Luke 11

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us how to pray, the way John taught his disciples."

1And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Note"John" is John the Baptist, the preacher of Luke 3 who had his own circle of followers. Teachers of the time often gave their disciples a short prayer of their own, which served as a kind of badge of the group; the request is for one of those.

2He said to them, "When you pray, say this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be treated as holy. May your kingdom come. May what you want be done on earth, just as it is done in heaven.

2And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Note"Hallowed" is an old English word meaning treated as holy, set apart. A person's "name" in this idiom stands for the person himself and his reputation, so the line asks that God himself be held in honor. "Thy kingdom" is not a territory but God's rule actually taking effect. The earliest manuscripts of Luke have simply "Father" here and do not contain "which art in heaven" or "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth"; the KJV follows later copies in which Luke's shorter prayer had been filled out to match the longer version in Matthew 6.

3Give us each day the bread we need for that day.

3Give us day by day our daily bread.

NoteThe Greek word behind "daily" is so rare that it is almost unknown outside this prayer, and its sense is genuinely uncertain. It has been read as "needed to live," "for today," and "for the day ahead." "Bread" here means food generally, the day's rations.

4And forgive us our sins, since we ourselves forgive everyone who owes us. And do not lead us into temptation, but rescue us from evil."

4And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Note"Indebted to us" is literal: debt was the standard image for a wrong owed and not yet settled, and Jesus uses the two words interchangeably in this verse. "Temptation" translates a word meaning a test or trial of any kind, not only an enticement to do wrong; it covers being put through an ordeal. The closing words "but deliver us from evil" are absent from the oldest manuscripts of Luke and appear to have been carried over from Matthew's version.

5Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him in the middle of the night and say, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread.

5And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

NoteBread was baked fresh each day in small quantities, so a household would not have a surplus at midnight; three loaves means enough for one guest's meal. The loaves were flat rounds, not the modern loaf.

6A friend of mine is traveling and has just arrived at my house, and I have nothing to set in front of him.'

6For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

NoteFeeding an unexpected traveler was a binding social obligation, and failure fell on the whole village, not just the host. That is why the man can wake a neighbor at midnight and expect to be heard.

7And suppose the man inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are in bed with me. I can't get up and give you anything.'

7And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

NoteA village house was often a single room where the family slept together on mats on a raised platform, with the animals below. The door was closed with a heavy wooden bar that had to be lifted, so getting up meant waking everyone.

8I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him the bread because they are friends, he will still get up because the man keeps on asking, and will give him as much as he needs.

8I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

Note"Importunity" in 1611 meant persistent, nagging pressure. The Greek word underneath it is anaideia, literally "shamelessness," and commentators divide over whom it describes: the asker who will not stop knocking, or the sleeper who wants to avoid the disgrace of having refused a neighbor.

9So I tell you: ask, and it will be given to you. Look, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.

9And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

10For everyone who asks receives. The one who looks finds. And to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

10For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

11If your son asks any of you fathers for bread, will you hand him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will you hand him a snake instead of the fish?

11If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

NoteThe comparisons work by resemblance. A small flat loaf looks much like a smooth stone, and some eel-like fish in the Sea of Galilee look like snakes. The point is a father handing over something that looks right but is useless or dangerous.

12Or if he asks for an egg, will you hand him a scorpion?

12Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

NoteA pale scorpion with its legs and tail folded in is roughly egg-shaped and about egg-sized, which is what makes the swap conceivable.

13So if you, bad as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"

13If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Note"Being evil" is not an insult thrown at the crowd so much as one half of a standard argument: if the lesser case holds, the greater case holds all the more. Ordinary flawed parents manage this much, so God will manage more.

14Jesus was driving out a demon, and the demon kept the man from speaking. When the demon had gone out, the man who had not been able to speak began to talk, and the crowd was amazed.

14And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered.

NoteWhere the KJV says "devil" it almost always translates the Greek word for demon, a lesser hostile spirit, not Satan himself. "Dumb" in 1611 meant unable to speak and carried no suggestion of stupidity; the condition is attributed to the spirit.

15But some of them said, "He drives out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."

15But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils.

NoteBeelzebub is a mocking name of long standing. It appears in 2 Kings 1 as the god of the Philistine city Ekron, and the form used by the earliest Greek manuscripts here, Beelzebul, can be read as "lord of the dwelling," which is why the reply in verses 17 to 26 plays on houses and kingdoms.

16Others wanted to test him, so they demanded that he show them a sign from heaven.

16And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven.

Note"Tempting him" here means putting him to the test. A "sign from heaven" is not another healing but a public portent in the sky, the kind of unmistakable display that would settle the argument about where his power came from.

