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Luke 11

1He 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 taught his disciples.” 2He said to them, “When you pray, say:

‘Father, may your name be held holy. May your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us into temptation.’”

5He said to them, “Which of you will have a friend and go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6because a friend of mine has arrived from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him,’ 7and he will answer from inside, ‘Do not trouble me. The door is already shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his shamelessness he will rise and give him as much as he needs. 9And I tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and whoever seeks finds, and to whoever knocks it will be opened. 11Which father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? 13If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

14He was driving out a mute demon. When the demon came out, the man who could not speak spoke, and the crowds marveled. 15But some of them said, “He drives out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 16Others, putting him to the test, demanded a sign from heaven from him. 17But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and house falls upon house. 18If Satan too is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. 19But if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own courtyard, his possessions are at peace. 22But when someone stronger attacks and defeats him, he takes away the full armor in which he trusted and distributes his spoils. 23Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

24“When the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest. Finding none, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25When it arrives, it finds it swept and put in order. 26Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there. The last state of that person becomes worse than the first.”

27As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28But he said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

29As the crowds grew, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. 31The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon's wisdom, and look, something greater than Solomon is here. 32The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah's proclamation, and look, something greater than Jonah is here.

33“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a hiding place or under a grain basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. 34Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is evil, your body too is dark. 35So see to it that the light in you is not darkness. 36If, then, your whole body is full of light, with no part dark, it will be entirely full of light, as when the lamp illuminates you with its brightness.”

37As he spoke, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him. He entered and reclined at the table. 38The Pharisee was surprised to see that he had not first washed before the meal. 39The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of plunder and evil. 40Senseless people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside too? 41But give what is inside as alms, and look, everything is clean for you.

42“But woe to you Pharisees, because you tithe mint and rue and every garden herb, but pass over justice and the love of God. You ought to have done these things without neglecting the others. 43Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the seat of honor in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”

45One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, by saying these things you insult us too.” 46He said, “Woe to you experts in the law too, because you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47Woe to you, because you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 48So you are witnesses and approve of your fathers' deeds: they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49For this reason the Wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ 50so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the house. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. 52Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”

53When he left there, the scribes and Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely and question him closely about many things, 54lying in wait for him to catch something from his mouth.

Translation notes 10

11:2–4 — Luke's prayer. Luke's shorter form is retained. Many witnesses expand it with phrases familiar from Matthew: “Our Father in heaven,” the petition about God's will, and the closing request for rescue from evil. These are textual additions, not words omitted for style.

11:3–4 — Bread, debts, and temptation. The rare word rendered “daily” may mean bread needed for sustenance or for the coming day. Luke separately says “each day.” Verse 4 begins with sins and then uses the debt image; the variation is retained. “Temptation” can also be “testing”; the request does not identify God as enticing people to sin.

11:8 — Shamelessness. The word describes disregard for shame or social inhibition. Here it is understood as the petitioner's bold insistence; a significant alternative relates it to the householder's concern not to incur shame. “Persistence” conveys part of the scene but can conceal the word's social force.

11:11 — Fish and snake. Some witnesses add the example of a son asking for bread and being given a stone. The shorter wording follows the Greek base.

11:17, 19–20 — Houses, sons, and finger. “House falls upon house” preserves the collapse image; it can also be understood of households falling in civil strife. “Your sons” refers to people belonging to the questioners' own group. “Finger of God” expresses God's effective power without replacing Luke's image with Matthew's “Spirit of God.”

11:27–28 — Blessed. The womb and breasts remain explicit. Jesus redirects attention toward hearing and keeping God's word; the reply can carry affirmation as well as correction, and does not itself declare his mother unblessed.

11:29–32 — Jonah. Luke does not supply Matthew's explicit three-days-and-nights comparison. “The men” reflects the gendered word in verses 31–32; “something greater” reflects the Greek neuter comparison.

11:34 — Sound and evil eye. “Sound” can also be “single” or “undivided.” The image concerns moral perception, not merely eyesight; generosity and stinginess may also be associated with these expressions.

11:38–44 — Washing, alms, and graves. The washing concerns ritual practice. “What is inside” in verse 41 may mean the contents of the cup and dish given to those in need, or inward generosity; the compact wording leaves that relationship open. Unmarked graves could bring unsuspected ritual uncleanness.

11:49–51 — Wisdom and blood. The saying attributed to God's Wisdom is not identified as a quotation from a surviving biblical passage. “The house” means God's house, the sanctuary. Luke does not name Zechariah's father here. Blood being “required” means being held accountable for its shedding.