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.”
“because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.’
“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.’
“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.
“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“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? ”
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.
But some of them said, “He drives out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”
Knowing their thoughts, he told them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and a house divided against itself falls.
“If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say I drive out demons by Beelzebul.
“And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges.
“If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
“Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not gather with me scatters.
“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.”
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 one who nursed you! ”
“For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.
“The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment 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.
“The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s preaching, and look — something greater than Jonah is here.
“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.
“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.”
As he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him. So he went in and reclined at the table.
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.
“Woe to you Pharisees! You love the front seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things you insult us too.”
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.
“Because of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’
“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.”
Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017, 2020 by Holman Bible Publishers.
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