Luke 11

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In Luke 11, Jesus teaches His disciples a model prayer, often called the Lord's Prayer, emphasizing God's hallowed name, kingdom, and provision, alongside forgiveness and deliverance from evil. He then encourages persistent prayer through the parable of the importunate friend and assures that God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Later, Jesus casts out a dumb devil, leading to accusations that He does so by Beelzebub, which He refutes by explaining that a kingdom divided cannot stand. The chapter concludes with Jesus pronouncing woes upon the Pharisees and lawyers for their hypocrisy, external righteousness, and obstruction of true knowledge.

The Lord's Prayer 1–4

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

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Father, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation.

The Parable of Persistent Prayer 5–13

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

for a friend of mine is come to me from a journey, and I 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?

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

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

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

And of which of you that is a father shall his son ask a loaf, and he give him a stone? or a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent?

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

If 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?

Jesus Accused of Casting Out Demons by Beelzebub 14–23

And he was casting out a demon that was dumb. And it came to pass, when the demon was gone out, the dumb man spake; and the multitudes marvelled.

But some of them said, By Beelzebub the prince of the demons casteth he out demons.

And others, trying him, sought of him a sign from heaven.

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.

And if Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out demons by Beelzebub.

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

But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you.

When the strong man fully armed guardeth his own court, his goods are in peace:

but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him his whole armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

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

The Return of the Unclean Spirit 24–26

The unclean spirit when he is gone out of the man, passeth through waterless places, seeking rest, and finding none, he saith, I will turn back unto my house whence I came out.

And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished.

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

True Blessedness 27–28

And it came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the breasts which thou didst suck.

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

The Demand for a Sign 29–32

And when the multitudes were gathering together unto him, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation: it seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah.

For even as Jonah became a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.

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

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

The Lamp and the Eye 33–36

No man, when he hath lighted a lamp, putteth it in a cellar, neither under the bushel, but on the stand, that they which enter in may see the light.

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

Look therefore whether the light that is in thee be not darkness.

If therefore thy whole body be full of light, having no part dark, it shall be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining doth give thee light.

Woes Against the Pharisees and Lawyers 37–54

Now as he spake, a Pharisee asketh him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.

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

And the Lord said unto him, Now ye the Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter; but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.

Ye foolish ones, did not he that made the outside make the inside also?

But give for alms those things which are within; and behold, all things are clean unto you.

But woe unto you Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and every herb, and pass over justice and the love of God: but these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Woe unto you Pharisees! for ye love the chief seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces.

Woe unto you! for ye are as the tombs which appear not, and the men that walk over them know it not.

And one of the lawyers answering saith unto him, Teacher, in saying this thou reproachest us also.

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

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

So ye are witnesses and consent unto the works of your fathers: for they killed them, and ye build their tombs.

Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send unto them prophets and apostles; and some of them they shall kill and persecute;

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

from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary: yea, I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation.

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

And when he was come out from thence, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press upon him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things;

laying wait for him, to catch something out of his mouth.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Luke 11

Verse 1

Lord, teach us to pray — Luke gives the occasion of the prayer: the disciples have watched him praying (cf. Luke 6:12) and ask for a form of their own, 'as John also taught his disciples'. Matthew sets the same prayer in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 6:9–13). Proseuchomai is prayer addressed to God, supplication and worship.

Verse 2

Our Father which art in heaven — Luke's form is shorter than Matthew's (Matt 6:9–13). 'Hallowed' is hagiazo, to make holy, to treat as holy: the first petition concerns God's 'name', the next two his 'kingdom' and 'will', and only then do needs follow (v.3).

Verse 4

forgive us our sins — The petition names 'sins' (hamartia), then 'every one that is indebted to us' (opheilo, to owe); Matthew's word is 'debts' (Matt 6:12), and he adds the warning of Matt 6:15. 'Temptation' is peirasmos, a putting to the test; 'deliver' (rhyomai) is to rescue.

