Luke 11:27-54

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

True Blessedness

²⁷ While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!”^{(A) 28} But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”^(B)

The Sign of Jonah

²⁹ When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.^{(C) 30} For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. ³¹ The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed, something greater than Solomon is here!^{(D) 32} The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and indeed, something greater than Jonah is here!^(E)

The Light of the Body

³³ “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel basket;^[a] rather, one puts it on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.^{(F) 34} Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but if it is unhealthy, your body is full of darkness.^{(G) 35} Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. ³⁶ But if your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.”

Jesus Denounces Pharisees and Experts in the Law

³⁷ While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him, so he went in and took his place at the table.^{(H) 38} The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner.^{(I) 39} Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.^{(J) 40} You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ So give as alms those things that are within and then everything will be clean for you.^(K)

⁴² “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others.^{(L) 43} Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces.^{(M) 44} Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves on which people unknowingly walk.”^(N)

⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us, too.” ⁴⁶ And he said, “Woe also to you experts in the law! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them.^{(O) 47} Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed.^{(P) 48} So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ For this reason the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’^{(Q) 50} so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.^{(R) 52} Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”^(S)

⁵³ When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees became hostile to him and began to interrogate him about many things, ⁵⁴ lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.^(T)