But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.
Parallel translations
- KJV But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
- BSB But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
- NKJV But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.
- NASB But love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people.
- NLT “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.
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 commands love for enemies, doing good and lending without expecting return, promising a great reward and the dignity of being God's children. We imitate the Father, who is kind even to the ungrateful and evil.
Overview
This verse gathers the preceding commands into a single call to enemy-love rooted in the very character of God. The promised reward is not earned merit but the gracious gift of those who bear the family likeness of the Most High. By His kindness to the unthankful, God shows the grace that culminates in the cross, where He loved His enemies and reconciled them to Himself (Romans 5:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Matt 5:44–45But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,
- John 13:35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- Prov 19:17He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him.
- Rom 5:8–10But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
- Ps 145:9Yahweh is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.
- 2 Cor 8:9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
- Prov 22:9He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor.
- Ps 112:5It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment.
- Lev 25:35–37“‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you; then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident.
- 1 Jn 4:7–11Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God.
- Ps 37:26All day long he deals graciously, and lends. His offspring is blessed.
- John 15:8“In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.
- 1 Jn 3:10–14In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn’t do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn’t love his brother.
- Acts 14:17Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
- Luke 1:32He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David,
- Luke 6:27–31“But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
- Mark 5:7and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don’t torment me.”
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 6:35 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.