Ask, and It Will Be Given

^7 (A)“Ask, ^(B)and it will be given to you; ^(C)seek, and you will find; ^(D)knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ⁹ Or which one of you, if his son asks him for ^(E)bread, will give him ^(F)a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, ^(G)who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will ^(H)your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought ^(A)always to pray and not ^(B)lose heart.

^7 (A)casting all your anxieties on him, because ^(B)he cares for you.

² You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask ^(A)wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

¹³ If you then, ^(A)who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father ^(B)give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”