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.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Moses addresses the Israelite assembly at the plains of Moab, recounting the Decalogue originally delivered by Yahweh at Sinai. The command follows the prohibition against false witness and precedes the statement that God spoke these words directly to the congregation.

The words — תַחְמֹד (tachmod) and תִתְאַוֶּה (tit'aveh) denote the internal acts of coveting and desiring. The Hebrew syntax explicitly lists the neighbor’s wife first, followed by house, field, servants, and livestock.

The thread — The prohibition appears in Exodus 20:17 with a reversed sequence of listed items, is cited in Romans 13:9 as a summary of the law, and finds a narrative parallel in 1 Kings 21:1 regarding Ahab’s desire for Naboth’s vineyard.

Why it lands — The text demands the renunciation of internal longing for what belongs to another. It requires a reader to confront private desires before they manifest as external actions.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְלֹ֥אve./Lo'and/ not תַחְמֹ֖דtach.Modyou must covet אֵ֣שֶׁת'E.shet[the] wife of רֵעֶ֑ךָ סre.'E./khaneighbor/ your וְלֹ֨אve./Lo'and/ not תִתְאַוֶּ֜הtit.'a.Vehyou must desire בֵּ֣יתbeit[the] house of רֵעֶ֗ךָre.'E./khaneighbor/ your שָׂדֵ֜הוּsa.De./hufield/ his וְעַבְדּ֤וֹve./'av.D/oand/ [male] servant/ his וַאֲמָתוֹ֙va./'a.ma.T/oand/ female servant/ his שׁוֹר֣וֹsho.R/oox/ his וַחֲמֹר֔וֹva./cha.mo.R/oand/ donkey/ his וְכֹ֖לve./Kholand/ all אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherthat לְרֵעֶֽךָ׃ סle./re.'E./kha[belongs] to/ neighbor/ your

King James Version

Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Cross-references

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.”
Romans 13:9 The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
1 Kings 21:1 Some time after these events, Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard in Jezreel next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
Luke 12:15 And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Micah 2:2 They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance.
1 Timothy 6:9 Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
Habakkuk 2:9 Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!
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.”
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”