100 Bible Verses about Hating Your Enemy

Matthew 5:43-48 ESV / 44 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? ...

Matthew 5:44 ESV / 30 helpful votes

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

Leviticus 19:18 ESV / 15 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.

Matthew 5:1-48 ESV / 14 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. ...

John 3:16 ESV / 12 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 5:48 ESV / 12 helpful votes

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

1 John 4:8 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Matthew 5:38-42 ESV / 11 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 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.

James 2:14 ESV / 9 helpful votes

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

2 Corinthians 3:6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Matthew 5:21-22 ESV / 8 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 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.

Exodus 20:8-11 ESV / 8 helpful votes

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Galatians 3:28 ESV / 7 helpful votes

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 5:19 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:17 ESV / 7 helpful votes

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Psalm 139:19-22 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Galatians 5:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Acts 2:38 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Deuteronomy 4:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.

1 John 3:8 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

1 Timothy 1:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,

Ephesians 5:25 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Galatians 6:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 3:25 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

Galatians 3:24 ESV / 5 helpful votes

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

Galatians 2:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

1 Corinthians 7:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

John 14:15 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Matthew 5:43 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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

Matthew 5:39 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Matthew 5:27-30 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Matthew 5:27-28 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 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 5:18 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Isaiah 46:11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.

James 5:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Hebrews 7:19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

(for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

Galatians 5:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

Galatians 3:27 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Galatians 3:26 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

Galatians 3:19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.

Galatians 3:12 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”

Galatians 3:1-29 ESV / 4 helpful votes

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— ...

Romans 13:8-10 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Acts 23:12-14 ESV / 4 helpful votes

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul.

John 15:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 14:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 8:32 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 5:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes

This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Luke 22:20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Matthew 5:45 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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 5:38 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’

Matthew 5:33-37 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 5:31-32 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 5:31 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’

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 5:27 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’

Matthew 5:22 ESV / 4 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 5:21 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’

Matthew 5:21-26 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 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. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. ...

Matthew 5:17-20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

Ezekiel 11:19-21 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”

Isaiah 5:1-30 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. ...

Proverbs 16:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Psalm 97:10 ESV / 4 helpful votes

O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Exodus 20:1-26 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 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, ...

Exodus 19:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

Revelation 22:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

Revelation 12:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

1 John 3:16 ESV / 3 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.

1 John 3:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

1 John 2:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

2 Peter 3:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.

2 Peter 3:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

As he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

2 Peter 3:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,

James 2:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

James 2:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.

James 1:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Hebrews 13:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Hebrews 10:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

Hebrews 10:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Hebrews 10:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

Hebrews 9:1-28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. ...

Hebrews 8:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Hebrews 8:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

Hebrews 8:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

Hebrews 8:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

Hebrews 8:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

Hebrews 7:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.

Hebrews 7:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.

Galatians 3:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.

Galatians 3:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Galatians 3:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

Acts 1:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

John 15:1-27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ...

John 1:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Mark 10:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”

Proverbs 19:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

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