Luke 11 - Christian Standard Bible Anglicised

The Lord’s Prayer

¹ He was praying  in a certain place, and when 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, ‘Whenever you pray, say, Father,   , your name   be honoured as holy. Your kingdom come.   ,

³ Give us each day our daily bread.   ,

⁴ And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us.   , And do not bring us into temptation.’   ,

Ask, Search, Knock

⁵ He also said to them, ‘Suppose one of you   has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

⁶ because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.”

⁷ Then he will answer from inside and say, “Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.”

⁸ I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s shameless boldness,   he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹ ‘So   I say to you, ask,   and it will be given to you. Seek,   and you will find. Knock,   and the door will be opened to you.

¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, 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, who are evil,   know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father   give the Holy Spirit   to those who ask him? ’

A House Divided

¹⁴ Now  he was driving out a demon  that was mute.  When the demon came out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed.

¹⁵ But some of them said, ‘He drives out demons by Beelzebul,  the ruler  of the demons.’

¹⁶ And others, as a test,  were demanding of him a sign  from heaven.

¹⁷ Knowing their thoughts,  he told them, ‘Every kingdom divided   against itself is headed for destruction, and a house divided against itself falls.

¹⁸ If Satan   also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom   stand? For you say I drive out demons by Beelzebul.

¹⁹ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons   drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

²⁰ If I drive out demons by the finger of God,   then the kingdom of God   has come upon you.

²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his estate, his possessions are secure.

²² But when one stronger than he attacks and overpowers   him, he takes from him all his weapons   , he trusted   in, and divides up his plunder.

²³ Anyone who is not with me is against me,   and anyone who does not gather with me scatters.

An Unclean Spirit’s Return

²⁴ ‘When   an unclean spirit   comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places looking for rest,   and not finding rest, it then   says, “I’ll go back to my house that I came from.”

²⁵ Returning, it finds the house swept and put in order.

²⁶ Then it goes and brings seven other spirits   more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first.’

True Blessedness

²⁷ As he was saying these things, a woman from the crowd  raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you! ’

²⁸ He said, ‘Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God   and keep it.’

The Sign of Jonah

²⁹ As the crowds were increasing, he began saying, ‘This generation   is an evil generation.   It demands a sign,   but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.   ,

³⁰ For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also the Son of Man   will be to this generation.

³¹ The queen of the south   will rise up at the judgement   with the men of this generation and condemn   them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon,   and look #– #something greater than Solomon is here.

³² The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s preaching, and look #– #something greater than Jonah is here.

The Lamp of the Body

³³ ‘No   one lights a lamp   and puts it in the cellar or under a basket,   but on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see its light.

³⁴ Your eye is the lamp of the body.   When your eye is healthy, your whole body is also full of light. But when it is bad,   your body is also full of darkness.

³⁵ Take care, then, that the light in you is not darkness.

³⁶ If, therefore, your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be entirely illuminated, as when a lamp shines its light on you.’

Religious Hypocrisy Denounced

³⁷ As he was speaking, a Pharisee  asked him to dine with him. So he went in and reclined at the table.

³⁸ When the Pharisee saw this, he was amazed that he did not first perform the ritual washing  , before dinner.

³⁹ But the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed   and evil.

⁴⁰ Fools!   Didn’t he who made the outside make the inside too?

⁴¹ But give from what is within to the poor,   , and then everything is clean   for you.

⁴² ‘But woe   to you Pharisees! You give a tenth   , of mint, rue, and every kind of herb, and you bypass   justice   and love for God.   , These things you should have done without neglecting the others.

⁴³ ‘Woe to you Pharisees! You love the front seat   in the synagogues   and greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴ ‘Woe to you!   You are like unmarked graves;   the people who walk over them don’t know it.’

⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law  answered him, ‘Teacher, when you say these things you insult us too.’

⁴⁶ Then he said, ‘Woe also to you experts in the law! You load people with burdens   that are hard to carry, and yet you yourselves don’t touch these burdens with one of your fingers.

⁴⁷ ‘Woe to you! You build tombs   for the prophets,   and your fathers killed   them.

⁴⁸ Therefore, you are witnesses   that you approve   , the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their monuments.

⁴⁹ Because of this, the wisdom of God   said, “I will send them prophets and apostles,   and some of them they will kill and persecute,”

⁵⁰ so that this generation   may be held 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,   who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. ‘Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible.

⁵² ‘Woe to you experts in the law! You have taken away the key to knowledge.   You didn’t go in yourselves, and you hindered   those who were trying to go in.’

⁵³ When he left there,  the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose  him fiercely and to cross-examine him about many things;

⁵⁴ they were lying in wait  for him to trap him in something he said.  ,