Study Desk

And He said to them, "^(F1)Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves,

because a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to serve him';

and from inside he answers and says, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children ^(F1)and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.'

"I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet ^(C1)because of his ^(F1)shamelessness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

"So I say to you, ^(F1)(C1)ask, and it will be given to you; ^(F2)seek, and you will find; ^(F3)knock, and it will be opened to you.

"For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

"Now ^(F1)which one of you fathers will his son ask for a ^(F2)fish, and instead of a fish, he will give him a snake?

"Or he will even ask for an egg, and his father will give him a scorpion?

"So ^(C1)if you, despite being ^(F1)evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will ^(F2)your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

^(C1)And 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.

But some of them said, "He casts out the demons ^(C1)by ^(C2)Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons."

Others, ^(F1)to test Him, ^(C1)were demanding of Him a ^(F2)sign from heaven.

^(C1)But He knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against ^(F1)itself falls.

"And if ^(C1)Satan also has been divided against himself, how will his kingdom ^(F1)stand? For you claim that I cast out the demons by ^(C2)Beelzebul.

"Yet if by ^(C1)Beelzebul I cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.

"But if I cast out the demons by ^(F1)the ^(C1)finger of God, then ^(C2)the kingdom of God has come upon you.

"When ^(F1)a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are ^(F2)secure.

"But 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.

"^(C1)The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.

"^(C1)When the unclean spirit comes out of ^(F1)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.'

"And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.

"Then 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."

While ^(F1)Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "^(C1)Blessed is the womb that carried You, and the breasts at which You nursed!"

But He said, "On the contrary, blessed are ^(C1)those who hear the word of God and follow it."