1 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certainplace, after He had finished, one of His disciplessaid to Him, "Lord, teach us to prayjust as Johnalsotaught his disciples."
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And He said to them, "1When you pray, say:'Father, hallowed be Your name.Your kingdomcome.
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'And forgive us our sins,For we ourselvesalsoforgiveeveryone who 3is indebted to us.And lead us not into temptation.' "
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Then He said to them, "Supposeone of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me threeloaves;
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for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I havenothing to setbefore him';
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and from inside he answers and says, 'Do not bother* me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot*get up and give you anything.'
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"I tell you, eventhough he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet4because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
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"So I say to you, 5ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
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"For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.
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"Nowsupposeone of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snakeinstead of a fish, will he?
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"Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?
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"6If you then, beingevil, knowhow to givegoodgifts to your children, howmuchmore will your heavenly*Fathergive the HolySpirit to those who ask Him?"
Pharisees' Blasphemy
147And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute; when the demon had gone out, the mutemanspoke; and the crowds were amazed.
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But some of them said, "He casts out demons8by 9Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons."
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Others, to test Him, 10were demanding of Him a sign from heaven.
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11But He knew their thoughts and said to them, "Anykingdomdividedagainstitself is laidwaste; and a house divided againstitselffalls.
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"If12Satanalso is dividedagainsthimself, how will his kingdomstand? For you say that I cast out demons by 13Beelzebul.
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"And if I by 14Beelzebulcast out demons, by whom do your sonscast them out? So* they will be your judges.
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"But if I cast out demons by the 15finger of God, then16the kingdom of God has come upon you.
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"When a strong man, fullyarmed, guards his ownhouse, his possessions are undisturbed*.
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"But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takesaway from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder.
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"17He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.
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"18When the uncleanspiritgoes out of a man, it passesthroughwaterlessplacesseekingrest, and not finding any, it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'
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"And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.
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"Then it goes and takes along sevenotherspiritsmoreevil than itself, and they go in and livethere; and the last state of that manbecomesworse than the first."
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While Jesus was sayingthesethings, one of the women in the crowdraised her voice and said to Him, "19Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed."
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But He said, "On the contrary*, blessed are 20those who hear the word of God and observe it."
The Sign of Jonah
29 As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, "21Thisgeneration is a wickedgeneration; it 22seeks for a sign, and yet nosign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.
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"For just as 23Jonahbecame a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to thisgeneration.
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"The 24Queen of the South will rise up with the men of thisgeneration at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, somethinggreater than Solomon is here.
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"The men of Nineveh will stand up with thisgeneration at the judgment and condemn it, because25they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, somethinggreater than Jonah is here.
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"26Noone, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellarnorunder a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.
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"27The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your wholebodyalso is full of light; but when it is bad, your bodyalso is full of darkness.
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"Thenwatch out that the light in you is not darkness.
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"Iftherefore your wholebody is full of light, with no*darkpart in it, it will be whollyillumined, as when the lampillumines you with its rays."
Woes upon the Pharisees
37Nowwhen He had spoken, a Phariseeasked Him to havelunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table.
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When the Phariseesaw it, he was surprised that He had not first28ceremoniallywashedbefore the meal.
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But 29the Lordsaid to him, "Now30you Phariseesclean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness.
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"31You foolishones, did not He who made the outsidemake the insidealso?
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"But 32give that which is within as charity, and thenallthings are 33clean for you.
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"34But woe to you Pharisees! For you 35paytithe of mint and rue and every kind of gardenherb, and yet disregardjustice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have donewithoutneglecting the others.
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"Woe to you Pharisees! For you 36love the chiefseats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the marketplaces.
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"37Woe to you! For you are likeconcealedtombs, and the people who walkover them are unaware of it."
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One of the 38lawyerssaid to Him in reply, "Teacher, when You saythis, You insult us too."
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But He said, "Woe to you 39lawyers as well! For 40you weighmendown with burdenshard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
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"41Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.
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"So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs.
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"For thisreasonalso42the wisdom of Godsaid, '43I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute,
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so that the blood of all the prophets, shed44since the foundation of the world, may be chargedagainstthisgeneration,
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from 45the blood of Abel to 46the blood of Zechariah, who was killedbetween the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be chargedagainstthisgeneration.'
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"Woe to you 47lawyers! For you have takenaway the key of knowledge; 48you yourselves did not enter, and you hinderedthose who were entering."
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When He leftthere, the scribes and the Phariseesbegan to be veryhostile and to question Him closely on manysubjects,
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49plottingagainst Him 50to catch Him in something He might say*.