Matthew 5:38 quotes the old law of retaliation, the principle that punishment should match the injury exactly. Jesus quotes it in order to set it aside, showing that his followers are to respond to wrong with restraint rather than revenge. The words come from Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount, spoken to his disciples and the crowds gathered on the hillside in Galilee.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’
Matthew 5:38 (WEB)
What Matthew 5:38 Means
The phrase “You have heard that it was said” points to the Hebrew Scriptures that his listeners knew well. The principle “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” appears in Exodus 21:23-25, Leviticus 24:19-20 and Deuteronomy 19:21. Those laws were written for judges and courts, limiting how far a penalty could go. They were never meant to license private vengeance, and by Jesus’s time they were often misused to justify it.
Jesus is not denying that the law was given by God. He is correcting how it was being applied in personal life, where people treated the law as permission to hit back harder than they had been hit. The verse does not promise that wrongs will go unanswered or unpunished. It describes how a follower of Jesus should refrain from taking personal revenge, leaving justice in God’s hands.
The Context of Matthew 5:38
Matthew wrote this Gospel for a community that included many Jewish believers, and he presents Jesus as the teacher who fulfills and deepens the law. Just before this verse, Jesus has said he came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them, and the six “you have heard it said… but I tell you” statements that follow show him interpreting the law from the heart. Verse 38 is the fifth of these contrasts.
The verses right after it make the meaning concrete. Jesus speaks of turning the other cheek, giving the cloak along with the coat, and going a second mile when a soldier or official compels you to go one. Read in that setting, the verse is not a rule about lawsuits or assaults alone but a picture of a people who will not let the cycle of injury define their conduct.
Key Phrases in Matthew 5:38
Romans 12:19
Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”
(WEB)
Paul gives the same instruction from another angle, telling believers not to avenge themselves and to leave room for God’s wrath. It explains why restraint is possible: vengeance belongs to God, who sees every wrong more clearly than we ever could.
Proverbs 20:22
Don’t say, “I will pay back evil.” Wait for the LORD, and he will save you.
(WEB)
This proverb warns against saying you will repay evil and urges trust in the Lord to bring justice. It shows that the impulse to retaliate has been recognized and addressed in Scripture long before the Sermon on the Mount.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 5:38
Lord Jesus, you know how quickly I want to pay people back for the hurt they have caused me. I confess that a part of me keeps score and waits for the chance to even things out. Teach me to trust you with justice, so that I do not have to carry every wrong as a debt I must collect. Shape my response to others so that it reflects your patience and mercy, and give me the courage to speak truth without bitterness. Help me to walk the second mile with a heart that is free. Amen.