⁴³ “You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Love your neighbor^[a] — and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵ Then you will become children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun shine on good and bad people alike, and he sends rain to the righteous and the unrighteous alike. ⁴⁶ What reward do you get if you love only those who love you? Why, even tax-collectors do that!

³⁴ Yeshua said, “Father, forgive them; they don’t understand what they are doing.”

They divided up his clothes by throwing dice.^[a]

⁴⁷ When the Roman officer saw what had happened, he began to praise God and said, “Surely this man was innocent!”