Luke 11
Worldwide English (New Testament)
11 One day Jesus was in a place talking with God. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, `Lord, teach us to talk with God as John taught his disciples.'
2 Jesus said, `When you talk with God, say, "Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come.
3 Give us our food day by day.
4 Forgive us for the wrong things we have done. We forgive everyone who has done wrong to us. Do not lead us to be tested." '
5 Jesus said to them, `Maybe one of you has a friend. You go to him in the middle of the night and say to him, "Friend, lend me three loaves of bread.
6 A friend has come to my house. He has been on the road. I have no food to give him to eat."
7 `Maybe the friend in the house answers you and says, "Do not trouble me. The door is locked. And my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything."
8 I tell you this. Maybe he will not give him anything because he is his friend. But he will get up and give him what he needs because he keeps on asking for it.
9 `And I tell you, ask and you will get what you ask for. Look and you will find what you look for. Knock and the door will be opened for you.
10 Everyone who asks will get. The one who looks will find. And the one who knocks will have the door opened for him.
11 Which of you fathers will give your son a snake if he asks for a fish?
12 Will you give him a scorpion [an insect with a sting] if he asks for an egg?
13 You are wrong and yet you know how to give good things to your children. Much more, the Father in heaven will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.'
14 Jesus was driving a bad spirit out of a man who could not talk. When the spirit left him, the man could talk. The people were surprised.
15 But some of them said, `This man drives out bad spirits by the help of Beelzebub, the chief of bad spirits.'
16 Other people wanted to test Jesus. They asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
17 But Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he said, `If one part of any country fights against the other part of the country, that country is spoiled. And if one part of any family fights against the other part of the family, it cannot stand.
18 If Satan fights against himself, how will his kingdom stand? You say I drive out bad spirits by the help of Beelzebub.
19 If I drive out bad spirits by the help of Beelzebub, by whose help do your own people drive them out? Your own people will judge you for this!
20 But if I drive out bad spirits by the help of God, then know this, God's kingdom is here with you now.
21 `A strong man has something in his hand to fight. He guards his place. He will not lose his things.
22 But when a stronger man comes, he catches the man who guards his house. He will take away what is in the man's hand. And he will take his things and give them to his friends.
23 `Anyone who is not with me is against me. Anyone who does not work with me, works against me.'
24 `When a bad spirit has gone out of a man, he goes through dry places. He looks for a place to rest, but he does not find any. Then he says, "I will go back to my house from where I came."
25 `When he comes back, he finds it clean and all fixed up.
26 Then he goes and brings seven other spirits who are worse than he is. They go in and live there. Now the man is worse than he was at first.'
27 As he said this, a woman among the people called out, `Happy is your mother who gave birth to you, and fed you as a baby.'
28 But Jesus said, `Happy are those who hear God's word and obey it!'
29 More and more people were coming. He started to talk. He said, `People today are bad. They want a sign. No sign will be given them but the sign of Jonah the prophet of God.
30 Jonah was a sign to the men in the city of Nineveh. In the same way the Son of Man will be a sign to the people today.
31 When the people are judged, the Queen from the South will stand up and speak against men who live today. She came a long way to hear the wise words of Solomon. The one who is here is greater than Solomon.
32 When people are judged, the men of Nineveh will stand up and speak against the people of today. They stopped their wrong ways when Jonah told them God's word. And the one who is here is greater than Jonah.'
33 `No person lights a lamp and hides it in a hole or puts it under a basket. But he puts it on a place for a lamp. Then people who come in can see the light.
34 Your body gets its light through your eyes. When you have good eyes, all your body has light. But when your eyes are bad, your body is in darkness.
35 So be sure that it is not dark in you where it should be light.
36 If no part of your body is dark, it will all be light. It will be like a lamp that shines to give you light.'
37 While Jesus was saying these things, a Pharisee asked him to come to eat at his house. So Jesus went in and sat at the table.
38 The Pharisee saw that Jesus did not wash his hands before he ate. He was surprised.
39 The Lord said to him, `You Pharisees wash the outside of a cup and a dish clean. But inside you are full of greed and wrong ways.
