1 ONCE he was in a certain place praying. When he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, "Master, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."

2 He said to them, "When you pray say: Father, thy name be kept holy; Thy kingdom come;

3 Our bread for the coming day Give us day by day;

4 And forgive us our sins; For we ourselves forgive every one who fails toward us. And bring us not into trial."

5 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,

6 for a friend of mine has come to my house after a journey and I have nothing to set before him';

7 and he from within answers, 'Do not trouble me; the door is locked, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.'

8 I tell you, even if he will not rise and give them to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him all that he needs.

9 So I tell you, ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

10 For every one who asks obtains, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.

11 What father is there among you who if his son asks for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead?

12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?

13 If then you, evil though you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give a holy spirit to those who ask him."

14 He was casting out a demon and it was dumb. After the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke and the crowds wondered.

15 But some of them said, "By Beelzebul, the chief of the demons, he casts out the demons."

16 Others, by way of test, demanded of him a sign from heaven.

17 But he, knowing their reasonings, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself comes to desolation, and a house divided against itself falls.

18 If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? You say that I am casting out demons by Beelzebul;

19 but if I am casting out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore let them be your judges.

20 But if I am casting out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has already reached you.

21 "When a strong man fully armed guards his castle, his possessions are in peace.

22 But when a stronger than he comes upon him and conquers him, he takes all the armor in which he trusted and divides the spoils.

23 He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me is scattering.

24 "When the impure spirit comes out from a man, he goes through waterless places, seeking rest. Not finding it, he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came out.'

25 When he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.

26 Then he goes and takes along seven spirits worse than himself, and they enter and settle down there, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first."

27 While he was saying this a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, "Blessed was the womb that carried you and the breasts that you sucked!"

28 He said, "Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it!"

29 As the crowds were thronging about him, he began and said, "This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

30 For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites so the Son of Man will be to this generation.

31 The queen of the South will rise in the judgment with the men of this generation and will condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and more than a Solomon is here.

32 The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it. For they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and indeed more than a Jonah is here.

33 "No one lights a lamp and places it in a cellar or under the peck-measure, but on the stand, so that those who come in may see the light.

34 The lamp of the body is the eye. When your eye is clear the whole body is lighted. But when it is bad, your body is dark.

35 Make sure that the light that is in you is not darkness.

36 If your body is all lighted up, not having any part dark, it will be all lighted as when the lamp lights you by its brilliance."

37 During his talk a Pharisee kept asking him to dine with him. He went in and reclined at table.

38 The Pharisee, seeing this, wondered that he had not first washed before dinner.

39 The Master said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but the inside of you is full of rapacity and wickedness.

40 You foolish men, did not he who made the outside make the inside too?

41 But give the things inside as gifts of mercy and at once all will be clean for you.

42 But alas for you, Pharisees! Because you tithe mint, and rue, and every herb, and pass by justice and the love of God. These things you ought to have practiced, without omitting the others.

43 Alas for you, Pharisees! for you love the first seats in the synagogues and greetings in the market-places.

44 Alas for you! for you are like unmarked graves. The men who walk over them do not know it."

45 One of the lawyers answered him, "Teacher, in saying this you treat us roughly too."

46 He said, "Alas for you lawyers also! for you burden men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

47 Alas for you! for you build the tombs of the prophets, but your fathers killed them.

48 So you are witnesses and consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them and you build their tombs.

49 Therefore 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.'

50 So the blood of all the prophets which has been shed from the foundation of the world will be required of this generation \'97

51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah who perished between the altar and the House. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.

52 Alas for you lawyers! because you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered and you have prevented those who were entering."

53 After he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press upon him angrily and cross-question him on many points,

54 laying traps to catch something from his mouth.