1 And it came to pass, as He was in a certain place praying, that, when He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."
2 And He said to them, "When ye pray, say, 'Father, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread;
4 and forgive us our sins; for we also ourselves forgive every one indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation.'"
5 And He said to them, "Who of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 forasmuch as a friend of mine came to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him;'
7 and he from within, answering, shall say, 'Trouble me not; already the door has been shut, and my children are with me in the bed; I cannot rise and give you.'
8 I say to you, even if he will not, rising up, give to him because of his being his friend; yet, because of his importunity, he, rousing himself, will give him as many as he needs.
9 And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you:
10 for every one who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it shall be opened.
11 And of which of you that is a father shall his son ask bread, and he give him a stone? or a fish, and he, instead of a fish, give him a serpent?
12 or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion?
13 If ye, 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?"
14 And He was casting out a dumb demon. And it came to pass that, when the demon went out, the dumb spake, and the multitudes marvelled.
15 But some of them said, "By Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons, He is casting out the demons."
16 And others, tempting, were seeking of Him a sign from heaven.
17 But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them, "Every kingdom, divided against itself, is made desolate; and a house divided against a house falls.
18 And, if Satan also were divided against himself, how would his kingdom stand? because ye say that by Beelzebub I am casting out the demons!
19 But, if I, by Beelzebub, cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges.
20 But, if I, by the finger of God, cast out the demons, then the Kingdom of God came upon you unexpectedly.
21 "When the strong man, fully armed, is guarding his own court, his goods are in peace;
22 but, when a stronger than he, coming upon him, overcomes him, he takes away his whole armor upon which he had relied, and distributes his spoils.
23 He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who is not gathering with Me is scattering.
24 "When the unclean spirit goes out from the man, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest; and, not finding it, it says, 'I will return into my house whence I came out.'
25 And, coming, it finds it swept and decorated.
26 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself; and, entering in, they make their abode there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first."
27 And it came to pass, as He was saying these things, that a certain woman, out of the multitude, lifting up her voice, said to Him, "Happy the womb that carried Thee, and the breasts which Thou didst suck!"
29 And as the multitudes were gathering together to Him, He began to say, "This generation is an evil generation: it is seeking a sign, and a sign shall not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.
30 For, as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.
31 "The queen of the south will rise up 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 more than Solomon is here.
32 "The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, something more than Jonah is here.
33 "No one, having lighted a lamp, puts it in a cellar, or under a measure, but on a lamp-stand, that those who enter may see the light.
34 The lamp of your body is your eye. When your eye is sound, your whole body also is full of light; but, when it is evil, your body also is dark.
35 Take heed, therefore, lest the light in you be darkness.
36 If, therefore, your whole body be full of light, not having any part dark, it shall be wholly light, as when the lamp, with its bright shining, illuminates you."
37 Now, as He spake, a Pharisee asks Him to dine with him; and, entering, He reclined at table.
38 And the Pharisee, seeing it, marvelled that He was not first immersed before breakfast.
39 But the Lord said to him, "Now ye, the Pharisees, cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish; but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.
40 Senseless ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?
41 But give as alms the things within; and, behold, all things are clean to you.
42 "But woe to you Pharisees! because ye tithe the mint, and the rue, and every herb; but ye pass by judgment and the love of God. Now these things it was needful to do, and not to leave those undone.
43 "Woe to you Pharisees! because ye love the first seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces!
44 Woe to you! because ye are as the unobserved tombs; and the men, walking over them, know it not."
45 And one of the lawyers, answering, says to Him, "Teacher, in saying these things, Thou insultest us also!"
46 And He said, "Woe to you lawyers, also! because ye burden men with burdens hard to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers!
47 "Woe to you! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
48 Consequently, ye are witnesses, and consent to the works of your fathers; because they, indeed, killed them, and ye build their tombs.
49 On this account also the wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them will they slay, and some will they persecute;
50 that the blood of all the prophets, which has been shed from the founding of the world, may be required of this generation??51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah who perished between the altar and the house??ea, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.'
52 "Woe to you lawyers; because ye took away the Key of Knowledge; ye yourselves entered not in, and those who were entering ye hindered."