Verse 5

Friend, lend me three loaves — A parable only Luke records, and the companion of the widow's in Luke 18:1–8, 'that men ought always to pray, and not to faint'. The request is made 'at midnight' (mesonyktion) on behalf of a traveller (v.6); the need is another's hospitality, not the asker's own.

Verse 8

importunity — Anaideia is literally shamelessness (a-, without; aidos, shame): the asker will not be put off. The argument runs from the lesser to the greater: if a reluctant friend rises, how much more the Father (v.13). Jacob's 'I will not let thee go, except thou bless me' (Gen 32:26) is the same persistence.

Verse 13

give the Holy Spirit — Matthew's parallel reads 'good things' (Matt 7:11); Luke names the best of the good things. 'Being evil' (poneros) sets human fathers against 'your heavenly Father'. The promise is fulfilled at Pentecost and offered in Peter's words, 'ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost' (Acts 2:38).

Verse 14

it was dumb — Kophos means blunted, and is used of deafness or speechlessness. Here the man speaks the moment the 'devil' (daimonion) goes out. Matthew describes the same kind of case as 'blind, and dumb' (Matt 12:22), and the accusation of the next verse follows there too (Matt 12:24).

Verse 15

Beelzebub the chief of the devils — Beelzeboul is a name for Satan; 'chief' is archon, ruler. Mark says the scribes from Jerusalem made the charge (Mark 3:22). Christ had already said, 'If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub', the servants can expect no better (Matt 10:25).

Verse 17

Every kingdom divided against itself — He answers the unspoken charge, 'knowing their thoughts' (dianoema). 'Divided' is diamerizo, 'brought to desolation' eremoo, made a wilderness. Matthew adds 'every city' to the 'kingdom' and the 'house' (Matt 12:25); the argument then applies to Satan's own kingdom in v.18.

Verse 20

the finger of God — The phrase is the magicians' confession before Pharaoh: 'This is the finger of God' (Ex 8:19). Matthew's parallel says 'by the Spirit of God' (Matt 12:28), so the finger is the Spirit's power. 'Is come upon you' is phthano, to arrive: the kingdom has already reached them.

Verse 22

a stronger than he — 'Strong' and 'stronger' are ischyros in vv.21–22. The 'armour' is panoplia, full armour, the thing 'wherein he trusted'; the 'spoils' (skylon) are shared out. The picture draws on Isa 49:24–25: 'the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered.'

Verse 23

He that is not with me is against me — The line stands in the middle of the conflict with Satan, and its figure is gathering and scattering (synago, skorpizo). It does not contradict Luke 9:50, 'he that is not against us is for us', which concerned a man already casting out devils in Christ's name.

Verse 24

dry places — Anydros, waterless. The spirit seeks 'rest' (anapausis) and finds none, so claims 'my house' (oikos) as his own. Matthew gives the same saying, ending with 'the last state of that man is worse than the first' and applying it to 'this wicked generation' (Matt 12:43–45).

Verse 27

Blessed is the womb that bare thee — The woman's word is makarios, 'blessed', and echoes Elisabeth's 'blessed is the fruit of thy womb' (Luke 1:42) and Mary's own 'all generations shall call me blessed' (Luke 1:48). The reply in v.28, 'Yea rather', leaves it standing and sets obedience above kinship.

Verse 29

the sign of Jonas the prophet — The crowd was 'gathered thick together' (epathroizo) and asked for 'a sign from heaven' (v.16). The one sign promised is Jonah's, explained by Matthew as three days 'in the heart of the earth' (Matt 12:40); Jonah's three days in the fish are in Jonah 1:17. Verse 30 gives Luke's own reading.

Verse 31

The queen of the south — She is the queen of Sheba, who 'came to prove him with hard questions' (1 Kings 10:1). 'Utmost parts of the earth' translates peras, the farthest limit. She and the men of Nineveh (v.32) 'rise up in the judgment' as Gentile witnesses against a generation that had more than Solomon or Jonah (cf. Matt 12:42).

