“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.”
King James Version (KJV)
5:43 Thou shalt love thy neighbour; And hate thy enemy - God spoke the former part; the scribes added the latter. #Lev 19:18|.
Mt 5:43 Thou shalt love thy neighbour. See Le 19:18. The Jews gave the command a very limited application. For Christ's application, see parable of the Good Samaritan (Lu 10:30-37). It embraces any one so near us as to need and to receive our acts of kindness. Hate thine enemy. A Jewish perversion of the meaning of De 23:6. It exhibits the spirit of the whole heathen world. Plato praises the Athenians because they hated the Persians more than any of the other Greeks.