Jealousy

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

General scriptures concerning

• Proverbs 6:34 For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.
• Proverbs 27:4 Wrath is cruel and anger is like a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?
• Ecclesiastes 4:4 I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
• Ecclesiastes 8:6 For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.

Law concerning, when husband is jealous for his wife

• Numbers 5:12–31 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him by sleeping with another man, and it is concealed from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she was not caught in the act), and if a feeling of jealous…

Image of

• Ezekiel 8:3–4 He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated. And there I saw t…

Attributed to God

• Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
• Exodus 34:13–14 Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles. For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
• Numbers 25:11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the Israelites; for he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in My zeal.
• Deuteronomy 29:20 The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven
• Deuteronomy 32:16 They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.
• Deuteronomy 32:21 They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.
• 1 Kings 14:22 And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and by the sins they committed they provoked Him to jealous anger more than all their fathers had done.
• Psalm 78:58 They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.
• Psalm 79:5 How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
• Isaiah 30:1–2 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin. They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s…

See Anthropomorphisms

An envious spirit

• Romans 10:19 I ask instead, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says: “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation without understanding.”
• Romans 11:11 I ask then, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Certainly not! However, because of their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.

See Emulation

See Envy

Figurative

• 2 Corinthians 11:2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

Instances of

Cain, of Abel

• Genesis 4:5–6 but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. “Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen?
• Genesis 4:8 Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Sarah, of Hagar

• Genesis 16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

Joseph's brothers, of Joseph

• Genesis 37:4–11 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain…
• Genesis 37:18–28 Now Joseph’s brothers saw him in the distance, and before he arrived, they plotted to kill him. “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to one another. “Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of hi…

Saul, of David

• 1 Samuel 18:8–30 And Saul was furious and resented this song. “They have ascribed tens of thousands to David,” he said, “but only thousands to me. What more can he have but the kingdom?” And from that day forward Saul kept a jealous eye on David. The next day a spirit of distress sent from God came upon Saul, and h…
• 1 Samuel 19:8–24 When war broke out again, David went out and fought the Philistines and struck them with such a mighty blow that they fled before him. But as Saul was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, a spirit of distress from the LORD came upon him. While David was playing the harp, Saul tried to p…
• 1 Samuel 20:24–34 So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat. He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner, but David’s place was empty. Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially uncle…

Joab, of Abner

• 2 Samuel 3:24–27 So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Look, Abner came to you. Why did you dismiss him? Now he is getting away! Surely you realize that Abner son of Ner came to deceive you and to track your movements and all that you are doing.” As soon as Joab had left David, he sent messengers…

Nathan, of Adonijah

• 1 Kings 1:24–26 “My lord the king,” said Nathan, “did you say, ‘Adonijah will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne’? For today he has gone down and sacrificed an abundance of oxen, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the sons of the king, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And…

Ephraimites, of Gideon

• Judges 8:1 Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you done this to us? Why did you fail to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him violently.

Of Jephthah

• Judges 12:1 Then the men of Ephraim assembled and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down with you inside!”

The brother of the prodigal son

• Luke 15:25–32 Meanwhile the older son was in the field, and as he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what was going on. ‘Your brother has returned,’ he said, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound.’ The older…

Sectional, between Israel and the tribe of Judah

• 2 Samuel 19:41–43 Soon all the men of Israel came to the king and asked, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, take you away secretly and bring the king and his household across the Jordan, together with all of David’s men?” And all the men of Judah replied to the men of Israel, “We did this because the king is o…