Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart:
Parallel translations
- WEB He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up,
- KJV And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
- NKJV Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
- NASB Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not become discouraged,
- NLT One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus tells a parable to teach that people should always pray and not lose heart. Persistent prayer is the antidote to discouragement.
Overview
Luke supplies the parable's purpose up front: continual prayer without giving up. Set against the preceding teaching on waiting for the Son of Man, it equips disciples to endure the delay through prayer. The verse frames prayer not as a last resort but as the sustaining habit of those awaiting Christ's return.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 22
- Col 4:2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful,
- Rom 12:12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.
- 1 Th 5:17Pray without ceasing.
- Phil 4:6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
- Eph 6:18Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.
- Ps 55:16–17But I call to God, and the LORD saves me.
- Jer 29:12Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
- Luke 21:36So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
- Gal 6:9Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
- Ps 86:3Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I call to You all day long.
- Ps 102:17He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.
- Luke 11:5–9Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you goes to his friend at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
- 2 Cor 4:1Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this ministry, we do not lose heart.
- Ps 142:5–7I cry to You, O LORD: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
- Col 4:12Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in the full will of God.
- Ps 65:2O You who listen to prayer, all people will come to You.
- Gen 32:24–26So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
- Jonah 2:7As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD. My prayer went up to You, to Your holy temple.
- Ps 27:13Still I am certain to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
- Gen 32:9–12Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’
- Heb 12:3–5Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
- Job 27:8–10For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 18:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.