1 One day Jesus was somewhere praying. When he finished praying, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us what to say when we (exc) pray, as John the Baptizer taught his disciples!” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say things like this: ‘Father, we want you (sg) [MTY] to be honored/revered. We want people to let you(sg) [MTY, MET] rule over their lives. 3 Give us (exc) each day the food [SYN] that we need. 4 Forgive us for the wrong things that we have done, because we forgive people for the wrong things that they do to us. Do not let us do wrong things when we are tempted {someone or something tempts us}.’ ”

5 Then he said to them, “Suppose that one of you goes to the house of a friend at midnight. Suppose that you (sg) stand outside and call out to him, ‘My friend, please lend me three buns! 6 Another friend of mine who is traveling has just arrived at my house, but I have no food ready to give to him!’ 7 Suppose that he answers you from inside his house, ‘Do not bother me! The door has been locked {We(exc) have locked the door} and all my family are in bed. So I cannot get up and give you (sg) anything!’ 8 I will tell you that even if he does not want to get up and give you any food, to avoid being ashamed for not helping you because you are his friend (OR, if without being ashamed you continue asking him to do that), he certainly will get up and give you whatever you need. 9 So I tell you this: Keep asking God for what you need. If you do that, he will give it to you (pl). Confidently keep expecting God to give you the things that you need, and he will give them to you [MET]. It will be like looking for what you need and finding it. Keep on praying urgently to God. Then God will answer you. It will be like knocking on a door so that God will open the way for you to get what you pray for. 10 Remember that God will give things to everyone who continues to ask him for them. He will give things to whoever confidently keeps asking. He will open the way for people to get the things that they keep urgently praying for. 11 If one of you had a son who asked you (sg) for a fish to eat, ◄you (sg) certainly would not give him a poisonous snake instead!/would you give him a poisonous snake instead?► [RHQ] 12 If he asked you for an egg, ◄you (sg) certainly would not give him a scorpion!/would you give him a scorpion?► [RHQ] 13 Even though you people are evil, you know how to give good things to your children. So your Father in heaven will certainly give good things to those who ask him, including giving the Holy Spirit, who is the best gift.”

14  One day there was a man there who, because a demon controlled him [MTY], was unable to speak. After Jesus expelled the demon, the man began to talk. Most of the people there were amazed. 15 But some of them said, “It is Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons, who enables this man to expel demons!” 16 Other people there asked Jesus to perform a miracle to prove ◄he was the Messiah/that he had come from God► [MTY/EUP]. They wanted to trap him into not being able to perform a miracle or into doing something ridiculous. 17 But Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he said to them, “If the people in one nation fight against each other, their nation will be destroyed {they will destroy their nation}. If the people in [MTY] one house are divided, they will cease to remain as one family. 18  Similarly, if Satan and his demons were fighting against each other, ◄his rule over them would certainly not last!/how would his rule over them last?► [RHQ] I say this because you are saying that I am expelling demons by the power of the ruler of his own demons 19 Furthermore, if it is true that Satan enables me to expel demons, is it also true that your disciples who expel demons do so by Satan’s power [RHQ]? No, that is not true. So they will show that you are not thinking logically. 20 But because it is by the power [MTY] of God that I expel demons, I am showing you that the power of God to [MET] rule people’s lives has come to you.”

21 Then, to show that by expelling evil spirits he was making it clear that he was much more powerful than Satan, Jesus said [MET], “When a strong man who has many weapons guards his own house, no one can steal the things in his house. 22 But when someone else who is stronger attacks that man and subdues him, he is able to take away the weapons in which the man trusted. Then he can take from that man’s house anything he wants to. 23  No one can be neutral. Those who do not help me are opposing me, and those who do not gather people to become my disciples are causing those people to go away from me.”

24  Then Jesus said this: “Sometimes when an evil spirit leaves someone, it wanders around in desolate areas seeking someone in whom it can rest. If it does not find anyone, it says to itself, ‘I will return to the person in whom I used to live!’ 25 So it goes back and finds that the Spirit of God is not in control of that person’s life. The person’s life is like a house that has been {that someone has} swept clean and everything put {put everything} in order, but a house that is empty. 26 Then this evil spirit goes and gets seven other spirits that are even more evil than it is. They all enter that person and begin living there. So, although that person’s condition was bad before, it became much worse.”

27 When Jesus said that, a woman who was listening called out to him, “God is pleased with the woman who gave birth to you (sg) and let you nurse at her breasts!” 28 But he replied, “God is much more pleased with those who hear his message and obey it!”

