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: Our Father in Heaven, Holy is Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

3 Give us day by day our bread sufficient for the day.

4 And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil.

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;

6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him;

7 and 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.

8 I say to you, Though 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 much as he needs.

9 So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, he will not give him a stone, will he? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a serpent instead of a fish, will he?

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

13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

14 And 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, He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.

16 Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from Heaven.

17 But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.

18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.

19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

20 But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are at peace.

22 But when one stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.

23 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

24 When an unclean spirit goes out from a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, I will return to my house from which I came out.

25 And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.

26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which You sucked!

28 But He said, No; rather, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.

29 And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.

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

31 The 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 behold, one greater than Solomon is here.

32 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, one greater than Jonah is here.

33 No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light.

34 The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is sound, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is evil, your body also is full of darkness.

35 Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.

36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no dark part, all will be full of light, as when the shining of a lamp gives you light.

37 And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat.

38 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.

39 And the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of robbery and wickedness.

40 Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?

41 But rather give alms from what is within; and behold, all things are clean to you.

42 But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all kinds of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting those.

43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

44 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.

45 Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, Teacher, by saying these things You also insult us.

46 And He said, Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

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

48 Therefore, you bear witness that you approve of the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs.

49 Therefore also the wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,

50 that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required from this generation,

51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required from this generation.

52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.

53 And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to quarrel with Him forcefully, and to cross-examine Him about many things,

54 lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, in order to accuse Him.