Verse 33

candle… candlestick — Lychnos is a lamp and lychnia a lampstand; 'bushel' is modios, a Latin dry measure. The saying recurs elsewhere with other applications: of the disciples' light (Matt 5:15) and of the hearing of the word (Luke 8:16). Here the light is Christ's own teaching, set openly for 'they which come in'.

Verse 34

thine eye is single — Haplous means simple, folded together, and so undivided and sincere; its opposite is the 'evil' (poneros) eye. Matthew has the same saying in the Sermon on the Mount, joined to the choice between God and mammon (Matt 6:22–23). Verse 35 turns it into a warning.

Verse 37

sat down to meat — 'Dine' is aristao, to take the first meal of the day, and 'sat down' is anapipto, to recline. Luke records Christ at the tables of Pharisees on other occasions too (Luke 7:36; 14:1). At each he speaks plainly to his host's party, here beginning in v.39.

Verse 38

washed before dinner — The verb is baptizo, used here of ceremonial washing. The Pharisee 'marvelled' (thaumazo) because the custom was 'the tradition of the elders' (Mark 7:2–5; Matt 15:2), not a command of Moses. Christ answers with the inside of the cup rather than the washing of hands.

Verse 39

ravening and wickedness — Harpage is plunder or extortion; 'wickedness' is poneria. The 'inward part' (esothen) is set against the 'outside' (exothen) of the cup and platter. Matthew gives the same charge with the remedy: 'cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter' (Matt 23:25–26).

Verse 41

give alms — Eleemosyne is an act of mercy (eleos) toward the poor. 'Of such things as ye have' is eneimi, the things within: what is in the cup. The cure for the inward greed of v.39 is to give it away; compare 'Sell that ye have, and give alms' (Luke 12:33).

Verse 42

tithe mint and rue — Apodekatoo, to pay a tenth. Matthew names 'mint and anise and cummin' (Matt 23:23). The failure lies in what is passed over: 'judgment' (krisis) and 'the love of God' (agape). Christ does not cancel the tithing: 'these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.'

Verse 44

graves which appear not — Adelos, unseen. Touching 'a grave' made a man 'unclean seven days' (Num 19:16), so a hidden grave defiled the unaware. Matthew's version has the opposite picture, 'whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward' (Matt 23:27); either way the outside hides what is within.

Verse 45

lawyers — Nomikos is an expert in the law of Moses, here distinguished from the Pharisees; another 'lawyer' appears in Matt 22:35. He addresses Christ as 'Master' (didaskalos), and 'reproachest' is hybrizo, to treat with insolence. His complaint draws the second set of woes, in vv.46–52.

Verse 46

burdens grievous to be borne — Phortizo is to load, as a vessel or beast; dysbastaktos, hard to carry. Matthew has the same charge, 'they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers' (Matt 23:4). 'Finger' is daktylos, the word of 'the finger of God' in v.20.

Verse 47

ye build the sepulchres of the prophets — The building looks like honour, but Christ reads it as agreement with the killers. Stephen later says the same: 'Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?' (Acts 7:52). Matthew adds that they 'garnish the sepulchres of the righteous' (Matt 23:29); v.48 states the conclusion.

Verse 51

Abel unto the blood of Zacharias — Abel was killed by Cain (Gen 4:8). Zechariah was stoned when 'the Spirit of God came upon' him, and he asked that the LORD 'look upon it' (2 Chr 24:20–22). 'Required' is ekzeteo, to seek out; 'between the altar and the temple' places the killing in the sanctuary court.

Verse 52

the key of knowledge — Kleis is a key, gnosis knowledge. The priest's task had been that 'the priest's lips should keep knowledge' (Mal 2:7). The lawyers kept others from the understanding of the law that leads to Christ, as Matthew says: 'ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men' (Matt 23:13).

Verse 53

urge him vehemently — Enecho is to hold fast, to ensnare; deinos, fiercely. 'Provoke him to speak' is apostomatizo, to dictate from the mouth, to quiz him so as to trap him; v.54 states the aim, 'that they might accuse him'. Luke 20:20 reports a similar attempt, with spies sent to 'take hold of his words'.