What does the Bible say about envy?

The Bible passages below can be used in sermons, prayers, or pastoral care focused on envy. 

Cain and Abel

• Genesis 4:1-8, envy leads to murder

This passage marks the start of the history of envy. God favors Abel's offering over Cain's, provoking Cain to anger and then to fratricide. The incident is the first in a biblical pattern in which God surprisingly prefers one person over another—typically the younger over the older—and then has to deal with the loser's envy. Think Jacob and Esau, Leah and Rachel, Isaac and Ishmael, Joseph and his brothers. God may have preferred Abel's offering because it really cost Abel something to give it—he gave the choicest cuts from his most valuable stock while Cain brought garden-variety produce. Or God may have preferred Abel's offering out of the blue. To an envier, it doesn't matter. The other person's advantage is unfair either way. 

Resentment of another's ministry 

• Numbers 11:26-28, Joshua responds with envy

This passage describes Joshua's resentment of Eldad and Medad's prophecy. The two of them hadn't gone to the tent of meeting, where the Spirit had inspired the seventy elders to prophesy. They had stayed home from church that day but started prophesying anyhow, and Joshua didn't appreciate it one bit. See also Mark 9:38, where John complains to Jesus about someone from outside their group who was casting out demons in Jesus' name—saying, in effect, "We're the authorized exorcists, as you can see from our T-shirts." 

Moses and Aaron 

• Numbers 16, a group of Israelites envy Moses and Aaron

The story of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (with echoes in Psalm 106:16) tells of God's judgment on those Israelites who envied the leadership of Moses and Aaron. 

Saul and David 

• 1 Samuel 16-31, Saul envies David

These chapters give us the incomparable Saul and David stories. David is a teenager with beautiful eyes who became a giant-killer in his duel with Goliath and therefore a rival to his own sovereign, the stormy King Saul. Saul had been Israel's undisputed war hero. But now this talented rookie is making the crowds roar and the women sing about David's superiority in battle. This made Saul very angry (1 Samuel 18:7-8); in fact, it made him want to kill David. 

Envy poisons 

Several Old Testament texts warn that envy poisons the envier. For example: 

• Job 5:2, results of envy (resentment and envy kill the foolish)
• Proverbs 14:30, results of envy (a peaceful heart gives life, but envy rots the bones)

Evildoers 

Several Old Testament texts caution believers against envying the wicked or evildoers: 

• Psalm 37:1, caution against envy (don't be envious of wrongdoers)
• Proverbs 24:1, 19, caution against envy (don't envy the wicked)

The idea appears to be that envy of the wicked is superfluous. They may appear fat and sassy, but they cannot endure. 

New Testament 

New Testament references to envy are of roughly four sorts: 

1. Vice lists—texts in which envy is an undiscussed item in a list of vices:

   • Romans 13:13
   • 2 Corinthians 12:20
   • Galatians 5:21
   • 1 Timothy 6:4
2. Worldliness exhibits—similarly, texts in which envy is an exhibit of worldliness:
   • 1 Corinthians 3:3
   • James 3:14
   • Titus 3:3
3. Envying Jesus and Paul—texts in which envy is the motive for handing over Jesus to the Romans or for opposing Paul's ministry:
   • Matthew 27:18
   • Mark 15:10
   • Acts 17:5
4. Various instances—texts in which the all-day employees in the vineyard resent advantages given to the latecomers (Matthew 20:15) or the elder brother resents the party thrown for his younger brother (Luke 15:28-30) or Martha resents Mary's sabbatical for study (Luke 10:38-40) or John the Baptist's disciples resent the crowds Jesus is drawing (John 3:22-26) 

Sermon ideas about envy 

Not jealousy 

Is envy the same as jealousy? Despite ordinary usage and meaning in current English, envy in the seven deadly sins tradition is not the same thing as jealousy, which is the keen desire to keep and protect goods one already has. (God wants people's worship not to drift toward idols: God is a jealous God. A husband wants to keep his wife's love for himself; he is properly jealous of it.) 

Not covetousness 

Neither is envy the same as covetousness, which is an unhealthy desire for the goods of another, and thus, classically, a motive to steal. (In the 1930s, the Japanese cast a covetous eye on the natural resources of Manchuria.) 

Not emulation 

Envy is not emulation either—the desire to equal or surpass someone in achievement or quality. ("After hearing Wynton Marsalis, I wanted to go home and practice for hours.") 

Envy vs. gratitude 

Envy's opposite is gratitude to God for the genuine goods with which God blesses others. This is a high calling. Church fathers sometimes commented that it's easier to weep with those who weep than to rejoice with those who rejoice. 

Schadenfreude 

How else can a sermon on envy convey the concept? Envy's natural corollary is what the Germans call Schadenfreude—the enjoyment of others' misfortune. The envier not only sorrows over another's good fortune and wants it to end; he or she also rejoices in another's misfortune and wants it to persist. 

Pure evil 

Nearly all the other seven deadly sins (pride, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony, lust) have an element of pleasure in them. Not envy. It's pure evil, as sickening to the envier as to everybody else. Translation insight about envy 

What can we learn about the meaning of envy in other languages? In Kassem, a language spoken in the African nation of Burkina Faso, the word envy or jealousy is translated wu-guu, which means "inner-being-killer." In the Burkinabé culture, when a person is envious of someone, it hurts his inner being almost to the point of killing him. Envy is more than just wishing to have what the other has; it also means wishing the other person doesn't have it, perhaps leading to violent or destructive behavior.  

Excerpts about envy 

Following are sample excerpts from Zeteosearch.org sermon resources about envy: 

"Envy is the attitude that looks at someone and says, 'Why can't I have what they have?' It is not talking about being properly concerned about keeping your own good relationships or your own good thing, but it is a kind of resentment at other people whom you think do not deserve what you do not have." Article about Scripture (podcast) by David Bast and Scott Hoezee from Groundwork: Biblical Foundations for Life   

"When we are envious, or even ambitious for the purpose of outdoing others, it knocks us off our center and we lose our orientation toward Christ. To his disciples, Jesus presented the model of a child – one who thrives under authority, strives for obedience, and lives in the present. Envy lives in the past and the future, but God's grace is available now." Scripture Meditation or Sermon by Robert Barrom from Word on Fire  

"Though a number of the Fathers cite envy as the first and greatest sin, it never seemed to come up as a spiritual topic. I also realized that it was almost never mentioned in confession. A strange sin – perhaps the greatest and yet held in secret." Article about Theology by Stephen Freeman from Glory to God for All Things