You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’
Parallel translations
- WEB “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
- KJV Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
- NKJV “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
- NASB “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
- NLT “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.
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 recalls the saying, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' It sets up His radical command to love even enemies.
Overview
While 'love your neighbor' is from the Law, the added 'hate your enemy' was a human distortion not found in Scripture. Jesus exposes this corruption to prepare for His sweeping command of love. He restores and deepens the Law's true intent regarding our treatment of others.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Lev 19:18Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
- Ps 139:21–22Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You?
- Gal 5:13–14For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.
- Matt 19:19honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Rom 13:8–10Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
- Deut 23:6You are not to seek peace or prosperity from them as long as you live.
- Jas 2:8If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
- Mark 12:31–34The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
- Matt 22:39–40And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
- Ps 41:10But You, O LORD, be gracious to me and raise me up, that I may repay them.
- Luke 10:27–29He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Exod 17:14–16Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
- Matt 5:21You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
- Deut 25:17Remember what the Amalekites did to you along your way from Egypt,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 5:43 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.