Prayer and the Golden Rule

[a](A)Ask, and (B)it will be given to you; [b]seek, and you will find; [c]knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or what person is there among you [d]who, when his son asks for a loaf of bread, [e]will give him a stone? 10 Or [f]if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 So if you, despite being [g]evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, (C)how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

12 “In everything, (D)therefore, [h]treat people the same way you want [i]them to treat you, for (E)this is the Law and the Prophets.

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 7:7 Or Keep asking
  2. Matthew 7:7 Or keep seeking
  3. Matthew 7:7 Or keep knocking
  4. Matthew 7:9 Lit whom his son will ask
  5. Matthew 7:9 Lit he will not give him a stone, will he?
  6. Matthew 7:10 Lit also will ask
  7. Matthew 7:11 I.e., as sinful mankind
  8. Matthew 7:12 Lit you, too, do so for them
  9. Matthew 7:12 Lit people

7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you. Search and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you. The one who asks will always receive; the one who is searching will always find, and the door is opened to the man who knocks.”

9-11 “If any of you were asked by his son for bread would you be likely to give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish would you give him a snake? If you then, for all your evil, quite naturally give good things to your children, how much more likely is it that your Heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask him?”

12 “Treat other people exactly as you would like to be treated by them—this is the essence of all true religion.”

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