40 You are fools! Did not God make the outside and inside also?
41 Do good, and do it from your heart. Then everything is clean for you.
42 `You Pharisees will have trouble! You give to God a tenth part of small garden plants. But you do not judge in the right way. And you do not love God. You should do these things and the other things too.
43 `You Pharisees will have trouble! In the meeting houses you want to sit in the front seats. And in the market you want people to greet you.
44 You will have trouble! You are not true to yourselves! You are like graves that are not marked. Men walk over them and do not know it.'
45 Then one of the men who taught God's law said to Jesus, `Teacher, when you say these things, you talk against us too.'
46 Jesus said, `You men will have trouble also! You put heavy loads on people's backs. But you yourselves will not put up one finger to help carry the loads.
47 You will have trouble! You build places to bury the prophets of God that your fathers killed.
48 In this way you show you agree to the things your fathers did. They killed the prophets, and you build places to bury them.
49 That is why God, who is wise, said, "I will send prophets and messengers to them. They will kill some of them. And they will trouble some of them."
50 So the people who are living now will be punished for all the blood of the prophets of God that is on the ground since the world was made.
51 I mean all the blood from the time of Abel to the time of Zechariah. (He was killed between the holy table and the temple.) Yes, I tell you. The people who are living now will be punished for all of it.
52 `You teachers of God's law will have trouble! You have taken away the key of the door where people can go in and know what is true. You yourselves did not go in, and you stopped those who were going in.'
53 When Jesus left the house, the scribes and Pharisees began to be very angry with him. They asked him questions about many things.
54 They wanted him to say something that was wrong so they could make trouble for him.
Luke 11
Amplified Bible
Instruction about Prayer
11 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them,
“When you pray, [a]say:
‘[b]Father, [c]hallowed be Your name.
[d]Your kingdom come.
3
‘Give us each day our [e]daily bread.
4
‘And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us [who has offended or wronged us].
And [f]lead us not into temptation [[g]but rescue us from evil].’”
Parable of Persistence
5 Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves [of bread]; 6 for a friend of mine who is on a journey has just come to visit me, and I have nothing to serve him’; 7 and from inside he answers, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence and boldness he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
9 “So I say to you, ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.(A) 10 For everyone who [h]keeps on asking [persistently], receives; and he who keeps on seeking [persistently], finds; and to him who keeps on knocking [persistently], the door will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you, then, being evil [that is, sinful by nature], know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!”
Pharisees’ Blasphemy
14 And [at another time] Jesus was casting out a demon, and it was [controlling a man so as to make him] mute; when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds were awed.(B) 15 But some of them said, “He drives out demons by [the power of] [i]Beelzebul (Satan), the ruler of the demons.” 16 Others, trying to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven. 17 But He, well aware of their thoughts and purpose, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is doomed to destruction; and a house divided against itself falls. 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand and continue to survive? For you are saying that I drive out demons by [the power of] Beelzebul. 19 Now if I drive out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons [the Jewish exorcists] drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 20 But if I drive out the demons by the finger of God, then [j]the kingdom of God has already come upon you. 21 When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his belongings are undisturbed and secure. 22 But when someone stronger than he attacks and overpowers him, he robs him of all his armor on which he had relied and divides his [goods as] spoil. 23 He who is not with Me [believing in Me as Lord and Savior] is against Me [there is no impartial position]; and he who does not gather with Me [assisting in My ministry], scatters.
24 “When the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places in search [of a place] of rest; and not finding any, it says, ‘I will go back to my house (person) from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the place swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in [the person] and live there; and the last state of that person becomes worse than the first.”
27 Now while Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed (happy, favored by God) is the womb that gave birth to You and the breasts at which You nursed!” 28 But He said, “On the contrary, blessed (happy, favored by God) are those who hear the word of God and continually observe it.”
