Matthew 5:44 (LSB)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Matthew 5:42 Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Matthew 5:45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matthew 5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "love", "enemies", "pray", and "persecute". 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 was said..." into verse 45's "so that you may be sons 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.