Luke11
New American Standard
1It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
2And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation.’”
5And He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves,
6because a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to serve him’;
7and 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.’
8I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet because of his shamelessness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
10For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.
11Now which one of you fathers will his son ask for a fish, and instead of a fish, he will give him a snake?
12Or he will even ask for an egg, and his father will give him a scorpion?
13So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
14And He was casting out a mute demon; when the demon had gone out, the man who was previously unable to speak talked, and the crowds were amazed.
15But some of them said, “He casts out the demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”
16Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven.
17But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls.
18And if Satan also has been divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you claim that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul.
19Yet if by Beelzebul I cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.
20But if I cast out the demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
21When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are secure.
22But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, that man takes away his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder.
23The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.
24“When the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it then says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’
25And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.
26Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they come in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first.”
27While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that carried You, and the breasts at which You nursed!”
28But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and follow it.”
29Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it demands a sign, and so no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.
30For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
31The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
32The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
33“No one lights a lamp and puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.
34Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness.
35So watch out that the light in you is not darkness.
36Therefore if your whole body is full of light, without any dark part, it will be wholly illuminated, as when the lamp illuminates you with its light.”
37Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in and reclined at the table.
38When the Pharisee saw this, he was surprised that Jesus had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.
39But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish; but your inside is full of greed and wickedness.
40You foolish ones, did He who made the outside not make the inside also?
41But give that which is within as a charitable gift, and then all things are clean for you.
42“But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint, rue, and every kind of garden herb, and yet you ignore justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
43Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the seat of honor in the synagogues and personal greetings in the marketplaces.
44Woe to you! For you are like unseen tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”
45One of the lawyers said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us too.”
46But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you load people with burdens that are hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
47Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.
48So you are witnesses and you approve of the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs.
49For this reason also, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill, and some they will persecute,
50so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation,
51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’
52Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”
53When He left that place, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to interrogate Him about many subjects,
54plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Luke 11.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: 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).
vv1-4
“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.
vv5-13
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.
vv14-26
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.
Key Words
αὐτός (autós): the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other persons
προσεύχομαι (proseúchomai): to pray to God, i.e. supplicate, worship
ἐν (en): "in," at, (up-)on, by, etc.
τὶς (tìs): some or any person or object
τόπος (tópos): a spot (general in space, but limited by occupancy; whereas G5561 (χώρα) is a large but participle locality), i.e. location (as a position, home, tract, etc.); figuratively, condition, opportunity; specially, a scabbard
ὡς (hōs): which how, i.e. in that manner (very variously used, as follows)
παύω (paúō): to stop (transitively or intransitively), i.e. restrain, quit, desist, come to an end
μαθητής (mathētḗs): a learner, i.e. pupil
ἔπω (épō): to speak or say (by word or writing)
πρός (prós): a preposition of direction; forward to, i.e. toward (with the genitive case, the side of, i.e. pertaining to; with the dative case, by the side of, i.e. near to; usually with the accusative case, the place, time, occasion, or respect, which is the destination of the relation, i.e. whither or for which it is predicated)
Cross References
Luke 11Direct parallel in the Sermon on the Mount teaching the model disciples' prayer.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel discourse regarding the returning unclean spirit and the danger of empty reformation.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel showing the Father giving good gifts, which Luke specifies as the Holy Spirit.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel account of Christ casting out a dumb and blind demon, provoking accusation.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parable of the unjust judge exemplifying persistence and importunity in prayer.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Egyptian magicians recognize the 'finger of God' casting out plagues, matching Jesus' imagery.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jonah's three days in the whale's belly as the prophetic sign given to Nineveh.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Historical account of the Queen of the South visiting Solomon to hear his wisdom.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Parallel woe on the scribes tithing mint and anise while neglecting weightier matters.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The angel Gabriel's pronouncement of blessing on Mary, echoing the woman's praise.
Supported by JFB
The repentance of the Ninevites under Jonah's preaching, condemning Christ's generation.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallel woe concerning building the sepulchres of the prophets whom their fathers killed.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The blood of Abel crying out from the ground, the first martyr named by Christ.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Agur's prayer to be fed with 'food convenient for me', reflecting daily bread.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Verbatim parallel: 'He that is not with me is against me'.
Supported by Matthew Poole