Luke 6:28 tells you to speak good over people who curse you and to pray for those who mistreat you. Jesus is not asking you to enjoy their unkindness or pretend it did not hurt. He is describing a way of responding that answers hostility with goodness, the way God Himself treats people. Jesus spoke these words in the Sermon on the Plain, addressing His disciples and the crowds gathered around Him in Luke 6:17 to 19.
Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
Luke 6:28 (WEB)
What Luke 6:28 Means
The first command, “bless those who curse you,” takes its meaning from the Greek word for speaking well of someone. When people curse you with words meant to harm, you are asked to answer with words that seek their good. This is not flattery or pretending they are right. It is a deliberate choice about what comes out of your mouth when you have every reason to return the insult.
The second command, “pray for those who mistreat you,” moves the response from speech into the presence of God. Prayer for an opponent is hard because it asks you to bring their name before the Lord with honesty about the wrong they did, and still ask for their good. The verse does not promise that the person will change, reconcile, or even stop the behavior. It describes what your own heart does when you hand the situation to God.
The Context of Luke 6:28
The Gospel of Luke was written by a physician and companion of Paul, traditionally identified as Luke, for a largely Gentile audience, probably including a named reader, Theophilus. In Luke 6:25 and 26 Jesus has just pronounced woes on those who are comfortable and admired, which sets up a contrast: the disciples are to live differently from a culture that rewards self-protection and reciprocity.
Verse 28 sits in a run of commands that rise in difficulty. Loving enemies and doing good come first, then blessing and praying, then turning the other cheek and giving freely even to a thief. Verse 31 gives the summary, the Golden Rule. Read in that sequence, Luke 6:28 is not an isolated pious sentiment but one step in a demanding picture of mercy that mirrors the Father’s own kindness, which Jesus names in verse 35.
Key Phrases in Luke 6:28
Romans 12:14
Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’t curse.
(WEB)
Paul gives nearly the same command to the believers in Rome, showing that blessing persecutors was not a teaching Jesus kept to Himself but a shared expectation in the early church. Reading it beside Luke 6:28 confirms that this response is central to following Christ.
Matthew 5:44
But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you…
(WEB)
Matthew records the same teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, placing praying for enemies at the heart of what it means to be children of the Father. Comparing the two Gospel accounts helps you see the command in its fullness.
A Short Prayer From Luke 6:28
Lord, you know the people who have spoken against me and the ways they have hurt me. I confess that my first desire is to protect myself and return what I have received. Give me words that bless rather than wound, and help me name the good in them that you see. Pray through me for those who mistreat me, and bring them your peace and your truth. Work in my heart as well, so that bitterness does not take root there. I trust you with what I cannot fix. Amen.
