You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or field, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
- KJV 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.
- NKJV ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’
- NASB ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male slave or his female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’
- NLT “You must not covet your neighbor’s wife. You must not covet your neighbor’s house or land, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. The tenth commandment reaches the desires of the heart.
Overview
God forbids the inward craving for what belongs to another, exposing the sins of the heart behind outward acts. This commandment shows that God's law is spiritual, addressing motives, not just deeds. Paul testifies that this command revealed his sin, driving him to the grace found only in Christ (Romans 7:7-25).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Exod 20:17You 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.”
- Rom 13:9The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
- 1 Kgs 21:1–4Some time later, Naboth the Jezreelite happened to own a vineyard in Jezreel next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
- Luke 12:15And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
- 1 Tim 6:9–10Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
- Mic 2:2They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance.
- Hab 2:9Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!
- Heb 13:5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
- Rom 7:7–8What 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.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 5:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.