“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall 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.
- BSB You have heard that it was said, ‘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 19:18“‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.
- Ps 139:21–22Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?
- Gal 5:13–14For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.
- Matt 19:19‘Honor your father and your mother.’ And, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Rom 13:8–10Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
- Deut 23:6You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.
- Jas 2:8However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.
- Mark 12:31–34The second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
- Matt 22:39–40A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
- Ps 41:10But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.
- Luke 10:27–29He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
- Exod 17:14–16Yahweh said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky.”
- Matt 5:21“You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’
- Deut 25:17Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came out of Egypt;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.