God’s Word Translation
Matthew 5:43
43“You have heard that it was said, ‘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.’
- English Standard Version (ESV)"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall 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.’
Context of Matthew 5:43
41If someone forces you to go one mile, go two miles with him. 42Give to everyone who asks you for something. Don’t turn anyone away who wants to borrow something from you. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ 44But I tell you this: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. 45In this way you show that you are children of your Father in heaven. He makes his sun rise on people whether they are good or evil. He lets rain fall on them whether they are just or 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. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
- Matthew 22:39The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’
- Leviticus 19:18Never get revenge. Never hold a grudge against any of your people. Instead, love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am the Lord.
- Mark 12:31The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
- Luke 10:27He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ ”
- Romans 13:8Pay your debts as they come due. However, one debt you can never finish paying is the debt of love that you owe each other. The one who loves another person has fulfilled Moses’ Teachings.
- Galatians 5:13You were indeed called to be free, brothers and sisters. Don’t turn this freedom into an excuse for your corrupt nature to express itself. Rather, serve each other through love.
- James 2:8You are doing right if you obey this law from the highest authority: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
- Exodus 17:14The Lord said to Moses, “Write this reminder on a scroll, and make sure that Joshua hears it, too: I will completely erase any memory of the Amalekites from the earth.”
- Deuteronomy 23:6Never offer them peace or friendship as long as you live.
- Deuteronomy 25:17Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your trip from Egypt.
- Psalms 41:10Have pity on me, O Lord! Raise me up so that I can pay them back
- Psalms 139:21Shouldn’t I hate those who hate you, O Lord? Shouldn’t I be disgusted with those who attack 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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