17But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to them, "Every kingdom split into sides that fight each other ends in ruin, and one household set against another falls.

17But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.

18If Satan is fighting against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I ask because you say I drive out demons by Beelzebub.

18If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.

19And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whose power do your own people drive them out? So they will be the ones who judge you.

19And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.

Note"Your sons" means your own people, fellow Jews who also practiced exorcism. The argument is that if driving out demons proves a pact with Satan, it proves it of their own exorcists too.

20But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has clearly come to you.

20But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

Note"The finger of God" is a quotation. In Exodus 8 the Egyptian magicians fail to match a plague and tell Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." The phrase means God acting directly, with nothing of his own strength required.

21When a strong man with weapons guards his own house, everything he owns is safe.

21When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:

NoteThe word the KJV renders "palace" means a walled courtyard or the fortified house it belonged to, not a royal residence. The picture is an armed householder guarding his own compound.

22But when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, that stronger one takes away the weapons and armor the man was counting on, and divides up what he took.

22But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

23Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

23He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.

Note"Gathereth" and "scattereth" are herding and harvest words, used of bringing a flock together or bringing a crop in. There is no neutral third position in the image.

24When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it travels through dry, empty places looking for a place to rest. Finding none, it says, 'I will go back to the house I came out of.'

24When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.

NoteWaterless desert was widely thought of as the natural haunt of unclean spirits, a place outside settled human life. The spirit is homeless there, which is why it goes looking for lodging.

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

25And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.

Note"Garnished" in 1611 meant furnished or set in order, with no connection to the modern garnish on a plate. The house is tidy but unoccupied, and that is the point of the image.

26Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more evil than itself. They move in and live there, and that person ends up worse off than before."

26Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

NoteSeven is the standard number for a full or complete set, so the phrase means the man is thoroughly overrun, not that an exact count of eight spirits is in view.

27While he was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out to him, "How happy is the mother who carried you and nursed you!"

27And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.

Note"Paps" is the old English word for breasts. Praising a man by blessing the mother who bore and nursed him was a conventional form of compliment, aimed at him rather than at her.

28But he said, "Even happier are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

28But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

29As the crowd grew larger and larger, he began to say, "This is an evil generation. It demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.

29And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.

Note"This generation" means the people alive at the time, taken as a body. Jonah was the prophet sent to preach to the foreign city of Nineveh; in Luke the sign is Jonah himself, a preacher arriving with a warning, rather than his three days inside the fish.

30For just as Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation.

30For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.

NoteNineveh was the capital of Assyria, the empire that destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, which is what makes its people a pointed comparison. "Son of man" is the way Jesus habitually refers to himself in the Gospels; in ordinary Hebrew and Aramaic it can simply mean a human being, but it also echoes the mysterious figure given lasting authority in Daniel 7, and the phrase keeps both senses in play.

31The queen of the south will stand up at the judgment along with the men of this generation and will condemn them. She came from the far ends of the earth to hear Solomon's wisdom, and look, something greater than Solomon is here.

31The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

NoteThe "queen of the south" is the queen of Sheba, in southern Arabia, who traveled to Jerusalem to hear Solomon's wisdom in 1 Kings 10. To "rise up in the judgment" is courtroom language: she stands as a witness whose conduct shows up the conduct of those on trial.

32The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment along with this generation and will condemn it. They turned from their sins when Jonah preached, and look, something greater than Jonah is here.

32The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

Note"Nineve" is the KJV's spelling of Nineveh. The book of Jonah reports that the whole city turned from its wrongdoing when he preached, and it had none of the advantages of a people who already had the scriptures.

33No one lights a lamp and then hides it away or puts it under a basket. He puts it on a lampstand, so the people who come in can see the light.

33No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.

NoteA "candle" in 1611 English meant any small light, and the object here is a clay oil lamp set on a stand. The "bushel" is a household grain measure of roughly two gallons, an upturned bowl big enough to smother the flame. The "secret place" is a cellar or storage vault.

34Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is clear and healthy, your whole body is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body is full of darkness.

34The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.

NoteThe Greek word behind "single" means sound or undivided, and in ordinary usage it also carried the sense of generous. Its opposite, the "evil eye," was a common idiom for stinginess and grudging looks. Ancient thinking often pictured the eye as letting light into the body rather than taking light in, which is why the eye can be called the body's lamp.

35So be careful that the light inside you is not really darkness.

35Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

36If your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, then it will be completely bright, as if a lamp were shining its light on you."

36If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

37As he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him. So he went in and took his place at the table.

37And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.

NoteGuests at a formal meal lay propped on the left elbow on low couches around a table rather than sitting on chairs, so "sat down to meat" means took his place on the couch. "Meat" in 1611 meant food of any kind.

