who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as 3 in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day 4 our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but 5 deliver us from evil. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, 6 Friend, lend me three loaves: For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I 7 have nothing to set before him: And 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. 8 I 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 9 as many as he needeth. And I And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto 10 you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that 11 knocketh, it shall be opened. If a son shall

ask bread of any of you who is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will 12 he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall 13 ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If

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ye then, who are 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?

And he was casting out a demon, and it was dumb. And it came to pass when the

demon was gone out, the dumb spake; and 15 the people wondered. But some of them said, He casteth out demons through Beelze16 bub, the chief of demons. And others, tempt

ing him, sought of him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself, is brought to desolation; and a house opposed to 18 a house, is ruined. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? For ye say that I cast out demons through 19 Beelzebub. Now if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, bywhom do your sons cast them out? 20 therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God* cast out demons, no doubt the kingdom of God is come unto you. 21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, 22 his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein 23 he trusted, and divideth his spoils. He that is

not with me, is against me: and he that gath24 ereth not with me, scattereth. When 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 25 whence I came out. And when he cometh, 26 he findeth it swept and furnished. Then he

goeth 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.

* See Mat. xii. 28.

↑ See note to Mat, xii. 48, 44. See also 2 Pet. xi. 20

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And 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 breast which thou hast sucked.

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

And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and no sign shall be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. 30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites,

shall also the Son of man be to this gener 31 tion. The queen of the south shall rise

up i the judgment against the men of this genera tion, and condemn them; for she came from the utmost parts of the earth, to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than 32 Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment against this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

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neither under a that they who The lamp of the when thine eye is enlightened; but

No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, bushel, but on a candlestick, 34 come in may see the light. body is the eye: therefore sound, thy whole body is when thine eye is evil, thy body is full of

* They were most perverse and depraved. Though Jesus performed the most stupendous miracles, they still wanted to see a sign from heaven; and his mighty works they ascribed to the power of Satan.

35 darkness. Take heed therefore, that the light 36 which is in thee be not darkness. If then thy whole body be enlightened, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

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While he was speaking, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him and he went in, 38 and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he wondered that he had not washed 39 before dinner. And the Lord said unto him, Ye Pharisees do indeed make clean the outside of the cup and dish; but your inward part is 40 full of rapine and malice. Ye fools, did not he

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who made that which is without, make that 41 which is within also? But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and behold, all things 42 are clean unto you. But wo unto you, Pharisees for ye pay tithe of mint, and rue, and all manner of herbs, and neglect justice and the love of God: These ye ought to have done, and 43 not to leave the other undone. Wo unto you,, Pharisees or ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the markets. 44 Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for ye are as graves which are not seen, and men who walk over them are not aware of them.

Then one of the lawyers said unto him, Master, thus saying, thou dost reproach us 46 also. And he said, Wo unto you also, ye lawyers for ye lade men with burthens: griev

*Doctors or teachers of the Jewish laws..

ous to be borne, but ye yourselves touch not 47 the burdens with one of your fingers. Wo

unto you for ye build the sepulchres of the 48 prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness, that ye allow the deeds of your fathers for they indeed killed them, and 49 ye build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom of God,* I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will 50 slay and persecute: That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this genera51 tion. From the blood of Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, who perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, it 52 shall be required of this generation. Wo 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. 53 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees addressed him rudely, and interrogated him on many subjects with a 54 view to provoke him; endeavoring to ensnare him and to find some expression as matter of accusation against him.

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CHAP. XII.

IN the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, so

* See Matt. xxiii, 24. In the Old Testament there is no passage corresponding to this.