Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.
- KJV Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
- BSB In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.
- NASB “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
- NLT “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.
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
Treat others as you would want to be treated; this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Love for neighbor fulfills God's righteous standard.
Overview
Known as the Golden Rule, this verse distills the ethical heart of the Sermon and of the Old Testament Scriptures into active love for others. It moves beyond merely avoiding harm to positively seeking others' good as we seek our own. As a summary of 'the law and the prophets,' it points toward the love that Christ himself perfectly embodied and enables in his people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Luke 6:31“As you would like people to do to you, do exactly so to them.
- Rom 13:8–10Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
- 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.
- 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.
- Mark 12:29–34Jesus answered, “The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one:
- Matt 22:39–40A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
- Mic 6:8He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Zech 8:16–17These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates,
- 1 Tim 1:5but the goal of this command is love, out of a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith;
- Amos 5:14–15Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.
- Mal 3:5I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Ezek 18:7–8and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;
- Jer 7:5–6For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;
- Isa 1:17–18Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”
- Zech 7:7–10Aren’t these the words which Yahweh proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”
- Jas 2:10–13For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
- Ezek 18:21“But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 7:12 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.