Ronald Knox 20th Century Translation of the New Testament (1944)
Gospel according to Saint Luke
Chapter 11: 1 - 32
Once, when he had found a place to pray in, one of
his disciples said to him, after his prayer was over,
Lord, teach us how to pray, as John did for his disciples.
And he told them,
When you pray, you are to say, Father,
hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come,
thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven;
give us this day our daily bread, and
forgive us our sins; we too forgive all those
who trespass against us; and lead us not
into temptation. Suppose one of you has
a friend, to whom he goes at dead of night,
and asks him, Lend me three loaves of
bread, neighbour; a friend of mine has
turned in to me after a journey, and I
have nothing to offer him. And suppose
the other answers, from within doors, Do
not put me in such trouble; the door is
locked, my children and I are in bed; I
cannot bestir myself to grant thy request.
I tell you, even if he will not bestir himself
to grant it out of friendship, shameless
asking will make him rise and give his
friend all that he needs. And I say the
same to you; ask, and the gift will come,
seek, and you shall find; knock, and the
door shall be opened to you. Everyone
that asks, will receive, that seeks, will find,
that knocks, will have the door opened to him.
Among yourselves, if a father is asked by
his son for bread, will he give him a stone?
Or for a fish, will he give him a scorpion?
Why then, if you, evil as you are, know well
enough how to give your children what is
good for them, is not your Father much more
ready to give, from heaven, his Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?
He had just cast out a devil, which was dumb; and no sooner
had the devil gone out than the dumb man found speech. The
multitudes were filled with amazement; but some of them said,
it is through Beelzebub (Aramaic for "prince of devils") that
he casts the devils out, while others, to put him to the test,
would have him shew a sign out of heaven. But he could
read their thoughts, and said to them,
No kingdom can be at war with itself
without being brought to desolation, one
house falling upon another. And how do you
suppose that Satan's kingdom can stand firm
if he is at war with himself, that you should
accuse me of casting out devils through
Beelzebub? Again, if it through Beelzebub
that I cast out devils, by what means do
your own sons cast them out? It is for these,
then, to pronounce judgment on you. But if,
when I cast out devils, I do it through God's
power, then it must be that the kingdom of
God has suddenly appeared among you.
When a strong man, fully armed, mounts
guard over his own palace, his good are
left in peace; but when a man comes who
is stronger still, he will take away all the
armour that gave him confidence, and
divide among others the spoils he has won.
He who is not with me, is against me; he
who does not gather his store with me,
scatters it abroad. The unclean spirit
which has possessed a man and then
goes out of him, walks about the desert
looking for a resting-place, and finds none;
and it says, I will go back to my own
dwelling, from which I came out. And it
comes back, to find that dwelling swept out,
and neatly set in order. Thereupon, it goes
away and brings in seven other spirits more
wicked than itself to bear it company, and
together they enter in and settle down
there; til the last state of that man is worse
than the first. When he spoke thus, a woman in the
multitude said to him aloud, Blessed is the womb that bore
thee, the breast which thou hast sucked. And he answered,
Shall we not say, Blessed are those who
hear the word of God, and keep it?
The multitudes gathered round him, and he began
speaking to them thus; This is a wicked
generation; it asks for a sign, and
the only sign that will be given it is the
sign of the prophet Jonas (Jonah the Prophet)
Jonas was the sign given to the men of
Nineve/Nineveh (capital of Assyrian empire);
the sign given to this generation will be the
Son of Man. The queen of the south (Queen
of Sheba - I Kings chapter 10) will rise up
with the men of this generation at the
judgment, and will leave them without
excuse; 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 Nineve/Nineveh will rise up with
this generation at the judgment, and will
leave it without excuse; for they did penance
when Jonas preached to them, and behold,
a greater than Jonas is here!
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