To covet means to strongly desire something that belongs to someone else—a craving or passionate longing.
Old Testament Usage
In the Old Testament, three different Hebrew words are translated as “covet.” In one version of the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:21), it says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.” The same Hebrew word appears in Proverbs 21:26: “All day long he covets more.” Another Hebrew word suggests a desire for dishonest gain (Habakkuk 2:9). In the Exodus version of the Ten Commandments, a third word is used for craving a neighbor’s wife (Exodus 20:17). This word is also used when Achan coveted the spoils of Ai (Joshua 7:21; compare Micah 2:2). To covet means to desire something so strongly that it becomes more important than love and devotion to God.
New Testament Usage
In the New Testament, a Greek word that literally means “inordinate desire to have more” conveys this idea. The apostle Paul included this kind of covetousness among the earthly attitudes that Christians should get rid of. He wrote, “Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5; compare Ephesians 5:3; 1 Corinthians 6:10).
Covetousness is shown as a serious sin that can lead to many other sins. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:9–10; compare Proverbs 15:27). Covetousness was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1–3; compare 1 Samuel 15:9, 19; Matthew 26:14–15; 2 Peter 2:15; Jude 1:11). Jesus warned, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). Another Greek word translated as “covet” in the King James Version is better translated as “earnestly desire” in a positive sense (1 Corinthians 14:39).
The translators of the Old Testament who produced the Septuagint used yet another Greek word for the three Hebrew words translated as “covet” in English versions. In the New Testament, the verb form of this word is used in both positive and negative ways. It means “to desire or long for,” applying to:
Food (Luke 15:16)
Divine mysteries (Matthew 13:17; 1 Peter 1:12)
Something good (Philippians 1:23; Hebrews 6:11)
Something bad (Matthew 5:28; 1 Thessalonians 4:5; 1 John 2:17)
The noun form of this word generally reflects an attitude of disobedience to God’s law, where desire leads to an evil impulse that results in sin (John 8:44; Romans 1:24; 6:12; 7:7–8; 13:14; Galatians 5:16, 26).