1One day, when Jesus787 had finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
2Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say:
‘Our Father in heaven,788
May your Name be kept holy!
May your Kingdom come!
May your will be done on Earth, as it is in heaven.789
3Give us day by day our daily bread.
4Forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us;
and lead790 us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’791
Persistence in prayer
5He said to them, “Suppose [that] one of you has a friend. You go to this friend’s house at midnight and tell him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread! 6A friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7Then the one inside answers and says, ‘Do not bother me! The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything!’ 8I tell you, although he will not get up and give [any loaves] to him because they are friends, yet because of the requester’s792 bold persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs.
9I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives. Whoever seeks finds. To the one who knocks it will be opened.
11Who among you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?793 Or if a son asks for a fish, the father will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12Or if a son asks for an egg, the father will not give him a scorpion, will he? 13If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give a good spirit794 to those who ask him!”
A kingdom divided—Binding the strong man
14Jesus was casting out a demon which was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the people were amazed. 15However, some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons!” 16Others put him to the test and asked from him a sign from heaven. 17But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. A house divided against itself falls. 18If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul! 19But if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. 20However, if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you!
21When a strong man is fully armed and guards his own house, his goods are safe. 22But when someone stronger attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils.795
23Whoever is not with me is against me! Whoever does not gather with me scatters!
An evil spirit leaves and returns
24When an unclean spirit has gone out of a person, he passes through dry places, seeking rest. But finding no rest, the unclean spirit says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came out.’ 25When he returns, he finds it swept and put in order. 26He then goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that person becomes worse than the first.”
Great and greater blessedness
27As Jesus was saying these things, a woman796 called out from the crowd and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!”
28At this, Jesus said, “Yes, and more than that,797 blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
The sign of Jonah
29As the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This is an evil generation; it asks for a sign. No sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. 30For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, the Son of Man will also be a sign to this generation. 31The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment along with the people of this generation, and she will condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here! 32The people of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and they will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.
The lamp of the body
33No one who has lit a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket! Instead, it is placed on a stand so that those who come in may see the light. 34The lamp of the body is the eye! Therefore, when your eye is healthy,798 your whole body is also full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness! 35And so, see whether the light that is in you is not darkness. 36If your whole body is full of light, having no dark part, it will be completely full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.”
About the Pharisees
37Now as Jesus was speaking these things, a certain Pharisee asked him to have dinner with him. Jesus went in and reclined at the table. 38When the Pharisee saw it, he was astonished that Jesus had not first washed himself before dinner. 39But the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and platter, but your inside is full of extortion and wickedness. 40You fools! Did not the one who made the outside also make the inside? 41But as for what is inside you, be generous to the needy, and behold, all things will be clean to you. 42But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass799 justice and the love of God. You should have done these while not leaving the other undone. 43Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces. 44Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!800 You are like hidden graves, and people who walk over them do not [even] know it.”
45One of the experts in the law exclaimed, “Teacher, in saying this you insult us also.”
46Jesus said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load men with burdens that are difficult to carry, and you yourselves will not even lift one finger to help carry those burdens! 47Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 48And so, you testify and consent to the works of your fathers! For they killed the prophets,801 and you build their tombs. 49Therefore, the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles. Some of them they will kill and drive out802, 50so that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah803 who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.’ Yes, I tell you that this generation will be charged with this blood.804 52Woe to you experts of the law! You have taken away the key to knowledge; you yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
53As he said these things to them, the scribes and Pharisees began a furious attack on him and tried to force answers from him on many questions. 54They were lying in wait for him, seeking to catch him in something he might say, 805in order to accuse him.
Warning about the Pharisees—Nothing is hidden
- Greek “he”
- CT omits “in heaven” and “Our” before “Father”
- CT omits this clause
- Or “bring”
- CT omits this clause
- Greek “his”
- CT omits the first part of the verse
- Most other manuscripts read “Holy Spirit” instead of “good spirit” (or “a holy spirit,” since there is no definite article)
- Compare Revelation 12; 20
- Or “a certain woman”
- Greek menou/n or menou/nge (compare Romans 9:20; 10:18; Philippians 3:8). The meaning “on the contrary” is extremely unlikely; the most obvious meaning in those last two passages is “yes, indeed, and the real point is…” or “quite so, and beyond that...”
- Or “sound/clear/generous”
- Or “neglect”
- CT omits “scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites”
- Greek “them”
- CT reads “persecute” instead of “drive out”
- Compare Protoevangelium of James but also Isaias 8:2. The Orthodox tradition normally favors the identification of this Zacharias/Zachariah with the father of John the Baptist.
- Greek “it”
- Other manuscripts omit “in order to accuse him”
Text: The Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible, New Testament (EOB). Used with permission.
