Thou shalt not covet

"Thou shalt not covet" (from Biblical Hebrew: לֹא תַחְמֹד, romanized: Lōʾ t̲aḥmōd̲) is the most common translation of one (or two, depending on the numbering tradition) of the Ten Commandments or Decalogue,^[1] which are widely understood as moral imperatives by legal scholars, Jewish scholars, Catholic scholars, and Protestant scholars.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] The Book of Exodus and the Book of Deuteronomy both describe the Ten Commandments as having been spoken by God,^[6] inscribed on two stone tablets by the finger of God,^[7] and, after Moses broke the original tablets, rewritten by God on replacements.^[8] On rewriting, the word covet (for the neighbour’s house) changed to ‘desire’ (תתאוה).

In traditions that consider the passage a single commandment, the full text reads:

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
— Exodus 20:17

The Catechism of the Catholic Church connects the command against coveting with the command to "love your neighbor as yourself."^[9] Ibn Ezra on the question of "how can't a person covet a beautiful thing in his heart?" wrote that the main purpose of all the commandments is to straighten the heart.^[10]

^ Exodus 20:1–21 and Deuteronomy 5:1–23, Ten Commandments, New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition, Tyndale House, 1982 pp. 1174-1175
^ Posner, Richard A., How Judges Think, Harvard University Press, 2008, p. 322
^ Ten Commandments, New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition, Tyndale House, 1982 pp. 1174-1175
^ Bromiley, Geoffrey W., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1988, p. 117
^ Renewal theology: systematic theology from a charismatic perspective, J. Rodman Williams, 1996 p.240; Making moral decisions: a Christian approach to personal and social ethics, Paul T. Jersild, 1991, p. 24
^ Exodus 20:1
^ "Exodus 31:18, Deuteronomy 9:10, Catholic Catechism 2056". Ten Commandments, New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition. Tyndale House. 1982. pp. 1174–1175.
^ Deuteronomy 10:1–5
^ Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2019. Paragraphs 2514–2533.
^ Sefer Ha-chinukh, Mitzva 416

[1] Exodus 20:1–21 and Deuteronomy 5:1–23, Ten Commandments, New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition, Tyndale House, 1982 pp. 1174-1175

[2] Posner, Richard A., How Judges Think, Harvard University Press, 2008, p. 322

[3] Ten Commandments, New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition, Tyndale House, 1982 pp. 1174-1175

[4] Bromiley, Geoffrey W., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1988, p. 117

[5] Renewal theology: systematic theology from a charismatic perspective, J. Rodman Williams, 1996 p.240; Making moral decisions: a Christian approach to personal and social ethics, Paul T. Jersild, 1991, p. 24

[6] Exodus 20:1

[7] "Exodus 31:18, Deuteronomy 9:10, Catholic Catechism 2056". Ten Commandments, New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition. Tyndale House. 1982. pp. 1174–1175.

[8] Deuteronomy 10:1–5

[9] Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2019. Paragraphs 2514–2533.

[10] Sefer Ha-chinukh, Mitzva 416

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