The Sign of Jonah
29 Now as the crowds were increasing [in number], He began to say, “This [present] generation is a wicked generation; it seeks a sign (attesting miracle), but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah [the prophet].(C) 30 For just as [k]Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man also be [a sign] to this generation.(D) 31 The Queen of the South (the kingdom of Sheba) will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and look, something greater than Solomon is here.(E) 32 The men of Nineveh will stand up [as witnesses] at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and look, something greater than Jonah is here.(F)
33 “No one lights a lamp and then puts it in a cellar nor under a basket [hiding the light], but [instead it is put] on the lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light.(G) 34 The eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive, focused on God], your whole body also is full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. But when it is bad [spiritually blind], your body also is full of darkness [devoid of God’s word]. 35 Be careful, therefore, that the light that is in you is not darkness. 36 So if your whole body is illuminated, with no dark part, it will be entirely bright [with light], as when the lamp gives you light with its bright rays.”
Woes upon the Pharisees
37 Now after Jesus had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him. He went in [the Pharisee’s home] and reclined at the table [without ceremonially washing His hands]. 38 The Pharisee noticed this and was surprised that Jesus did not first ceremonially wash before the meal. 39 But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and plate [as required by tradition]; but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish ones [acting without reflection or intelligence]! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give that which is within as charity [that is, acts of mercy and compassion, not as a public display, but as an expression of your faithfulness to God], and then indeed all things are clean for you.
42 “But woe (judgment is coming) to you Pharisees, because you [self-righteously] [l]tithe mint and [m]rue and every [little] garden herb [tending to all the minutiae], and yet disregard and neglect justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done, without neglecting the others.(H) 43 Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the [n]best seats in the synagogues and to be respectfully greeted in the market places. 44 Woe to you! For you are like graves which are unmarked, and people walk over them without being aware of it [and are ceremonially unclean].”
45 One of the lawyers [an expert in the Mosaic Law] answered Him, “Teacher, by saying this, You insult us too!” 46 But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well, because you weigh men down with burdens [man-made rules, unreasonable requirements] which are hard to bear, and you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers [to lighten the load]. 47 Woe to you! For you repair or build [o]tombs for the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. 48 So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers, because they [actually] killed them, and you repair or build their tombs. 49 For this reason also the wisdom of God said [in the Scriptures], ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will put to death and some they will persecute, 50 so that charges may be brought against this generation [holding them responsible] for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah [the priest], who was murdered between the altar and the house of God. Yes, I tell you, charges will be brought against this generation.’(I) 52 Woe to you lawyers, because you have taken away the key to knowledge (scriptural truth). You yourselves did not enter, and you held back those who were entering [by your flawed interpretation of God’s word and your man-made tradition].”(J)
53 When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile [toward Him] and to interrogate Him on many subjects, 54 plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say.
Footnotes
- Luke 11:2 I.e. as a model or pattern.
- Luke 11:2 Later mss add phrases from Matt 6:9-13 to make the two passages closely similar.
- Luke 11:2 I.e. set apart, keep and treat as holy, revere.
- Luke 11:2 A plea for God’s kingdom to be inaugurated on earth.
- Luke 11:3 I.e. life’s essentials.
- Luke 11:4 I.e. lead us away from situations where we are vulnerable and have the opportunity to sin. God does not tempt man (see James 1:13) but does allow man to be tested.
- Luke 11:4 NU omits.
- Luke 11:10 Here the use of Greek present imperatives (asking, seeking, knocking; vv 9, 10) emphasizes persistent, constant prayer.
- Luke 11:15 I.e. a deity worshiped in the Philistine city of Ekron: Baal Zebul, lord of the high places or Baal Zebub, lord of the flies.
- Luke 11:20 I.e. in the person and ministry of Jesus.
- Luke 11:30 Jonah spent three days in the belly of the great fish; Christ was resurrected three days after His death.
- Luke 11:42 The required offering of ten percent.
- Luke 11:42 An odoriferous plant whose oil was used as medicine.
- Luke 11:43 These seats were located near the scrolls of the Law, facing the congregation in the synagogue.
- Luke 11:47 Or monuments to.
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