdom stand? You say that I am casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul. 19 If I am casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul, by whose power do your people cast them out? They will be the judges of what you have said. 20 But if I cast out the demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. [408]  21 When a strong, fully armed man guards his own house, everything he has is safe. 22 But if a stronger man attacks him and overpowers him, then the stronger takes from him all the weapons he relied on, and shares out all his possessions. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.
    24 “When an evil spirit goes out of someone, it goes through waterless places looking for rest, and when it finds none it says, ‘I will go back to my house I left.’ 25 When it returns, it finds its old home all clean and tidy.  26 So it goes and finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, and the final state of that person is worse than the first.”
    27 While Jesus was saying this a woman in the crowd shouted out, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts that nursed you.” 28 But he said, “Better to say, blessed are those who listen to the word of God[409] and obey it.”
    29 As the crowds were growing larger, he began saying, “This is an evil society.[410] It is looking for a miraculous sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 Just as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be a sign to this society. 31 The Queen of the South will rise up with the people of this society at the judgment and will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is someone greater than Solomon here!  32 The people of Nineveh will be raised in the judgment with this society, and will condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s preaching, and there is someone greater than Jonah here!
    33 “No one lights a lamp and puts it away in the cellar or under a bucket. No, you put it on a lampstand so that everyone coming into the house may see the light. 34 The lamp of your body is your eye. When your eye is clear,[411] your whole body is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is in darkness.  35 Make sure that the light in you is not really darkness. 36 If your whole body is full of light and no part of it is in darkness,[412] it will be completely lit up, just as a lamp shining brightly gives you light.”
   37 When Jesus had finished speaking a Pharisee asked him to have lunch with him. So Jesus went and sat down to a meal. 38 The Pharisee was surprised did not ceremonially wash before the meal.  39 So the lord said to him, “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of theft and evil.  40 You foolish people, do you not think that He who made the outside made the inside also? 41 But give from the heart inside to those in need, and everything will be clean to you.
    42 “Shame on you Pharisees! You pay tithes on all kinds of herbs and plants, but ignore justice and the love of God. That is what you should have done, while not leaving these other things undone. 43 Shame on you Pharisees! You love the chief seats in the synagogues, and being greeted with respect in the marketplaces. 44 Shame on you! You are like unmarked graves that people walk over without knowing.”
    45 One of the experts in the Law responded, “Teacher, when you say this you are insulting us also.”  46 He said, “Shame on you experts in the Law as well! You load people down with burdens too hard to carry, but you do not help carry those burdens even with your little finger. 47 Shame on you! You build memorial tombs for the prophets, but it was your own ancestors who killed them! 48 So you prove that you approve of what your ancestors did — they killed the prophets and you build their tombs! 49 That is why the wisdom of God said,[413] ‘I will send them prophets and Apostles. Some of them they will kill and persecute.’ 50 This is so that the blood of all the prophets shed since the beginning of the world will be charged against this wicked society, [414] 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah,[415] who was killed between the altar and the house of God. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this evil society. [416] 52 Shame on you, experts in the Law! You have taken away the key of knowledge;[417] so you did not go in yourselves, and you kept others from going in.”
    53 When he left there the religious teachers and the Pharisees began to be very hostile, questioning him closely on many subjects, 54 lying in wait to trap him in something he might say.