Luke 11:1-26 ▼

1 One day in a place where Jesus had just finished praying, one of His disciples requested, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

2 So Jesus told them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.

3 Give us each day our daily bread.

4 And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”

5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you goes to his friend at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

6 because a friend of mine has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’

7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Do not bother me. My door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’

8 I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet because of the man’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

9 So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?

12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

13 So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

14 One day Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. And when the demon was gone, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed,

15 but some of them said, “It is by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, that He drives out demons.”

16 And others tested Him by demanding a sign from heaven.

17 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and a house divided against a house will fall.

18 If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? After all, you say that I drive out demons by Beelzebul.

19 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

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

21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are secure.

22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted, and then he divides up his plunder.

23 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

24 When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’

25 On its return, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.

26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final plight of that man is worse than the first.”