³¹ The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

The Little Children and Jesus^(A)

¹³ Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them^(B) and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

Further Instructions

² Devote yourselves to prayer,^(A) being watchful and thankful.

¹⁷ pray continually,^(A)

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.^{(A) 2} He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice^(B) against my adversary.’

⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”^(C)

⁶ And the Lord^(D) said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out^(E) to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man^(F) comes,^(G) will he find faith on the earth?”