68 Bible Verses about Love Your Enemy

Luke 6:27 ESV / 54 helpful votes

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

Matthew 5:43-48 ESV / 47 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so 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. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ...

Romans 12:20-21 ESV / 23 helpful votes

To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Matthew 5:9 ESV / 22 helpful votes

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Matthew 5:44 ESV / 17 helpful votes

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Romans 12:19 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 10 helpful votes

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ...

Romans 5:8 ESV / 10 helpful votes

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Leviticus 19:18 ESV / 9 helpful votes

You 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.

1 John 3:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

John 3:36 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Ephesians 6:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Romans 12:12 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Luke 6:35 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Matthew 7:12 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 5:48 ESV / 5 helpful votes

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:43 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

Matthew 5:43-45 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so 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.

Matthew 5:43-44 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Matthew 5:40-48 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give 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.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ...

Matthew 5:22 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Matthew 5:1-48 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. ...

Malachi 2:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

Leviticus 19:13 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

1 John 3:15 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

John 3:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Matthew 25:31-46 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ...

Matthew 5:28 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 1:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,

1 John 2:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 Peter 5:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Romans 12:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Romans 1:18-23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ...

Mark 16:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

Mark 16:12-13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

Mark 16:9-11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

[[Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

Matthew 28:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Malachi 3:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Jeremiah 10:1-25 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” ...

Isaiah 53:1-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. ...

Proverbs 15:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

Proverbs 15:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Psalm 116:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful.

Psalm 103:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Psalm 16:1-11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A Miktam of David. Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. ...

Psalm 11:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Psalm 7:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.

Leviticus 18:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

Exodus 23:4-5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

Exodus 20:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

Genesis 3:1-24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ...

1 John 3:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

Hebrews 1:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Romans 13:1-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ...

Romans 11:33 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Romans 9:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

Romans 6:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 5:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Romans 1:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 1:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Acts 10:43 ESV / 2 helpful votes

To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

John 8:58 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

John 4:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Luke 23:34 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Proverbs 25:1-28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied. It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable. Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel; take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness. ...

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