Luke 11 - Easy To Read Version

¹ One time Jesus was praying in a place. When Jesus finished praying, one of his followers said to him, “John {\cf2\super [198]} taught his followers how to pray. Lord, teach us how to pray too.”

² Jesus said to the followers, “When you pray, pray like this:

³ Give us the food we need for each day.\par

^4-6 Forgive us the sins we have done,\par because we forgive every person\par that has done wrong to us.\par And don’t let us be tempted (tested).’”\par

⁷ Your friend inside the house answers, ‘Go away! Don’t bother me! The door is already locked. My children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you the bread now.’

⁸ I tell you, maybe friendship is not enough to make him get up to give you the bread. But he will surely get up to give you what you need if you continue to ask.

⁹ So I tell you, continue to ask, and God will give to you. Continue to search, and you will find. Continue to knock, and the door will open for you.

¹⁰ Yes, if a person continues asking, that person will receive. If a person continues looking, that person will find. And if a person continues knocking, the door will open for that person.

¹¹ Does any of you have a son? What would you do if your son asked you for a fish? Would any father give his son a snake? No! You would give him a fish.

¹² Or, if your son asks for an egg, would you give him a scorpion {\cf2\super [199]} ? No!

¹³ \{You are like all other people\}—you are evil. But you know how to give good things to your children. So surely your heavenly Father knows how to give the Holy Spirit {\cf2\super [200]} to those people that ask him.”

¹⁴ One time Jesus was sending a demon {\cf2\super [201]} out of a man that could not talk. When the demon came out, the man was able to speak. The people were amazed.

¹⁵ But some of the people said, “He uses the power of Beelzebul (the devil) to force demons out of people. Beelzebul is the ruler of demons.”

¹⁶ Other people wanted to test Jesus. They asked Jesus to show them a sign (proof) from heaven.

¹⁷ But Jesus knew the things they were thinking. So Jesus said to the people, “Every kingdom that is divided and fights against itself will be destroyed. And a family that fights against itself will break apart.

¹⁸ So if Satan (the devil) is fighting against himself, then how will his kingdom continue? You say that I use the power of Beelzebul (the devil) to force out demons. {\cf2\super [202]}

¹⁹ But if I use the power of Beelzebul to force out demons, then what power do your people use when they force out demons? So your own people will prove that you are wrong.

²⁰ But I use the power of God to force out demons. This shows that the kingdom of God has come to you!

²¹ “When a strong man with many weapons guards his own house, then the things in his house are safe.

²² But suppose a stronger man comes and defeats him. The stronger man will take away the weapons that the first man trusted to keep his house safe. Then the stronger man will do what he wants with the other man’s things.

²³ “If a person is not with me, he is against me. The person that does not work with me is working against me.

²⁴ “When an evil spirit \{from the devil\} comes out of a person, that spirit travels through dry places, looking for a place to rest. But that spirit finds no place to rest. So the spirit says, ‘I will go back to the home (person) I left.’

²⁵ When the spirit comes back to that person, the spirit finds that home (person) swept clean and made neat.

²⁶ Then the evil spirit goes out and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself. Then all the evil spirits go into that person and live there. And that person has even more trouble than he had before.”

²⁷ When Jesus said these things, a woman with the people there began to speak. She said to Jesus, “What a great blessing God gave your mother, because she gave birth to you and fed you.”

²⁸ But Jesus said, “The people that hear the teaching of God and obey it—they are the people that are truly happy!”

²⁹ The group of people grew larger and larger. Jesus said, “The people that live today are evil. They ask for a miracle {\cf2\super [203]} as a sign (proof) from God. But no miracle will be given as a sign to them. The only sign will be the miracle that happened to Jonah. {\cf2\super [204]}

³⁰ Jonah was a sign for those people that lived in Nineveh. It is the same with the Son of Man. {\cf2\super [205]} The Son of Man will be a sign for the people of this time.

³¹ On the judgment day, you people that live now will be compared with the Queen of the South, {\cf2\super [206]} and she will be a witness to show that you are wrong (guilty). Why? Because she traveled from far, far away to listen to Solomon’s wise teaching. And I tell you that someone greater than Solomon is right here, \{but you won’t listen to me\}!

³² On the judgment day, you people that live now will also be compared with the people from Nineveh, {\cf2\super [207]} and they will be witnesses to show that you are wrong (guilty). Why? Because when Jonah preached to those people, they changed their hearts and lives. And you are listening to someone greater than Jonah, \{but you refuse to change\}!

³³ “No person takes a light and puts it under a bowl or hides it. Instead, a person puts the light on a lamp table so that the people that come in can see.

³⁴ Your eye is a light for the body. If your eyes are good, then your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, then your whole body will be full of darkness (sin).

³⁵ So be careful! Don’t let the light in you become dark.

³⁶ If your whole body is full of light, and none of it is dark, then it will be all bright. It will be like you have the light of a lamp shining on you.”

³⁷ After Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee {\cf2\super [208]} asked Jesus to eat with him. So Jesus came and took a place at the table.

³⁸ But the Pharisee was surprised when he saw that Jesus did not wash his hands {\cf2\super [209]} first before the meal.

³⁹ The Lord (Jesus) said to him, “You Pharisees \{think that washing the outside of the body is so important. That’s like\} cleaning only the outside of a cup or a dish! \{The inside is more important.\} And what is inside you? You want only to cheat and hurt people.

⁴⁰ You are foolish! The same One (God) that made what is outside also made what is inside.

⁴¹ So pay attention to what is inside. Give to the people that need help. Then you will be fully clean.

⁴² But it will be bad for you Pharisees! You give God one-tenth of \{everything you own\}—even your mint, your rue, and every other little plant in your garden. But you forget to be fair to other people and to love God. These are the things you should do. And you should also continue to do those other things—\{like giving one-tenth\}.

⁴³ It will be bad for you Pharisees because you love to get the most important seats in the synagogues. {\cf2\super [210]} And you love for people to show respect to you in the market places.

⁴⁴ It will be bad for you, because you are like hidden graves. People walk on them without knowing it.”

⁴⁵ One of the teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Teacher, when you say these things about the Pharisees, {\cf2\super [211]} you are criticizing our group too.”

⁴⁶ Jesus answered, “It will be bad for you, you teachers of the law! You make strict rules that are very hard for people to obey. {\cf2\super [212]} You try to force other people to obey those rules. But you yourselves don’t even try to follow any of those rules.

⁴⁷ It will be bad for you, because you build tombs {\cf2\super [213]} for the prophets. {\cf2\super [214]} But these are the same prophets that your fathers {\cf2\super [215]} killed!

⁴⁸ And now you show all people that you agree with what your fathers did. They killed the prophets, and you build tombs for the prophets!

⁴⁹ This is why the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send prophets and apostles {\cf2\super [216]} to them. Some of my prophets and apostles will be killed by evil men. Others will be treated badly.’

⁵⁰ So you people that live now will be punished for the deaths of all the prophets that were killed since the beginning of the world.

⁵¹ You will be punished for the killing of Abel. {\cf2\super [217]} And you will be punished for the killing of Zechariah. {\cf2\super [218]} Zechariah was killed between the altar and the temple. {\cf2\super [219]} Yes, I tell you that you people that live now will be punished for them all.

⁵² “It will be bad for you, you teachers of the law. You have taken away the key to learning about God. You yourselves would not learn, and you stopped others from learning, too.”

⁵³ When Jesus was leaving, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees {\cf2\super [220]} began to give him much trouble. They tried to make Jesus answer questions about many things.

⁵⁴ They were trying to find a way to catch Jesus saying something wrong.