Luke 18:1-14 Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up. ² “There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect people. ³ And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

⁴ “For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps pestering me,^[a] I will give her justice, so that she doesn’t wear me out^[b] by her persistent coming.’”

⁶ Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them?^{[c] 8} I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ^[d] ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give a tenth^[e] of everything I get.’

¹³ “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me,^[f] a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”