1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: aOur1 Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 1Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
4And aforgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, 1But deliver us from the evil one.”
A Friend Comes at Midnight
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves;
6for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;
7and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’?
8I say to you, athough he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking
9a“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; bseek, 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.
11aIf a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
12Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13If you then, being evil, know how to give agood gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
A House Divided Cannot Stand
14aAnd He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled.
15 But some of them said, a“He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
16 Others, testing Him,asought from Him a sign from heaven.
17aBut bHe, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.
18If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.
19And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
20But if I cast out demons awith the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
21aWhen a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.
22But awhen a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his1spoils.
23aHe who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
An Unclean Spirit Returns
24a“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’
25And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.
26Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and athe last state of that man is worse than the first.”
Keeping the Word
27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, a“Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
28 But He said, a“More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Seeking a Sign
29aAnd while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a bsign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah1the prophet.
30For as aJonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.
31aThe queen of the South will rise up in 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 indeed a bgreater than Solomon is here.
32The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for athey repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
The Lamp of the Body
33a“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a bbasket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light.
34aThe lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is1good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is2bad, your body also is full of darkness.
35Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.
36If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”
Woe to the Pharisees and Lawyers
37 And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat.
38aWhen the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.
Teach us to pray - See the nature of prayer, with an ample explanation of the different parts of the Lord' s Prayer, treated of in Matthew 6:5-16 (note). The prayer related here by Luke is not precisely the same as that mentioned by Matthew; and indeed it is not likely that it was given at the same time. That in Matthew seems to have been given after the second passover; and this in Luke was given probably after the third passover, between the feasts of tabernacles, and the dedication. It is thus that Bishop Newcome places them in his Greek Harmony of the Gospels.
There are many variations in the MSS. in this prayer; but they seem to have proceeded principally from the desire of rendering this similar to that in Matthew. Attempts of this nature have given birth to multitudes of the various readings in the MSS. of the New Testament. It should be remarked, also, that there is no vestige of the doxology found in Matthew, in any copy of St. Luke' s Gospel.
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