29 When the group of people around Jesus got larger, he said, “Many of you people who have been observing my ministry are evil. You want me to perform a miracle to prove that I have come from God, but the only miracle that I will perform for you is one like happened to Jonah. 30  After Jonah was inside a huge fish for three days, God performed a miracle to restore Jonah. Jonah then went and testified about that to the people in Nineveh city. God will perform a similar miracle for me, the one who came from heaven. When you people have seen that miracle, you will believe my message. 31  Long ago the queen from Sheba, far south of Israel, traveled a long distance to hear Solomon speak many wise things. But now I, a man who is much greater and wiser than Solomon, am here, but you have not listened to what I have told you. Therefore, at the time when God judges all people, the queen from Sheba will stand there, along with you people, and will condemn you. 32 The people who lived in Nineveh city turned from their sinful ways when Jonah preached to them. But now I, who am greater than Jonah, have come and preached to you, but you have not turned from your sinful ways. Therefore, at the time when God judges all people, the people who lived in Nineveh will stand there with you and condemn you.”

33  Then, to show them that they did not need more miracles, but that they needed only to understand better what he had already told them, he said to them [MET], “People who light a lamp do not then hide it, or put it under a basket. Instead, they put it on a lampstand so that those who enter their house can see things from its light. Similarly, I have not concealed God’s truth. I have revealed it to you. 34 Your eyes [MET] are like a lamp for your body, because they enable you to see things. If your eyes are healthy, you are able to see everything well [MET]. Similarly, if you(sg) accept my teaching, you will be able to know all that God wants you to know. But if your eyes are bad, you are not able to see anything. It is like being in darkness [MET]. And similarly, if you(pl) do not accept what I teach, you will not be able to know all the things that God wants you to know. 35 Therefore, you(pl) do not need to see more miracles. You need to think carefully about what I have already told you, so that the things that you have heard from others do not cause you to remain in spiritual darkness [MET]. 36 If you live completely according to God’s truth, you will be able to know everything that God wants you to know. It will be like being in a room with a lamp shining brightly, enabling you to see everything clearly.”

37 While Jesus finished saying those things, a Pharisee invited him to eat a meal with him. So Jesus went to his house and ate with him. 38 The Pharisee was surprised when he saw that Jesus did not follow the Pharisees’ ritual by washing his hands before eating. The Pharisees washed their hands in a certain way to be cleansed from anything that might have contaminated them. They were afraid that God might reject them if they had touched something unacceptable to God. 39 The Lord Jesus said to him, “You Pharisees are concerned about things that are outside your bodies, not with what is in your ◄inner beings/hearts► [MET]. You wash the outside of cups and dishes before you eat because you think that doing that will make you acceptable to God, but within yourselves you are very greedy and wicked. 40 You foolish people! God is concerned about things that are outside our bodies, but ◄he is certainly also concerned about our inner beings!/isn’t he also concerned about our hearts?► [RHQ] 41 Give money to those who are poor. Give according to what you know within your ◄inner beings/heart► that you should give. Then you will be surprised to realize that you will be acceptable to God without having to perform all those rituals about washing.

42 But there will be terrible punishment for you Pharisees! You give to God a tenth of all you produce, even the various herbs that you grow, but you do not remember that you must act justly toward others and love God! It is good to give a tenth of your income to God, but you ought to do these other things also! 43 There will be terrible punishment for you Pharisees, because you like to sit in the best seats in our worship places so that people will think highly of you, and you like people to greet you respectfully in the marketplaces. 44 There will be terrible punishment for you, because you are like ground where there is no marker to indicate that there is a grave underneath. People walk there, but they cannot see what is rotten down below [MET]! Similarly, people who see you do not realize how polluted you are within yourselves.”

45 One of those who taught the Jewish laws replied, “Teacher, by saying this you (sg) are criticizing us also!” 46 Jesus said, “It will be terrible also for you who teach the Jewish laws! You require people to obey many rules that are difficult to obey [MET]. That is like making them carry heavy burdens on their backs. But you yourselves do not obey the laws that you require others to obey. (OR, you do not do anything to help others to obey the laws.) 47 There will be terrible punishment for you! You decorate the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed, but you do not live according to what the prophets taught. 48 So you are declaring that you approve of what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you are not honoring the prophets! You just decorate their tombs! 49 So God, who is very wise [PRS], said, ‘I will send prophets and apostles to you Jews. You will kill some of them and cause some of them to suffer greatly. 50  As a result, I will consider that many of you people who have observed my Son’s ministry will be guilty [MTY] of murder, as if you had killed all the prophets that other people have killed, from the time I created the world, 51 starting from Adam’s son Cain killing his brother Abel and continuing until they killed the prophet Zechariah in the holy place between the altar and the temple.’ Yes, what I am saying is true [MTY]. God will punish you people who have observed my ministry, you people whom he considers to be guilty [MTY] for killing all those prophets! 52 There will be terrible punishment for you men who teach the Jewish laws, because you have not let people know God’s truth [MET]! It is as though you are taking away a key to a house. You are not going into the house yourselves, and you are not letting other people enter it, either.”

53 After Jesus finished saying those things, he left there. Then the men who taught the Jewish laws and the Pharisees began to act in a very hostile way toward him. They tried to make him say what he thought about many things. 54 They kept waiting for him to say something wrong for which they could accuse him.