Luke 11

1 One time Yeshua was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of the talmidim said to him, "Sir, teach us to pray, just as Yochanan taught his talmidim."

2 He said to them, "When you pray, say: `Father, May your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come.

3 Give us each day the food we need.

4 Forgive us our sins, for we too forgive everyone who has wronged us. And do not lead us to hard testing.'"

5 He also said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend; and you go to him in the middle of the night and say to him, `Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

6 because a friend of mine who has been travelling has just arrived at my house, and I have nothing for him to eat.'

7 Now the one inside may answer, `Don't bother me! The door is already shut, my children are with me in bed -- I can't get up to give you anything!'

8 But I tell you, even if he won't get up because the man is his friend, yet because of the man's hutzpah he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

9 "Moreover, I myself say to you: keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

10 For everyone who goes on asking receives; and he who goes on seeking finds; and to him who continues knocking, the door will be opened.

11 "Is there any father here who, if his son asked him for a fish, would instead of a fish give him a snake?

12 Or if he asked for an egg would give him a scorpion?

13 So if you, even though you are bad, know how to give your children gifts that are good, how much more will the Father keep giving the Ruach HaKodesh from heaven to those who keep asking him!"

14 He was expelling a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the man who had been mute spoke; and the people were astounded.

15 But some of them said, "It is by Ba`al-Zibbul" -- the ruler of the demons -- "that he expels the de mons."

16 And others, trying to trap him, demanded from him a sign from Heaven.

17 But he, knowing what they were thinking, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, with one house collapsing on another.

18 So if the Adversary too is divided against himself, how can his kingdom survive? I'm asking because you claim it is by Ba`al-Zibbul that I drive out the demons.

19 If I drive out demons by Ba`al-Zibbul, by whom do your people drive them out? So, 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 who is fully equipped for battle guards his own house, his possessions are secure.

22 But when someone stronger attacks and defeats him, he carries off all the armor and weaponry on which the man was depending, and divides up the spoils.

23 Those who are not with me are against me, and those who do not gather with me are scattering.

24 "When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it travels through dry country seeking rest. On finding none, it says, `I will return to the house I left.'

25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.

26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they come and live there -- so that in the end the person is worse off than he was before."

27 As Yeshua was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice to call out, "How blessed is the mother that gave birth to you and nursed you from her breast!"

28 But he said, "Far more blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it!"

29 As the people crowded around him, Yeshua went on to say, "This generation is a wicked generation! It asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it -- except the sign of Yonah.

30 For just as Yonah became a sign to the people of Ninveh, so will the Son of Man be for this generation.

31 The Queen of the South will appear at the Judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Shlomo, and what is here now is greater than Shlomo.

32 The people of Ninveh will stand up at the Judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they turned to God from their sins when Yonah preached, and what is here now is greater than Yonah.

33 "No one who has kindled a lamp hides it or places it under a bowl; rather, he puts it on a stand, so that those coming in may see its light.

34 The lamp of your body is the eye. When you have a `good eye,' [that is, when you are generous,] your whole body is full of light; but when you have an `evil eye,' [when you are stingy,] your body is full of darkness.

35 So take care that the light in you is not darkness!

36 If, then, your whole body is filled with light, with no part dark, it will be wholly lighted, as when a brightly lit lamp shines on you."

37 As Yeshua spoke, a Parush asked him to eat dinner with him; so he went in and took his place at the table;

38 and the Parush was surprised that he didn't begin by doing n'tilat yadayim before the meal.

39 However, the Lord said to him, "Now then, you P'rushim, you clean the outside of the cup and plate; but inside, you are full of robbery and wickedness.

40 Fools! Didn't the One who made the outside make the inside too?

41 Rather, give as alms what is inside, and then everything will be clean for you!

42 "But woe to you P'rushim! You pay your tithes of mint and rue and every garden herb, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You have an obligation to do these things -- but without disregarding the others!

43 "Woe to you P'rushim, because you love the best seat in the synagogues and being greeted deferentially in the marketplaces!

44 "Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it."

45 One of the experts in Torah answered him, "Rabbi, by saying these things you are insulting us also."

46 Yeshua said, "Woe to you Torah experts too! You load people down with burdens they can hardly bear, and you won't lift a finger to help them!

47 "Woe to you! You build tombs in memory of the prophets, but your fathers murdered them!

48 Thus you testify that you completely approve of what your fathers did -- they did the killing, you do the building!

49 Therefore the Wisdom of God said, `I will send them prophets and emissaries; they will kill some and persecute others';

50 so that on this generation will fall the responsibility for all the prophets' blood that has been shed since the world was established,

51 from the blood of Hevel to the blood of Z'kharyah, who was killed between the altar and the Holy Place. Yes, I tell you, the responsibility for it will fall on this generation!

