Matthew 5:44 teaches that followers of Jesus are to love their enemies, return blessing for cursing, do good to those who hate them, and pray for those who mistreat them. Jesus is not describing a feeling you must manufacture but a deliberate set of practices aimed at the good of the person who has wronged you. He spoke these words in the Sermon on the Mount, addressing his disciples and the crowds gathered on the hillside in Galilee.
But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you…
Matthew 5:44 (WEB)
What Matthew 5:44 Means
The verse begins with “love your enemies,” which is the central command. In Greek the word for love here (agapate) describes a committed choice to seek another person’s good, not an emotional warmth you have to summon. Jesus then unpacks what that looks like in four concrete actions: bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat and persecute you. Each one is something you can do even when you do not like the person at all.
What the verse does not promise is that the enemy will change, become kind, or stop hurting you. It also does not require you to trust someone who has harmed you or to pretend the harm did not happen. The command concerns how you act and what you pray, and it asks you to refuse the cycle of retaliation. It is a call to righteousness of the heart, not a guarantee of a happy outcome.
The Context of Matthew 5:44
Matthew’s Gospel was written for a community that was largely Jewish, probably in the decades after the fall of Jerusalem, and it presents Jesus as the teacher who fulfills and deepens the Law. In the verses just before this one, Jesus quotes the familiar instruction to love your neighbor and then adds the phrase “hate your enemy,” which was a common inference drawn from the Old Testament but not what Leviticus 19:18 actually says. Jesus corrects that narrow reading and widens the circle of neighborly love to include the very people you would prefer to avoid.
The verses that follow reinforce the point. Jesus says God makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust, and that loving only those who love you earns no special reward, since even tax collectors do that. Read this way, Matthew 5:44 is the high point of a passage about going beyond ordinary reciprocity, so that your conduct reflects the generous character of your Father in heaven.
Key Phrases in Matthew 5:44
Romans 12:20
Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
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Paul draws on the same ethic of practical kindness toward an enemy, showing how feeding a hungry enemy and giving him water becomes a way of overcoming evil with good. Reading it beside Matthew 5:44 shows that Jesus’ command was a shared teaching among his followers.
Luke 23:34
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots.
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This verse shows Jesus praying for those who crucified him, the clearest example of the love for enemies he taught. Reading it alongside Matthew 5:44 reveals that the command was not only spoken but lived by the one who gave it.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 5:44
Lord Jesus, you asked your followers to love those who hurt them, and you showed what that love looks like on the cross. I confess that my heart often wants to hold on to what others have done to me. Give me the grace to bless those who speak against me, to do good where I have been wronged, and to pray honestly for those who mistreat me. Soften what is hard in me, and let your love flow through me toward those I find hardest to love. Amen.