What Does Matthew 5:44 Mean?
But I say to you, love your enemies, speak well over those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who abuse you and pursue you.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;THE KEY
The enemy remains an enemy, but their curse does not dictate the next word: the answer becomes a blessing.
THE MEANING
The person harming you remains plainly named: cursing, hatred, exploitation, and persecution are not softened. Yet hostility does not determine what can come from you; love takes shape as blessing, good action, and prayer directed toward that same person.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an enemy’s hostility gets the final say over the response you can offer.
THE ROOT
εὐλογεῖτε
eulogeite
GROWS FROM
εὐλογέω (eulogeō), from εὖ (eu, “well”) + λογέω (logeō, “speak”)
To speak well of; to bless.
“speak well over” in this verse is eulogeite. The verse places blessing directly against cursing: the answer to harmful speech is speech that seeks good for the same person. English “bless” can sound like a religious formula, while this Greek word carries the sense of speaking well.
ALSO GROWS
eulogia: Blessing; praise or a benefit expressed toward someone.
εὐλογία
This noun shares the verb’s word-family and shows blessing as an expressed good, not merely a private feeling.
eulogētos: Blessed; worthy of praise.
εὐλογητός
This related form carries the same language of speaking well, sharpening the contrast with a curse.
ἀγαπᾶτε
agapate
GROWS FROM
ἀγαπάω
agapaō
To love; to show love or regard.
The verse does not leave love as an inward feeling: it immediately gives it visible forms, blessing, doing good, and praying. Those actions are aimed at the very people named as enemies, so love does not depend on pretending the hostility is absent.
ALSO GROWS
agapē: Love.
ἀγάπη
This noun shares the verb’s stem and names the quality enacted in the verse’s concrete responses.
agapētos: Beloved; loved.
ἀγαπητός
This related word describes someone as loved, illuminating the unexpected direction of the command toward an enemy.
THE PATTERN
Hostility is answered with concrete good that refuses to reproduce the harm.
If the one who hates you hungers, feed him bread; and if he thirsts, give him water to drink.But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.So if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink, for by doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head.THE THREAD
Bless those who pursue you. Bless, and do not curse.Romans uses the same Greek verb, εὐλογεῖτε (eulogeite, “bless”), found here. The shared word makes the response precise: speak good toward the persecutor, even while the persecution is still named.
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