English Standard Version
Matthew 5:43
43"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
Matthew 5:43 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
- New International Version (NIV)“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
- New King James Version (NKJV)“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
- New Living Translation (NLT)“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.
Context of Matthew 5:43
41And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Read all of Matthew 5Matthew 5:43 word by word
Ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἐρρέθη· ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου καὶ μισήσεις τὸν ἐχθρόν σου.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- Ye have heardἀκούωakouō · to hearG191
- thatὅτιhoti · that/since: thatG3754
- it hath been saidἐρῶereō · to sayG2046
- Thou shalt loveἀγαπάωagapaō · to loveG25
- thyσύsu · youG4771
- neighbourπλησίονplēsion · near/neighborG4139
- andκαίkai · andG2532
- hateμισέωmiseō · to hateG3404
- enemyἐχθρόςechthros · enemyG2190
Cross-references for Matthew 5:43
- Matthew 19:19Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
- Matthew 22:39And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
- Leviticus 19:18You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
- Mark 12:31The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
- Luke 10:27And he answered, "You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself."
- Romans 13:8Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
- Galatians 5:13For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
- James 2:8If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.
- Exodus 17:14Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."
- Deuteronomy 23:6You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.
- Deuteronomy 25:17"Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt,
- Psalms 41:10But you, O Lord, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them!
- Psalms 139:21Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
Commentaries on Matthew 5:43
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 43Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy - Instead of neighbor, the Codex Graevii, a MS. of the eleventh century, reads friend. Thou shalt love thy friend, and hate thine enemy. This was certainly the meaning which the Jews put on it: for neighbor, with them, implied those of the Jewish race, and all others were, considered by them as natural enemies. Besides, it is evident that , among the Hellenistic Jews, meant friend merely: Christ uses it…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 43Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy - The command to love our neighbor was a law of God, Leviticus 19:18. That we must therefore hate our enemy was an inference drawn from it by the Jews. They supposed that if we loved the one, we must of course hate the other. They were total strangers to that great, special law of religion which requires us to love both. A neighbor is literally one that lives near to…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 43-48Verses 43-48 The Jewish teachers by "neighbour" understood only those who were of their own country, nation, and religion, whom they were pleased to look upon as their friends. The Lord Jesus teaches that we must do all the real kindness we can to all, especially to their souls. We must pray for them. While many will render good for good, we must render good for evil; and this will speak a nobler principle than most men act by. Others salute their…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 43-47Hate your enemy: Jesus is not rejecting the Old Testament. Instead, he is correcting a traditional interpretation that was mistaken (see Exodus 23:4–5). The Old Testament never commands people to “hate your enemy.” The closest verses are in Psalm 139:21–22, where hatred is expressed toward God’s enemies.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 4343. Ye have heard that it hath been said--(Le 19:18). Thou shalt love thy neighbour--To this the corrupt teachers added, and hate thine enemy--as if the one were a legitimate inference from the other, instead of being a detestable gloss, as Bengel indignantly calls it. Lightfoot quotes some of the cursed maxims inculcated by those traditionists regarding the proper treatment of all Gentiles. No wonder that the Romans charged the Jews with hatred of the…Read the comment
Topics related to Matthew 5:43
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Matthew 5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Catena Aurea
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- John Lightfoot Commentary
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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Commentaries