Lucas 11

¹ And so it was, that as he was praying in a certaine place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said vnto him, Lord, teache vs to pray, as Iohn also taught his disciples.

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

³ Give usThat is, as much as is needed for us this day, by which we are not prevented from having an honest care for the maintenance of our lives; but that complaining care, which kills a number of men, is cut off and restrained.day by day our daily bread.

⁴ And forgiue vs our sinnes: for euen we forgiue euery man that is indetted to vs: And leade vs not into temptation: but deliuer vs from euill.

⁵ We must pray with faith.And 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;

⁶ For a friende of mine is come out of the way to me, & I haue nothing to set before him:

⁷ And hee within shoulde answere, and say, Trouble mee not: the doore is nowe shut, and my children are with mee in bed: I can not rise and giue them to thee.

⁸ I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of hisLiterally, «impudence»: but that impudency which is spoken of here is not to be found fault with, but is very commendable before God, for he is well pleased by such importunity.importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

⁹ And I say vnto you, Aske, and it shall be giuen you: seeke, and yee shall finde: knocke, and it shalbe opened vnto you.

¹⁰ For euery one that asketh, receiueth: and he that seeketh, findeth: & to him that knocketh, it shalbe opened.

¹¹ If a sonne shall aske bread of any of you that is a father, will he giue him a stone? Or if hee aske a fish, will he for a fish giue him a serpent?

¹² Or if hee aske an egge, will hee giue him a scorpion?

¹³ If yee then which are euill, can giue good giftes vnto your children, howe much more shall your heauenly Father giue the holy Ghost to them, that desire him?

¹⁴ Then hee cast out a deuill which was domme: and when the deuill was gone out, the domme spake, and the people wondered.

¹⁵ An example of horrible blindness, and such as cannot be healed, when the power of God is blasphemed by an evil conscience and pretended malice.But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils.

¹⁶ And others tempted him, seeking of him a signe from heauen.

¹⁷ The true way to know the true Christ from the false is this, that the true Christ has no harmony or agreement with Satan: and once we know him it is left for us to acknowledge him.But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house [divided] against a house falleth.

¹⁸ If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devilsBy the name and power of Beelzebub.through Beelzebub.

¹⁹ If I through Beelzebub cast out deuils, by whome doe your children cast them out? Therefore shall they be your iudges.

²⁰ But if I with theThat is, by the power of God: so it says in {{See Exo_8:19}}.finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

²¹ When a strong man armed keepeth hisThe word properly signifies an open and empty room in front of a house, and so in translation is taken for noblemen's houses.palace, his goods are in peace:

²² But when a stronger then hee, commeth vpon him, and ouercommeth him: hee taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and deuideth his spoiles.

²³ Against indifferent men, and such as love to have a compromise, who seek means to reconcile Christ and Satan together.He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.

²⁴ He that does not continue, but is in a worse case, than he that never began.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 whence I came out.

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

²⁶ Then goeth hee, and taketh to him seuen other spirites worse then himselfe: and they enter in, and dwel there: so the last state of that man is worse then the first.

²⁷ Christ does not seek praise for himself, but in our salvation.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 paps which thou hast sucked.

²⁸ But hee saide, Yea, rather blessed are they that heare the woorde of God, and keepe it.

²⁹ And when the people were gathered thicke together, he began to say, This is a wicked generation: they seeke a signe, and there shall no signe be giuen them, but the signe of Ionas the Prophet.

³⁰ For as Ionas was a signe to the Niniuites: so shall also the Sonne of man bee to this generation.

³¹ The Queene of the South shall rise in iudgement, with the men of this generation, and shall condemne them: for shee came from the vtmost partes of the earth to heare the wisedome of Solomon, and beholde, a greater then Solomon is here.

³² The men of Niniue shall rise in iudgement with this generation, and shall condemne it: for they repented at the preaching of Ionas: and beholde, a greater then Ionas is here.

³³ Our minds are therefore lightened with the knowledge of God, that we should give light unto others, and therefore our main labour ought to be to pray for that light.No 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.

³⁴ The light of the bodie is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, then is thy whole bodie light: but if thine eye be euill, then thy bodie is darke.

³⁵ Take heede therefore, that the light which is in thee, be not darkenesse.

³⁶ If therefore thy whole body shall be light, hauing no part darke, then shall all be light, euen as when a candle doth light thee with the brightnesse.

³⁷ The service of God consists not in outward cleanliness and planned rites or ceremonies, but in the spiritual righteousness of the heart and charity.And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.

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

³⁹ And the Lord saide to him, In deede yee Pharises make cleane the outside of the cuppe, and of the platter: but the inwarde part is full of rauening and wickednesse.

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

⁴¹ But rather give almsThat is, according to your ability: as one would say, instead of your extortion which hindered you so that you could not eat cleanly, use charity, and in accordance with your ability be good to the poor, and in this way will that which is within the platter be sanctified even though the platter is unwashed.of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.

⁴² It is the characteristic of hypocrites to stand firmly for little trifles and to let greater matters pass.But woe unto you, Pharisees! for yeYou decide by God's law that the tenth part is due to be paid.tithe mint and rue andOf all types of herbs, some as Augustine expounds it in his Enchiridion to Laurence, chap. 99, where he shows in like manner how that place of Paul, (God «will have all men to be saved»), (1Ti_2:4), is to be expounded after the same manner.all manner of herbs, and pass overThat is to say, that which is right and reasonable to do, for this word «judgment» contains the commandments of the second table, and the other words, «the love of God», contain the commandments of the first.judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

⁴³ Hypocrisy and ambition are commonly joined together.Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.

⁴⁴ Hypocrites deceive men with an outward show.Woe 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].

⁴⁵ Hypocrites are very severe against other men, but think that all things are lawful for themselves.Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also.

⁴⁶ And he sayde, Wo be to you also, yee Lawyers: for yee lade men with burdens grieuous to be borne, and yee your selues touche not the burdens with one of your fingers.

⁴⁷ Hypocrites honour those saints when they are dead whom they persecute most cruelly when they are alive.Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.

⁴⁸ TrulyWhen you persecute God's servants like mad men, even as your fathers did, though you try and cover it with a pretence of godliness, yet nonetheless, by beautifying the sepulchres of the prophets, what else are you doing but glorying in your father's cruelty, and setting up monuments (as it were) in glory and triumph of it?ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.

⁴⁹ Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and [some] of them they shall slay andThey will so vex them and trouble them, that at length they will banish them.persecute:

⁵⁰ That the blood of all the prophets, which wasThat you may be called to give an account for it, yea, and be punished for the shedding of that blood of the prophets.shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;

⁵¹ From the blood of Abel vnto the blood of Zacharias, which was slaine betweene the altar and the Temple: verely I say vnto you, it shall be required of this generation.

⁵² Those who ought to be the door keepers of the Church have for a long time mainly hindered the people from entering into the knowledge of God.Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye haveYou have hidden and taken away, so that it cannot be found anywhere.taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

⁵³ The more the world is reprehended, the worse it is, and yet we must not betray the truth.And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge [him] vehemently, and toThey proposed many questions to him, to draw something out of his mouth which they might traitorously find fault with.provoke him to speak of many things:

⁵⁴ Laying wait for him, and seeking to catche some thing of his mouth, whereby they might accuse him.