Word study
Covet
2 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: covet, coveted, covets, coveting. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “covet” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חָמַד châmaddesire, take pleasure intranslated this way 7 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s H2530Verb · Translated: covet 6, delight 2, desire 2, precious 2Full study and all 22 verses →
Exodus 20:17 You 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.”
Deuteronomy 5:21 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.”
- אָוָה âvâhincline, desiretranslated this way 2 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s H183Verb · Translated: desires 4, desire 3, desired 3, crave 2Full study and all 25 verses →
Deuteronomy 5:21 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.”
Proverbs 21:26 All day long he covets more, but the righteous give without restraint.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐπιθυμέω epithyméōI long for, covet, lust aftertranslated this way 3 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G1937Verb · Translated: long 3, longed 2, covet 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Acts 20:33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.
Romans 7:7 What 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.”
- ζηλόω zēlóōI am jealous, eager fortranslated this way 1 time of its 12 uses · Strong’s G2206Verb · Translated: zealous 3, jealous 2, eagerly desire 2Full study and all 11 verses →
James 4:2 You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask.
- ἐπιθυμία epithymíadesire, eagerness for, inordinate desire, lusttranslated this way 1 time of its 37 uses · Strong’s G1939Noun · Translated: desires 17, passions 6, desire 5, evil desires 3Full study and all 36 verses →
Romans 7:7 What 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.”
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.