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And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
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He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.
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And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.'
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For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man,
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yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'"
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And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says.
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And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
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I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
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He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
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"Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
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The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayedthus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
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I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'