To detest (especially to persecute); by extension, to love less
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μισέω (miseō) means to hate, detest, reject, oppose, or, in a contrast of loyalties, to love less. Context must decide whether it describes active hostility, relational rejection, persecution, comparative preference, or moral repudiation.
Reader summary
Full entry for μισέω (G3404) · Open the biblical lexicon
μισέω (miseō) means to hate, detest, reject, oppose, or, in a contrast of loyalties, to love less. Context must decide whether it describes active hostility, relational rejection, persecution, comparative preference, or moral repudiation.
The BSB source-word alignment has 40 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include hates (11), Hate (8), hated (8), he will hate (2), [and] hating (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 5:43. Its strongest book concentrations include John (12), Luke (7), 1 John (5), Matthew (5).
μισέω (miseō) means to hate, detest, reject, oppose, or, in a contrast of loyalties, to love less. Context must decide whether it describes active hostility, relational rejection, persecution, comparative preference, or moral repudiation. Jesus commands disciples to love enemies and do good to those who hate them. He also says a disciple must ‘hate’ father, mother, spouse, children, siblings, and even life in comparison with allegiance to Him, language clarified by His wider teaching on honoring family and by parallel priority sayings.
John records the world’s hatred of Jesus and His followers, then First John exposes hatred of a brother as murderous darkness incompatible with eternal life. Hebrews praises the Son for loving righteousness and hating wickedness. The verb therefore is not uniformly sinful: hatred of evil differs from hatred of a person made in God’s image, and comparative allegiance differs from abusive hostility.
It cannot be softened to ‘love less’ in every occurrence, nor may Jesus’ family saying be used to encourage cruelty, abandonment, or cultic isolation.
μισέω ranges from personal hostility and persecution to comparative rejection and moral repudiation. The selected passages distinguish enemy love, supreme allegiance to Christ, the world’s opposition, murderous brother-hatred, and the Son’s hatred of wickedness.
But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
Jesus answers hatred with commanded love and concrete good. Enemy love does not rename hostility or remove the need for safety; it refuses retaliation and imitates the mercy of the Most High.
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.
Within Jesus’ cost-of-discipleship summons, ‘hate’ creates a severe loyalty contrast: no family tie or self-preservation may outrank Him. It does not cancel commands to love, honor, provide for, and protect family members.
If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.
Jesus prepares disciples for opposition rooted in the world’s rejection of Him. The verse gives solidarity and perspective, not permission to call every criticism persecution or to seek hostility as proof of faithfulness.
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.
John traces murder’s moral root into settled hatred within the community. The warning follows Cain’s example and moves toward Christ’s self-giving love and material care for a brother in need.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You above Your companions with the oil of joy.”
The royal Son’s hatred has wickedness as its object and stands beside love of righteousness. Moral opposition to evil belongs to His just reign and must not be confused with personal malice.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. To hate intensely; also means to love less or regard as inferior by comparison.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 42 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I hate, detest
Read verseI hate, detest
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Read verseI hate, detest
Read verseI hate, detest
Read verseI hate, detest
Read verseI hate, detest
Read verseI hate, detest
Read verseI hate, detest
Read verseI hate, detest
Read verseI hate, detest
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Read verseI hate, detest
Read verseI hate, detest
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 35 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 6 selected witnesses from 40 lexical occurrence verses.
Expresses covenant priority of Christ above all relationships. 1 John 2:7-11
World's moral hostility toward divine testimony. 1 John 4:17-21
Hatred is not merely emotional irritation but relational opposition that contradicts life in the light. Luke 14:25–35
Hatred contradicts claims of loving the unseen God.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Hatred reveals what love rejects, but Scripture does not treat every rejection alike. Jesus commands active good toward people who hate His disciples, refusing the cycle in which hostility becomes moral permission for retaliation. His command to ‘hate’ family and life sounds in a different register. It tests ultimate allegiance: even the most intimate bond cannot displace the Lord who gives every relationship its rightful order.
John then shows actual hatred toward persons. The world rejects Jesus and those who bear His word, while hatred within the church belongs to Cain’s murderous pattern. Hebrews gives a righteous object for rejection: the Son loves righteousness and hates wickedness. Churches must therefore oppose evil without cultivating contempt for people. They may set boundaries, report crimes, practice discipline, and protect victims while still refusing vengeance and dehumanization.
They must also reject leaders who demand family abandonment as proof of loyalty. Christian love is not moral neutrality, and hatred of wickedness is not an excuse for cruelty. The cross exposes the world’s hatred and displays God’s love for enemies, forming a people who tell the truth about evil while seeking repentance, justice, and good.
Luke.6.27
The verb can carry full hostility or function within an antithetical preference construction, ‘love one and hate the other.’ Comparative force is established by the contrast and wider discourse, not built into the verb in every text. Objects also matter: hating wickedness and hating a brother are morally opposite uses.
The Old Testament commands love of neighbor, protection of the enemy’s welfare, and hatred of evil, while covenant love-and-hate contrasts can mark election or loyalty. The Psalms bring hostile opposition before God rather than authorizing private vengeance. Jesus commands enemy love, bears unjust hatred, and forms a people who reject wickedness while overcoming evil with good.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain