11:1  It happened that while Jesus prayed in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples."

11:2  And He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, we acknowledge Your name as holy. Your kingdom come.

11:3  'Give us each day our daily bread.

11:4  'And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who has become indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'"

11:5  Then He said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves;

11:6  for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him';

11:7  and from inside he answers and says, 'Do not bother me; the door has already shut and my children and I stay in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.'

11:8  "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because of their friendship, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

11:9  "So I say to you, ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will open to you.

11:10  "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will open.

11:11  "Now suppose a son asks one of you fathers for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?

11:12  "Or if he asks for an egg, you will not give him a scorpion, will you?

11:13  "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

11:14  And He cast out a demon which caused muteness. When the demon had gone out, the previously mute man spoke; and the crowds became amazed.

11:15  But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons."

11:16  Others, to test Him, demanded of Him a sign from heaven.

11:17  But He knew their thoughts and said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself suffers ruin; and a house divided against itself falls.

11:18  "If Satan also divides himself against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

11:19  "And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will serve as your judges.

11:20  "But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

11:21  "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions remain undisturbed.

11:22  "But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder.

11:23  "He who does not support Me fights Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.

11:24  "When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'

11:25  "And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.

11:26  "Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first."

11:27  While Jesus said these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "We consider blessed the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed."

11:28  But He said, "On the contrary, blessed do I consider those who hear the word of God and observe it."

11:29  As the crowds increased, He began to say, "This generation proves itself wicked; it seeks for a sign, and yet they will receive no sign but the sign of Jonah.

11:30  "For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man become to this generation.

11:31  "The Queen 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 hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon stands here.

11:32  "The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah stands here.

11:33  "No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.

11:34  "The eye represents the lamp of your body; when your eye remains clear, your whole body also remains full of light; but when it becomes bad, your body also fills with darkness.

11:35  "Then watch out that the light in you does not darken.

11:36  "If therefore your whole body has become full of light, with no dark part in it, it will become wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays."

11:37  Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table.

11:38  When the Pharisee saw it, he felt surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.

11:39  But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you have robbery and wickedness.

11:40  "You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also?

11:41  "But give that which dwells within as charity, and then all things remain clean for you.

11:42  "But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these things you should have done without neglecting the others.

11:43  "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places.

11:44  "Woe to you! For you resemble concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them have become unaware of it."

11:45  One of the lawyers said to Him in reply, "Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too."

11:46  But He said, "Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

11:47  "Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.

11:48  "So you serve as witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because they killed them, and you build their tombs.

11:49  "For this reason also the wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute,

11:50  so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, someone may charge against this generation,

11:51  from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who died between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, people shall charge against this generation.'

11:52  "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who entered."

11:53  When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to act very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects,

11:54  plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say.