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What the Bible says
What Does the Bible Say About Jealousy?
The Bible warns that jealousy and envy corrode the heart, and calls us instead to contentment, love, and rejoicing in the good of others.
Envy is the ache of wanting what someone else has, and Scripture says it rots the bones and stirs up strife. It springs from forgetting God's goodness to us and comparing our lives to others.
The cure for jealousy is love and contentment. Real love does not envy; it rejoices with those who rejoice. As we trust God's care for our own lives, we are freed to celebrate what He gives to others.
Key Bible verses
“A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.”
Proverbs 14:30 · King James Version (public domain)
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.”
1 Corinthians 13:4 · 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)
“Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Galatians 5:26 · King James Version (public domain)
How this points to Jesus
Jesus was free from envy, secure in His Father's love, giving rather than grasping. In Him we find our identity and worth settled, so we no longer need what others have to feel whole. His love, poured into us, replaces the ache of envy with the joy of contentment and genuine gladness for others.