What Does the Bible Say About Jealousy & Envy?

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. pleasant: Heb. a desire”

“And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: flock: Heb. sheep, or, goats”

“But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”

“And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?”

“And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.”

“And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.”

“And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.”

“But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee . And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. as: Heb. that which is good in thine eyes dealt: Heb. afflicted her”

“And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.”

“Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.”

“And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well.”

“And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.”

“For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. servants: or, husbandry”

“And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,”

“And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?”

“And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.”

“And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes.”

“And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.”

“And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's; and of that which was our father's hath he gotten all this glory.”

“And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.”

“Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.”

“Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.”

“Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.”

“And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.”

“And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.”

“And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. dreamer: Heb. master of dreams”

“Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.”

“Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:”

“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;”

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.”

“But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: images: Heb. statues”

“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:”

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,”

“And a man lie with her carnally , and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;”

“And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:”

“Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.”

“And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD:”

“And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water:”

“And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:”

“And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse: with another: or, being in the power of thy husband: Heb. under thy husband”

“But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:”

“Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; rot: Heb. fall”

“And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.”

“And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:”

“And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.”

“Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the altar:”

“And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.”

“And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.”

“And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.”

“This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;”

“Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.”

“Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.”

“And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.”

“And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. Ethiopian: or, Cushite married: Heb. taken”

“And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD? Ye take: Heb. It is much for you”

“Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. for: Heb. with my zeal”

“For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”

“Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,”

“Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.”

“(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.”

“The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.”

“They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.”

“They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.”

“When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. wedge: Heb. tongue”

“And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.”

“And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply. Why: Heb. What thing is this thou hast done unto us sharply: Heb. strongly”

“And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire. gathered: Heb. were called”

“Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.”

“And the priests' custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand;”

“And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.”

“And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. seem: Heb. be good in thine eyes”

“And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.”

“And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.”

“But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.”

“So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? Is: Heb. Is there peace?”

“And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.”

“And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him.”

“And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. tower: or, secret place”

“But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither. no whither: Heb. not hither or thither”

“And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.”

“Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them. I consulted: Heb. my heart consulted in me”

“And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field.”

“Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.”

“For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one. envy: or, indignation”

“I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.”

“He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.”

“If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;”

“If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; gotten: Heb. found much”

“This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.”

“For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. heart's: Heb. soul's blesseth: or, the covetous blesseth himself, he abhorreth the LORD”

“A Psalm of David. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.”

“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Rest in: Heb. Be silent to”

“Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;”

“For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

“Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.”

“Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.”

“How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.”

“As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.”

“For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.”

“How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?”