Luke 10-11

Luke 10

¹After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place He was about to visit.

²And He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.

³Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

⁴Carry no purse or bag or sandals. Do not greet anyone along the road.

⁵Whatever house you enter, begin by saying, ‘Peace to this house.’

⁶If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.

⁷Stay at the same house, eating and drinking whatever you are offered. For the worker is worthy of his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

⁸If you enter a town and they welcome you, eat whatever is set before you.

⁹Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’

¹⁰But if you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go into the streets and declare,

¹¹‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off as a testimony against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’

¹²I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

¹³Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

¹⁴But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.

¹⁵And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades!

¹⁶Whoever listens to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”

¹⁷The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.”

¹⁸So He told them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

¹⁹Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.

²⁰Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

²¹At that time Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.

²²All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

²³Then Jesus turned to the disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.

²⁴For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

²⁵One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶“What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

²⁸“You have answered correctly,” Jesus said. “Do this and you will live.”

²⁹But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰Jesus took up this question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.

³¹Now by chance a priest was going down the same road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

³²So too, when a Levite came to that spot and saw him, he passed by on the other side.

³³But when a Samaritan on a journey came upon him, he looked at him and had compassion.

³⁴He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

³⁵The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Take care of him,’ he said, ‘and on my return I will repay you for any additional expense.’

³⁶Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷“The one who showed him mercy,” replied the expert in the law. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

³⁸As they traveled along, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.

³⁹She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to His message.

⁴⁰But Martha was distracted by all the preparations to be made. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹“Martha, Martha,” the Lord replied, “you are worried and upset about many things.

⁴²But only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 11

¹One day in a place where Jesus had just finished praying, one of His disciples requested, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

²So Jesus told 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 also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”

⁵Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you goes to his friend at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

⁶because a friend of mine has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’

⁷And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Do not bother me. My door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’

⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet because of the man’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

¹⁰For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?

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

¹³So if you who are evil 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!”

¹⁴One day Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. And when the demon was gone, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed,

¹⁵but some of them said, “It is by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, that He drives out demons.”

¹⁶And others tested Him by demanding a sign from heaven.

¹⁷Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and a house divided against a house will fall.

¹⁸If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? After all, you say that I drive out demons by Beelzebul.

¹⁹And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

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

²¹When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are secure.

²²But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted, and then he divides up his plunder.

²³He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

²⁴When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’

²⁵On its return, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.

²⁶Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final plight of that man is worse than the first.”

²⁷As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and blessed are the breasts that nursed You!”

²⁸But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

²⁹As the crowds were increasing, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.

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

³¹The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.

³²The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.

³³No one lights a lamp and puts it in a cellar or under a basket. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light.

³⁴Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body is full of darkness.

³⁵Be careful, then, that the light within you is not darkness.

³⁶So if your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, you will be radiant, as though a lamp were shining on you.”

³⁷As Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited Him to dine with him; so He went in and reclined at the table.

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

³⁹“Now then,” said the Lord, “you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

⁴⁰You fools! Did not the One who made the outside make the inside as well?

⁴¹But give as alms the things that are within you, and you will see that everything is clean for you.

⁴²Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.

⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! You love the chief seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without even noticing.”

⁴⁵One of the experts in the law told Him, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us as well.”

⁴⁶“Woe to you as well, experts in the law!” He replied. “You weigh men down with heavy burdens, but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load.

⁴⁷Woe to you! You build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them.

⁴⁸So you are witnesses consenting to the deeds of your fathers: They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.

⁴⁹Because of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and others they will persecute.’

⁵⁰As a result, this generation will be charged with the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world,

⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, all of it will be charged to this generation.

⁵²Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³As Jesus went on from there, the scribes and Pharisees began to oppose Him bitterly and to ply Him with questions about many things,

⁵⁴waiting to catch Him in something He might say.