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Bible Verses About Jealousy and Envy
What does the Bible say about jealousy and envy? That they poison the heart, and that contentment and love are the antidote. Proverbs 14:30, James 3:16, 1 Corinthians 13:4 are among the clearest passages.
Bible verses about jealousy and envy
“A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.”
Proverbs 14:30 · King James Version (public domain)
“For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
James 3:16 · King James Version (public domain)
“Charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.”
1 Corinthians 13:4 · King James Version (public domain)
“Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Galatians 5:26 · King James Version (public domain)
“Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?”
Proverbs 27:4 · King James Version (public domain)
Scripture warns that envy is a flood no one can easily stand before, so we bring it to God.
“Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.”
Proverbs 23:17 · King James Version (public domain)
Rather than envy sinners, we are told to keep the fear of the Lord all the day long.
“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,”
1 Peter 2:1 · King James Version (public domain)
We are called to lay aside envy along with malice and guile as things that no longer fit us.
“Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:21 · King James Version (public domain)
Envyings are listed among the works of the flesh that we are meant to leave behind.
“Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.”
Psalms 37:1 · King James Version (public domain)
We need not fret or grow envious over those who seem to prosper in wrongdoing.
“For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.”
Job 5:2 · King James Version (public domain)
Envy is shown to quietly kill the one who nurses it, so it is worth releasing.
“For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”
1 Corinthians 3:3 · King James Version (public domain)
Paul names envying as a sign of walking as mere flesh rather than in the Spirit.
“For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.”
Matthew 27:18 · King James Version (public domain)
It was for envy that Jesus was handed over, showing how deadly this sin can grow, yet He bore it for us.
“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
Romans 13:14 · King James Version (public domain)
The cure for envy is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and stop feeding the flesh.
How these verses point to Christ
These verses are not slogans to prop yourself up. Every true word the Bible speaks about jealousy and envy finds its yes in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). He is where jealousy and envy, rightly understood, was always leading; come to Him and receive what no verse alone can give.
You do not have to carry this alone
On The Living Bread you can read these passages in full, ask Simon what they mean, hear how Christ has met others in the same place, and pray them with a community that will pray for you by name. You are welcome exactly as you are.
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