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¹It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”

²And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘ Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.

³Give us each day our daily bread.

⁴And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation.’ ”

⁵And He 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,

⁶because a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to serve him’;

⁷and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my childrenand I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’

⁸I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet because of hisshamelessness 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 it will be opened to you.

¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

¹¹Nowwhich one of you fathers will his son ask for afish, and instead of a fish, he will give him a snake?

¹²Or he will even ask for an egg, and his father will give him a scorpion?

¹³So if you, despite beingevil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more willyour heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

¹⁴And He was casting out a mute demon; when the demon had gone out, the man who was previously unable to speak talked, and the crowds were amazed.

¹⁵But some of them said, “He casts out the demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

¹⁶Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven.

¹⁷But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided againstitself falls.

¹⁸And if Satan also has been divided against himself, how will his kingdomstand? For you claim that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul.

¹⁹Yet if by Beelzebul I cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.

²⁰But if I cast out the demons bythe finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²¹Whena strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions aresecure.

²²But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, that man takes away his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder.

²³The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.

²⁴“When the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it then says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’

²⁵And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.

²⁶Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they come in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first.”

²⁷While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that carried You, and the breasts at which You nursed!”

²⁸But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and follow it.”

²⁹Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it demands asign, and so nosign will be given to it except thesign of Jonah.

³⁰For just as Jonah became asign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

³¹The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

³²The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

³³“No one lights a lamp and puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.

³⁴Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye isclear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it isbad, your body also is full of darkness.

³⁵So watch out that the light in you is not darkness.

³⁶Therefore if your whole body is full of light, without any dark part, it will be wholly illuminated, as when the lamp illuminates you with its light.”

³⁷Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee *asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in and reclined at the table.

³⁸When the Pharisee saw this, he was surprised that Jesus had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.

³⁹But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish; but your inside is full of greed and wickedness.

⁴⁰You foolish ones, did He who made the outside not make the inside also?

⁴¹But give that which is within as a charitable gift, andthen all things are clean for you.

⁴²“But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint, rue, and every kind of garden herb, and yet you ignore justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the seat of honor in the synagogues and personal greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴Woe to you! For you are likeunseen tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”

⁴⁵One of the lawyers *said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us too.”

⁴⁶But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you load people with burdens that are hard to bear,while you yourselves will not eventouch the burdens with one of your fingers.

⁴⁷Woe to you! For you build thetombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.

⁴⁸So you are witnesses and you approve of the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build theirtombs.

⁴⁹For this reason also, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill, and some they willpersecute,

⁵⁰so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be chargedagainst this generation,

⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be chargedagainst this generation.’

⁵²Woe to youlawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³When He left that place, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to interrogate Him about many subjects,

⁵⁴plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say.

¹Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of theleaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

²But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

³Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you havewhispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

⁴“Now I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.

⁵But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed someone, has the power to throw that person intohell; yes, I tell you, fearHim!

⁶Are five sparrows not sold for twoassaria? And yet not one of them has gone unnoticed in the sight of God.

⁷But even the hairs of your head are all counted.Do not fear; you are more valuable than a great number of sparrows.

⁸“Now I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before people, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God;

⁹but the one who denies Me before people will be denied before the angels of God.

¹⁰And everyone whospeaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.

¹¹Now when they bring you before the synagogues and the officials and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say;

¹²for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

¹³Now someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”

¹⁴But He said to him, “You there—who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over the two of you?”

¹⁵But He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one is affluent does his life consist of his possessions.”

¹⁶And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive.

¹⁷And he began thinking to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’

¹⁸And he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and I will store all my grain and my goods there.

¹⁹And I will say tomyself, “You have many goods stored up for many years to come; relax, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself!” ’

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very nightyour soul is demanded of you; and as for all that you have prepared, who will own it now?’

²¹Such is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich in relation to God.”

²²And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I tell you,do not worry about yourlife, as to what you are to eat; nor for your body, as to what you are to wear.

²³For life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

²⁴Consider the ravens, that they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!

²⁵And which of you by worrying can add aday to hislife’s span?

²⁶Therefore if you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about the other things?

²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither labor norspin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.

²⁸Now if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You of little faith!

²⁹And do notseek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.

³⁰Forall these things are what the nations of the worldeagerly seek; and your Father knows that you need these things.

³¹Butseek His kingdom, and these things will beprovided to you.

³²Do not be afraid, little flock, because your Father has chosen to give you the kingdom.

³³“Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor does a moth destroy.

³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵“ Be prepared, and keep your lamps lit.

³⁶You are also to be like people who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door for him when he comes and knocks.

³⁷Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he willprepare himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and he will come up and serve them.

³⁸Whether he comes in thesecond watch, or even in thethird, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

³⁹“But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

⁴⁰You too, be ready; because the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not think He will.”

⁴¹Peter said, “Lord, are You telling this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?”

⁴²And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time?

⁴³Blessed is that slave whom hismaster finds so doing when he comes.

⁴⁴Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

⁴⁵But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will take a long time to come,’ and he begins to beat the other slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk;

⁴⁶then the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect, and at an hour that he does not know, and willcut him in two, and assignhim a place with the unbelievers.

⁴⁷And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accordance with his will, will receive many blows,

⁴⁸but the one who did not know it, and committed acts deserving ofa beating, will receive only a few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

⁴⁹“I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!

⁵⁰But I have a baptismto undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!

⁵¹Do you think that I came to provide peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division;

⁵²for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.

⁵³They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

⁵⁴And He was also saying to the crowds, “Whenever you see a cloud risingin the west, you immediately say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it turns out.

⁵⁵And whenever you feel asouth wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it turns out that way.

⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you do not know how to analyze this present time?

⁵⁷“And why do you not even judge by yourselves what is right?

⁵⁸For when you are going with your accuser to appear before the magistrate, on the way, make an effort tosettle with him, so that he does not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.

⁵⁹I tell you, you will not get out of there until you have paid upthe very lastlepton.”