Coveting is forbidden by God and can lead to terrible consequences. It occasionally refers to a commendable earnest desiring.
Coveting is forbidden by God
In the Ten Commandments
Exodus 20:17 parallel Deuteronomy 5:21Romans 7:7–8 Coveting is provoked by the law that forbids it. See also Romans 13:9–10
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
Through the prophets
Isaiah 5:8, Isaiah 57:17; Ezekiel 33:31; Amos 2:6, Amos 5:11–12, Amos 8:5–6; Micah 2:2
In Jesus Christ's teaching
Matthew 6:19–21 See also Luke 12:15
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Coveting has some terrible consequences
2 Samuel 11:2–4 adultery; 1 Kings 21:18–19 murders; Matthew 18:1–3; Mark 9:33–35 parallel Luke 9:46–48; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; Acts 5:3–10 God's judgment
Further examples of coveting
Joshua 7:21 See also Deuteronomy 7:25; Joshua 22:20 Achan; 1 Samuel 2:12–15 Eli's sons; 1 Samuel 8:3 Samuel's sons; 1 Samuel 15:9–10 Saul; Proverbs 30:16; Jeremiah 6:13, Jeremiah 8:10; Habakkuk 2:5 Israel's enemies are likened to the grave, always swallowing people and never satisfied; Acts 8:13–23 Simon the sorcerer
When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
Believers may pray to be free from coveting
Godly people claim not to have coveted
Samuel
Paul
Acts 20:33 See also 1 Corinthians 9:12; 2 Corinthians 7:2, 2 Corinthians 11:9, 2 Corinthians 12:14–18; 1 Thessalonians 2:5
I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.
Coveting as a commendable earnest desiring
A desire for the greater spiritual gifts: 1 Corinthians 12:31, 1 Corinthians 14:1, 1 Corinthians 14:39; 1 Timothy 3:1 a desire to serve in a leadership role in the church
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.