Luke 11:1-11

New Living Translation

Teaching about Prayer

11 Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

²Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:^[a]

“Father, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
³Give us each day the food we need,^[b]
⁴and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation.^[c]”

⁵Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ⁶‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ ⁷And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ ⁸But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.^[d]

⁹“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹“You fathers—if your children ask^[e] for a fish, do you give them a snake instead?

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Footnotes

11:2 Some manuscripts add additional phrases from the Lord’s Prayer as it reads in Matt 6:9-13.
11:3 Or Give us each day our food for the day; or Give us each day our food for tomorrow.
11:4 Or And keep us from being tested.
11:8 Or in order to avoid shame, or so his reputation won’t be damaged.
11:11 Some manuscripts add for bread, do you give them a stone? Or [if they ask].