1 Jesus was praying. When he finished one of his disciples said to him: »Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.«

2 He said: »When you pray say, ‘Father holy sacredsanctifiedblessedconsecrated is your name. Let your kingdom come.

3 »Give us day-by-day our daily bread.

4 »Forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And keep us from temptation.«

5 He also said: »Which of you have a friend you would approach at midnight and say lend me three loaves.

6 »This is because a friend of mine is visiting and I do not have any food to feed him.

7 »You hear a voice from the house say, ‘The door is shut, my children are in bed, do not bother me. I cannot rise and help you.’«

8 »I tell you even if he will not rise and give you what you need because he is your friend, he will arise and give you what you need because you keep asking.

9 »I say to you: Ask and it will be given you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you.

10 »Every one who asks receives. Everyone who seeks will find. It will be opened to everyone who knocks.

11 »What father would give his son a stone when he asked for a loaf? What father would give a serpent when his son asked for a fish?

12 »If he asked for an egg would he give a scorpion?

13 »If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?«

14 He cast out a demon from a dumb man. When the demon left the man he spoke and the crowds were astonished.

15 Some of them said: »Beelzebub the prince of the demons casts out demons.«

16 Others tested him demanding a sign from heaven.

17 He knew their thoughts. So he told them: »Every kingdom that is divided is destroyed. A house divided against itself falls.

18 »If Satan is divided against himself how will his kingdom stand? You say I cast out demons with the help of Beelzebub.

19 »If Beelzebub helps me cast out demons, who helps your sons cast them out? They will be your judges.

20 »If I use the finger powerSpirit (Exodus 31:18) (2 Corinthians 3:3) of God to cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you?

21 »When the fully armed strong man guards his own palace, his goods are safe.

22 »When some one stronger comes to him and overpowers him he takes away his armor and steels his possessions.

23 »He who is not with me is against me. He who does not help me gather actually scatters.

24 »When an unclean spirit leaves a man it passes through desolate places. It seeks rest and finds none. It says, ‘I will return from where I came.’

25 »When he returns he finds the place swept and adorned.

26 »He then takes seven other spirits more evil than himself and they enter in and dwell. The last condition of that man becomes worse than the first.«

27 As he was talking a woman out of the crowd shouted: »Blessed is the woman who bore you and nursed you.«

28 He replied: »More blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it.«

29 When the crowd gathered to him, he said: »This generation is evil. It seeks a sign. No sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.

30 »Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites; the Son of man will be a sign to this generation.

31 »The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation. She will condemn them for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the Wisdom of Solomon and one greater than Solomon is here now.

32 »The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation. They will condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonah and someone greater than Jonah is here now.

33 »No man lights a lamp and puts it in a cellar or under a bushel. He puts it on a table so those who enter may see the light.

34 »The lamp of your body is your eye. When your eye is clear your entire body is full of light. When it is evil your body is full of darkness.

35 »Make sure the light that is in you is not darkness.

36 If your entire body is full of light and has no darkness you will have no part of the dark. Just as a lamp when shinning brightly gives plenty of light.«

37 As he spoke a Pharisee invited him to dine with him. He accepted the invitation and went to eat.

38 The Pharisee wondered about Jesus not bathing before dinner.

39 The Lord said: »You Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter. Yet your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.

40 »You foolish ones. Did he that made the outside also make the inside?

41 « Give that which is within as charity. Then all things are clean for you.

42 »Woe to you Pharisees! You tithe mint and rue and every herb, and pass over justice and the love of God. You should have done these but you leave them undone.

43 »Woe to you Pharisees! You love the prominent seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplaces.

44 »Woe to you! You are as the tombs that do not appear and men walk over them and do not know it.«

45 One of the lawyers said to him: »Teacher, you also insult us by saying this.«

46 Jesus said: »Woe to you lawyers also! For you load men with burdens that are difficult to bear. And you will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

47 »Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.

48 »Therefore you are witnesses and consent to the works of your fathers. They killed them and you build their tombs.

49 »It is for this reason the wisdom of God said, ‘I send to them prophets and apostles and they will persecute and kill some of them.’

50 »The blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation.

51 »This includes the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. I tell you it will be required of this generation.

52 »Woe to you lawyers, for you took away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves and you hindered those entering.«

53 When he left there the scribes and the Pharisees became hostile with him. They tried to quarrel with him about many things.

54 They plotted against him and tried to catch him in something he might say.