Luke 18:1-14

New American Standard Bible 1995

Parables on Prayer

18 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ^(A)ought to pray and not to ^(B)lose heart, ² saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not ^(C)respect man. ³ There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘^[a]Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ ⁴ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor ^(D)respect man, ⁵ yet ^(E)because this widow bothers me, I will ^[b]give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will ^[c](F)wear me out.’” ⁶ And ^(G)the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; ⁷ now, will not God ^(H)bring about justice for His ^(I)elect who cry to Him day and night, ^[d]and will He ^(J)delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, ^(K)will He find ^[e]faith on the earth?”

The Pharisee and the Publican

⁹ And He also told this parable to some people who ^(L)trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and ^(M)viewed others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men ^(N)went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee ^(O)stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I ^(P)fast twice a week; I ^(Q)pay tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, ^(R)standing some distance away, ^(S)was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but ^(T)was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be ^[f]merciful to me, the sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; ^(U)for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”