Luke 6:35

35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Luke 6:35 in Other Translations

35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.

35 "I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You'll never - I promise - regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we're at our worst.

35 But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is gracious to the ungrateful and evil.

Luke 6:35 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 6:35

But love ye your enemies
As before urged in ( Luke 6:27 )

and do good and lend;
not to your friends only, but to your enemies;

hoping for nothing again;
either principal or interest, despairing of seeing either; lending to such persons, from whom, in all appearance, it is never to be expected again. The Persic version renders it, "that ye may not cause any to despair": and the Syriac version, "that ye may not cut off", or "cause to cease the hope of men"; and the Arabic version, "that ye do not deceive the hope of any" that is, by sending such away, without lending to them, who come big with expectations of succeeding:

and your reward shall be great:
God will bless you in your worldly substance here, and will not forget your beneficence hereafter:

and ye shall be the children of the Highest:
that is of God; one of whose names is (Nwyle) "the Most High"; ( Psalms 82:6 ) the meaning is, that such who from principles of grace, and with right views do such acts of kindness and beneficence to their fellow creatures and Christians, shall be, made manifest, and declared to be the children of God; since they will appear to be born of him, and made partakers of the divine nature, and bear a resemblance to him, by their imitating him:

for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil;
by causing his sun to rise, and his rain to fall on them, as on the righteous and the good; for as Jews ^F23 observe,

``there is no difference with him, whether on the right hand or the left; for he is gracious, and does good, even to the ungodly.''

And elsewhere they say ^F24, that

``he does good, and feeds the righteous and the ungodly.''

---

FOOTNOTES:

F23 R. Abraham ben Dior in Sepher Jetzira, p. 19.
F24 Zohar in Exod. fol. 69. 2, 3.

Luke 6:35 In-Context

33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.

34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.

35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Cross References

• 1. ver 27
• 2. S Romans 8:14
• 3. S Mark 5:7