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¹ And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.² And he said to them, When you pray, say, Father, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.³ Give us day by day our daily bread.⁴ And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation.⁵ And he said to them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves;⁶ for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him;⁷ and he from inside shall answer and say, Don't trouble me: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I can't rise and give you.⁸ I say to you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needs.⁹ And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.¹⁰ For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.¹¹ And of which of you that is a father shall his son ask for a fish, and he for a fish gives him a serpent?¹² Or [if] he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion?¹³ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him.

¹⁴ And he was casting out a demon, and it was mute. And it came to pass, when the demon was gone out, the mute man spoke; and the multitudes marveled.¹⁵ But some of them said, By Beelzebul the prince of the demons he casts out demons.¹⁶ And others, trying [him], sought of him a sign from heaven.¹⁷ But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house [divided] against a house falls.¹⁸ And if Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.¹⁹ And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.²⁰ But, if by the finger of God I cast out demons, then has the kingdom of God come on you.²¹ When the strong [man] fully armed guards his own court, his goods are in peace:²² but when a stronger than he shall come on him, and overcome him, he takes from him his whole armor wherein he trusted, and divides his spoils.²³ He that is not with me is against me; and he that does not gather with me scatters.²⁴ When the unclean spirit goes out of the man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest and not finding [any]. Then it says, I will turn back to my house from where I came out.²⁵ And when it comes, it finds it swept and garnished.²⁶ Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than itself; and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.

²⁷ And it came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you.²⁸ But he said, On the contrary, blessed are those that hear the word of God, and keep it.

²⁹ And when the multitudes were gathering together to him, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation: it seeks after a sign; and there shall be no sign given to it but the sign of Jonah.³⁰ For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.³¹ The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn them: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look, a greater than Solomon is here.³² The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and look, a greater than Jonah is here.³³ No man, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar, neither under the bushel, but on the stand, that those which enter in may see the light.³⁴ The lamp of your body is your eye: when your eye is single, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness.³⁵ Look therefore whether the light that is in you is not darkness.³⁶ If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no dark part, it shall be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.

³⁷ Now as he spoke, a Pharisee asks him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.³⁸ And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first bathed himself before dinner.³⁹ And the Lord said to him, Now you the Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter; but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.⁴⁰ You foolish ones, did not he that made the outside make the inside also?⁴¹ But give for alms those things which are inside; and look, all things are clean to you.⁴² But woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and pass over justice and the love of God: but these you ought to have done, and not to neglect the others.⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! for you love the chief seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces.⁴⁴ Woe to you! for you are as the tombs which do not appear, and the men that walk over [them] do not know it.⁴⁵ And one of the lawyers answering says to him, Teacher, in saying this you reproach us also.⁴⁶ And he said, Woe to you lawyers also! for you load men with loads grievous to be borne, and you yourselves don't touch the loads with one of your fingers.⁴⁷ Woe to you! for you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and consent to the works of your fathers: for they killed them, and you build [their tombs].⁴⁹ Therefore the wisdom of God also said, I will send to them prophets and apostles; and [some] of them they shall kill and persecute;⁵⁰ that the blood of all the prophets, having been shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary: yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.⁵² Woe to you lawyers! for you took away the key of knowledge: you didn't enter in yourselves, and those that were entering in you hindered.⁵³ And when he came out from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press on [him] vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things;⁵⁴ laying wait for him, to catch something out of his mouth.