52 "Woe to you Torah experts! For you have taken away the key of knowledge! Not only did you yourselves not go in, you also have stopped those who were trying to enter!"

53 As Yeshua left that place, the Torah-teachers and the P'rushim began to oppose him bitterly and to provoke him to express his views on all sorts of subjects,

54 laying traps to catch him in something he might say.

Luke 11 Commentary

Chapter 11

The disciples taught to pray. (1-4) Christ encourages being earnest in prayer. (5-13) Christ casts out a devil, The blasphemy of the Pharisees. (14-26) True happiness. (27,28) Christ reproves the Jews. (29-36) He reproves the Pharisees. (37-54)

Verses 1-4 "Lord, teach us to pray," is a good prayer, and a very needful one, for Jesus Christ only can teach us, by his word and Spirit, how to pray. Lord, teach me what it is to pray; Lord, stir up and quicken me to the duty; Lord, direct me what to pray for; teach me what I should say. Christ taught them a prayer, much the same that he had given before in his sermon upon the mount. There are some differences in the words of the Lord's prayer in Matthew and in Luke, but they are of no moment. Let us in our requests, both for others and for ourselves, come to our heavenly Father, confiding in his power and goodness.

Verses 5-13 Christ encourages fervency and constancy in prayer. We must come for what we need, as a man does to his neighbour or friend, who is kind to him. We must come for bread; for that which is needful. If God does not answer our prayers speedily, yet he will in due time, if we continue to pray. Observe what to pray for; we must ask for the Holy Spirit, not only as necessary in order to our praying well, but as all spiritual blessings are included in that one. For by the influences of the Holy Spirit we are brought to know God and ourselves, to repent, believe in, and love Christ, and so are made comfortable in this world, and meet for happiness in the next. All these blessings our heavenly Father is more ready to bestow on every one that asks for them, than an indulgent parent is to give food to a hungry child. And this is the advantage of the prayer of faith, that it quiets and establishes the heart in God.

Verses 14-26 Christ's thus casting out the devils, was really the destroying of their power. The heart of every unconverted sinner is the devil's palace, where he dwells, and where he rules. There is a kind of peace in the heart of an unconverted soul, while the devil, as a strong man armed, keeps it. The sinner is secure, has no doubt concerning the goodness of his state, nor any dread of the judgment to come. But observe the wonderful change made in conversion. The conversion of a soul to God, is Christ's victory over the devil and his power in that soul, restoring the soul to its liberty, and recovering his own interest in it and power over it. All the endowments of mind of body are now employed for Christ. Here is the condition of a hypocrite. The house is swept from common sins, by a forced confession, as Pharaoh's; by a feigned contrition, as Ahab's; or by a partial reformation, as Herod's. The house is swept, but it is not washed; the heart is not made holy. Sweeping takes off only the loose dirt, while the sin that besets the sinner, the beloved sin, is untouched. The house is garnished with common gifts and graces. It is not furnished with any true grace; it is all paint and varnish, not real nor lasting. It was never given up to Christ, nor dwelt in by the Spirit. Let us take heed of resting in that which a man may have, and yet come short of heaven. The wicked spirits enter in without any difficulty; they are welcomed, and they dwell there; there they work, there they rule. From such an awful state let all earnestly pray to be delivered.

Verses 27-28 While the scribes and Pharisees despised and blasphemed the discourses of our Lord Jesus, this good woman admired them, and the wisdom and power with which he spake. Christ led the woman to a higher consideration. Though it is a great privilege to hear the word of God, yet those only are truly blessed, that is, blessed of the Lord, that hear it, keep it in memory, and keep to it as their way and rule.

Verses 29-36 Christ promised that there should be one sign more given, even the sign of Jonah the prophet; which in Matthew is explained, as meaning the resurrection of Christ; and he warned them to improve this sign. But though Christ himself were the constant preacher in any congregation, and worked miracles daily among them, yet unless his grace humbled their hearts, they would not profit by his word. Let us not desire more evidence and fuller teaching than the Lord is pleased to afford us. We should pray without ceasing that our hearts and understandings may be opened, that we may profit by the light we enjoy. And especially take heed that the light which is in us be not darkness; for if our leading principles be wrong, our judgment and practice must become more so.

Verses 37-54 We should all look to our hearts, that they may be cleansed and new-created; and while we attend to the great things of the law and of the gospel, we must not neglect the smallest matter God has appointed. When any wait to catch something out of our mouths, that they may insnare us, O Lord, give us thy prudence and thy patience, and disappoint their evil purposes. Furnish us with such meekness and patience that we may glory in reproaches, for Christ's sake, and that thy Holy Spirit may rest upon us.