38The Pharisee was surprised to see that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.

38And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.

NoteThe washing at issue is a ritual rinsing of the hands before eating, a purity custom the Pharisees observed and extended to ordinary meals. It was not about dirt, and skipping it was not a lapse in hygiene but a refusal of the practice.

39The Lord said to him, "You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are full of greed and evil.

39And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.

NotePharisaic purity rules dealt in detail with when a vessel counted as clean and whether the inside or outside mattered, so the image is drawn from live debate. "Ravening" in 1611 meant plunder or rapacious greed, the behavior of a predator.

40You fools! Didn't the one who made the outside make the inside too?

40Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?

41Instead, give what is inside to the poor, and then everything will be clean for you.

41But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.

Note"Alms" are gifts of money or food to the poor, a central religious duty. The Greek of this verse is notoriously hard: it reads roughly "give the things inside as alms," and translators divide over whether it means give away the contents of the dish or give away what is inside you.

42But how terrible for you Pharisees! You give God a tenth of your mint and rue and every garden herb, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should have done these things without leaving the others undone.

42But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

NoteThe law required a tenth of field crops to be set aside; extending the count to tiny quantities of garden herbs was scrupulousness beyond what the law asked. Rue is a small bitter-smelling herb used in cooking and medicine. "Judgment" in the KJV here means justice, fair dealing in disputes.

43How terrible for you Pharisees! You love the best seats in the meeting places and the respectful greetings in the marketplaces.

43Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.

NoteThe "uppermost seats" are the bench at the front of the synagogue, facing the congregation with the scripture scrolls behind, where the honored sat in full view. The "greetings in the markets" are the formal public salutations by title that marked a man out as important in front of everyone.

44How terrible for you scribes and Pharisees, you pretenders! You are like unmarked graves that people walk over without knowing they are there."

44Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.

NoteContact with a grave made a person ritually unclean for seven days under Numbers 19, so tombs were whitewashed to be seen and avoided. An unmarked grave defiled people who had no idea it was there, which is the sting of the comparison. "Scribes" are the professional students and copyists of the law, its recognized scholars, not clerks.

45Then one of the experts in the law said to him, "Teacher, when you say things like that, you insult us too."

45Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also.

Note"Lawyers" here has nothing to do with courts and civil law. The word means specialists in the Law of Moses, the same group the KJV elsewhere calls scribes or doctors of the law. "Master" in 1611 means teacher.

46He said, "How terrible for you experts in the law as well! You pile loads on people that are too heavy to carry, and you yourselves will not touch those loads with even one finger.

46And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.

Note"Lade" means to load, as with a pack animal. The burdens are rulings on how the law is to be kept in daily life, and the complaint is about who carries the weight of them.

47How terrible for you! You build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your own ancestors who killed them.

47Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.

NoteBuilding and decorating monuments over the graves of the prophets was a live practice in the first century, understood as honoring them. The sentence turns that honor around: the same families are on both ends of the transaction.

48So you are witnesses who show that you approve of what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you build the tombs.

48Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.

49That is why the wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and others they will hunt down and mistreat.'

49Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:

Note"The wisdom of God said" introduces a quotation, but no surviving book contains these words. Readers have proposed a lost writing, a free summary of the Old Testament as a whole, or Jesus speaking as Wisdom himself; Luke does not say.

50So this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the world was made,

50That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;

NoteTo have blood "required" of you is legal language for being held liable for a killing and made to answer for it. "From the foundation of the world" means since creation.

51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, who was killed between the altar and the temple. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it.

51From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

NoteThese are the first and last murders in the Hebrew Bible as the Jewish scriptures were then ordered, which runs from Genesis to Chronicles, so the phrase means all of them from beginning to end. Abel is killed by his brother in Genesis 4. Zacharias is Zechariah son of Jehoiada, stoned to death in the temple courtyard in 2 Chronicles 24. "Between the altar and the temple" places it between the altar for burnt offerings, which stood in the open court, and the sanctuary building behind it.

52How terrible for you experts in the law! You have taken away the key to knowledge. You did not go in yourselves, and you stopped those who were trying to go in."

52Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

NoteThe image is of a doorkeeper holding the key to a house. These men controlled access to the scriptures by their teaching, so the charge is that they have pocketed the key rather than opened the door.

53As he said these things to them, the scribes and Pharisees began to attack him with words and to press him with questions about many subjects,

53And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:

Note"Urge him vehemently" translates a word for pressing hard and hostilely, and the questioning that follows is not curiosity. The aim, as verse 54 says outright, is to get him on record saying something actionable.

54waiting to trap him, trying to catch him saying something they could use to accuse him.

54Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.