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Teaching about Prayer

11 Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:[a]

“Father, may your name be kept holy.
    May your Kingdom come soon.
Give us each day the food we need,[b]
and forgive us our sins,
    as we forgive those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation.[c]

Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.[d]

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Footnotes

  1. 11:2 Some manuscripts add additional phrases from the Lord’s Prayer as it reads in Matt 6:9-13.
  2. 11:3 Or Give us each day our food for the day; or Give us each day our food for tomorrow.
  3. 11:4 Or And keep us from being tested.
  4. 11:8 Or in order to avoid shame, or so his reputation won’t be damaged.

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