⁴⁴ But I say to you, ^(A)Love your enemies and ^(B)pray for those who persecute you,

³⁸ therefore ^(A)pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to ^(B)send out laborers into his harvest.”

²² And ^(A)whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, ^(B)if you have faith.”

¹⁷ And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ^(A)‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But ^(B)you have made it a den of robbers.”

²⁴ Therefore I tell you, ^(A)whatever you ask in prayer, ^(B)believe that you ^(C)have received^[a] it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And whenever ^(D)you stand praying, ^(E)forgive, ^(F)if you have anything against anyone, so that ^(G)your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”^[b]

¹⁶ But ^(A)he would withdraw to desolate places and ^(B)pray.

^28 (A)bless those who curse you, ^(B)pray for those who abuse you.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought ^(A)always to pray and not ^(B)lose heart. ² He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who ^(C)neither feared God nor respected man. ³ And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ^(D)‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷ And ^(E)will not God give justice to ^(F)his elect, ^(G)who cry to him day and night? ^(H)(I)Will he delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you, he will give justice to them ^(J)speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, ^(K)will he find faith on earth?”

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ He also told this parable to some ^(L)who trusted ^(M)in themselves that they were righteous, ^(N)and treated others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men ^(O)went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee, ^(P)standing by himself, prayed^{[a] (Q)}thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ^12 (R)I fast twice a week; ^(S)I give tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, ^(T)standing far off, ^(U)would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but ^(V)beat his breast, saying, ‘God, ^(W)be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For ^(X)everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Fellowship of the Believers

⁴² And ^(A)they devoted themselves to the apostles' ^(B)teaching and the ^(C)fellowship, to ^(D)the breaking of bread and the prayers.