30 Bible Verses about Loving Your Enemies

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

bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Therefore [in] all [things], whatever you want that people should do to you, thus also you do to them. For this is the law and the prophets.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God.

Bless those who persecute, bless and do not curse [them]. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Think the same [thing] toward one another; {do not think arrogantly}, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise {in your own sight}.read more.
Pay back no one evil for evil. Take thought for [what is] good in the sight of all people. If [it is] possible on your [part], be at peace with all people. Do not take revenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to [God's] wrath, for it is written, "Vengeance [is] mine, I will repay," says the Lord. But "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him [something] to drink; for [by] doing this, you will heap up coals of fire upon his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

If your enemy [is] hungry, feed him bread, and if thirsty, let him drink water. For coals of fire you will heap upon his head, and Yahweh will reward you.

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend expecting back nothing, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

If you see the donkey of your enemy lying down under its burden, you will refrain from abandoning him. You will surely arrange [it] with him.

All your [actions] must be done in love.

Children, yet a little [time] I am with you. You will seek me and just as I said to the Jews, "Where I am going you cannot come," now I say also to you. "A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another--just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples--if you have love for one another."

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a ringing brass gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have [the gift of] prophecy and I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that [I can] remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I parcel out all my possessions, and if I hand over my body in order that I will be burned, but do not have love, it benefits [me] nothing.read more.
Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous, [it] does not boast, [it] does not become conceited, [it] does not behave dishonorably, [it] {is not selfish}, [it] does not become angry, [it] does not keep a record of wrongs, [it] does not rejoice at unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, bears all [things], believes all [things], hopes all [things], endures all [things]. Love never ends. But if [there are] prophecies, they will pass away. If [there are] tongues, they will cease. If [there is] knowledge, it will pass away.

Love must be without hypocrisy. Abhor what [is] evil; be attached to what [is] good, being devoted to one another in brotherly love, esteeming one another [more highly] in honor, not lagging in diligence, being enthusiastic in spirit, serving the Lord,

Blessed [are] the pure in heart, because they will see God. Blessed [are] the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God. Blessed [are] those who are persecuted because of righteousness, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.read more.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute [you] and say all kinds of evil things against you, lying on account of me. Rejoice and be glad, because your reward [is] great in heaven, for in the [same] way they persecuted the prophets before you.

Do not say "I will repay evil"; wait for Yahweh and he will deliver you.

But the one who endures to the end--this person will be saved.

And he said to them, "Go [and] tell that fox, 'Behold, I am expelling demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third [day] I will complete [my work].' Nevertheless, it is necessary [for] me to be on the way today and tomorrow and on the next [day], because it is not possible [for] a prophet to perish outside Jerusalem. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How many times I wanted to gather your children together {the way} a hen [gathers] her own brood under [her] wings, and you were not willing!read more.
Behold, your house has been left to you! And I tell you, you will never see me until [the time] will come when you say, 'Blessed [is] the one who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

But turning to them, Jesus said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children! For behold, days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed [are] the barren, and the wombs that did not give birth, and [the] breasts that did not nurse!' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!'read more.
For if they do these [things] {when the wood is green}, what will happen {when it is dry}?" And two other criminals were also led away to be executed with him. And when they came to the place that is called "The Skull," there they crucified him, and the criminals, the one on [his] right and the other on [his] left. [[But Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."]] And they cast lots to divide his clothes. And the people stood there watching, but the rulers also ridiculed [him], saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if this [man] is the Christ of God, the Chosen One!" And the soldiers also mocked him, coming up [and] offering him sour win and saying, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!"

Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand about the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, [you] who received the law by directions of angels and have not observed [it]!" Now [when they] heard these [things], they were infuriated in their hearts and gnashed [their] teeth at him.read more.
But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven [and] saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" But crying out with a loud voice, they stopped their ears and rushed at him with one purpose. And [after they] had driven [him] out of the city, they began to stone [him], and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they kept on stoning Stephen [as he] was calling out and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" And falling to [his] knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" And [after he] said this, he fell asleep.

While your enemies are falling, do not rejoice; when he trips himself, may your heart not be glad lest Yahweh see and [it] be evil in his eyes, and turn his anger away from him. Do not fret because of the evildoers; do not envy the wicked.read more.
For there will not be a future for the evil; the lamp of the wicked will die out.

But you should not have gloated over your brother's day, on the day of his misfortune, and you should not have rejoiced over the {people} of Judah on the day of their perishing, and you should not have opened your mouth wide on the day of distress. You should not have entered the gate of my people on the day of their disaster. You also should not have gloated over his misery on the day of his disaster, and you should not have stretched out [your hands] on the day of his disaster.

"If I have rejoiced at [the] ruin of [the one who] hated me or have exulted when evil overtook him-- no, I have not allowed my mouth to sin, to ask his life with a curse.

Brothers, I do not consider myself to have laid hold of [it]. But [I do] one [thing], forgetting the things behind and straining toward the things ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

"You must not remember [the] former things, and you not must consider [the] former things.

Therefore, if you have been raised together with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not [on] the things on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.read more.
When Christ, [who is] your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

[He who is] slow to anger [has] great understanding, but the hasty of spirit exalts folly.

Consider [it] all joy, my brothers, whenever you encounter various trials, [because you] know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have [its] perfect effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.read more.
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask for [it] from God, who gives to all without reservation and not reproaching, and it will be given to him.

in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, because he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor' and 'Hate your enemy.'

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor' and 'Hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, because he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust.read more.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not the tax collectors also do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing that is remarkable? Do not the Gentiles also do the same? Therefore you be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

"But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from the one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic also.read more.
Give to everyone who asks you, and from the one who takes away your things, do not ask for [them back]. And just as you want people {to do} to you, do {the same} to them. "And if you love those who love you, what kind of credit is [that] to you? For even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good to those who do good to you, what kind of credit is [that] to you? Even the sinners do the same! And if you lend [to those] from whom you expect to receive [back], what kind of credit is [that] to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, so that they may get back an equal [amount]! But love your enemies, and do good, and lend expecting back nothing, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful!