Matthew 5:44 (DRB)

Passage

But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you:

Nearby Context

Matthew 5:42 Give to him that asketh of thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away.

Matthew 5:43 You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy.

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you:

Matthew 5:45 That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.

Matthew 5:46 For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? do not even the publicans this?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "love", "enemies", "good", "hate", "pray", "persecute", and "calumniate". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "love" and "enemies", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 43's "You have heard that it hath been..." into verse 45's "That you may be the children of...", so "love" and "enemies" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "love" and "enemies" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.