1 And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.
2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father who art in the heavens, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also in the earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him?
14 And he was casting out a demon, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the demon was gone out, the one who had been dumb spoke; and the people marvelled. 15 But some of them said, He casts out devils through Beelzebub the prince of the demons. 16 And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every house or city divided against itself will not remain. 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out demons through Beelzebub. 19 And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. 20 But if I with the finger of God cast out the demons, certainly the kingdom of God is come upon you. 21 When an armed strong man keeps his palace, his goods are in peace; 22 but when another stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he takes from him all his arms in which he trusted and divides his spoils. 23 He that is not with me is against me, and he that does not gather with me scatters.
24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, I will return unto my house from which I came out. 25 And when he comes, he finds it swept and garnished. 26 Then he goes, and takes unto him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
27 And it came to pass as he spoke these things, a certain woman of the crowd lifted up her voice and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the breasts which thou hast sucked. 28 But he said, Rather, blessed are those that hear the word of God and keep it.
29 And gathering the people unto him, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign, and no sign shall be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. 30 For as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment against the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here.
33 No one, when he has lighted a lamp, puts it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a lampstand that those who come in may see the light. 34 The lamp of the body is the eye; therefore when thine eye is sincere, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. 35 Take heed therefore if the light which is in thee is darkness. 36 If thy whole body therefore is full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light as when the bright shining of a lamp doth give thee light.
37 And as he spoke, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him, and he went in and sat down to food. 38 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. 39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. 40 Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? 41 But rather give alms {lit. do acts of mercy} of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.
42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs and pass over the judgment and the charity of God; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the first seats in the synagogues and greetings in the markets. 44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which are not seen, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
45 Then one of the lawyers answered and said unto him, Master, saying these things, thou dost reproach us also. 46 And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye burden men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. 47 Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 48 Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. 49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and others they shall persecute: 50 that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, who perished between the altar and the temple; verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. 52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and those that were entering in, ye hindered.
53 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently and to provoke him to speak of many things, 54 laying wait for him and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him.