And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

• Ecclesiastes 4:4

I made it beautiful with abundant branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden in the garden of God.

• Ezekiel 31:9

They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,

• Romans 1:29

I am continuing the series of quizzes on the “seven deadly sins: Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, and Sloth.”

We will look at “Envy”.  Questions might pertain to verses that contain the word “envy.”  There are 20 such verses in the NIV.  Jealousy is more common.

The questions are in Biblical order, with only four from the Old Testament.

The Questions:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Eliphaz tells Job that resentment kills a fool, and envy does what to the simple?
2	To whom is Mount Bashan, a mountain East of the Jordan so envious?
3	In Proverbs 3, what is the son taught to not envy?
4	In Proverbs 14, a heart of peace gives life to the body, but what does envy do to the bones?
5	In Mark 7, Jesus speaks of how food corrupts the heart, but what comes out of a person’s heart defiles them.  Name at least two other than envy.
6	Paul tells the Gentiles, in his letter to the Romans, that in bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles, he might provoke some of his own people (the Jews) to envy so that they might what?
7	In 1 Corinthians 13, love is a few things, is not a few things, and does not do four things.  Name at least one of the does not statements other than does not envy.
8	Paul hints to the Galatians what one bad attribute might lead to provoking and envying one another?
9	Paul reminds Titus of what they were before having Jesus come into their hearts.  They now love others and do good works, but they were once what?
10	What does James link with envy that causes disorder and every evil practice.

What is the difference between envy and covetousness?

The difference is in the focus.  We covet an object, but we are envious of the person who has something that we do not have.

The difference is also in the pattern of sin stemming from the initial desire.

When we covet something, we feel lust and greed for the thing that we do not have.  If that festers, we could break the first few commandment if covetousness gets to the point of blaming God for what we do not have.

When we are envious, the focus is upon the person who has what we want.  That leads to anger, which might lead to murderous thoughts, and remember that Jesus broadens the thought of murdering to calling someone a “fool.”  Theft is not off the table.  Or as a next door neighbor’s idea, if it is not locked down, it is not theft because you were begging for someone to steal it, and when it is carefully hidden on the back porch, you are just “borrowing” for a long period of time, hopefully long enough for the wronged neighbor to forget it was theirs in the first place.

But I think God was meaning both definitions when He put Do not covet as the last of the Ten Commandments.  The Tenth Commandment is a bookend, like the First Commandment that can lead to the other commandments in between the bookends.

Bible References:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Eliphaz tells Job that resentment kills a fool, and envy does what to the simple?	Job 5:2
2	To whom is Mount Bashan, a mountain East of the Jordan so envious?	Psalm 68:16
3	In Proverbs 3, what is the son taught to not envy?	Proverbs 3:31
4	In Proverbs 14, a heart of peace gives life to the body, but what does envy do to the bones?	Proverbs 14:30
5	In Mark 7, Jesus speaks of how food corrupts the heart, but what comes out of a person’s heart defiles them.  Name at least two other than envy.	Mark 7:21-22
6	Paul tells the Gentiles, in his letter to the Romans, that in bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles, he might provoke some of his own people (the Jews) to envy so that they might what?	Romans 11:14
7	In 1 Corinthians 13, love is a few things, is not a few things, and does not do four things.  Name at least one of the does not statements other than does not envy.	1 Corinthians 13:4-6
8	Paul hints to the Galatians what one bad attribute might lead to provoking and envying one another?	Galatians 5:26
9	Paul reminds Titus of what they were before having Jesus come into their hearts.  They now love others and do good works, but they were once what?	Titus 3:3
10	What does James link with envy that causes disorder and every evil practice.	James 3:14-16

And now, what is the difference in envy and jealousy?

A modern distinction is that envy involves two people while jealousy involves three people.  Envy focuses on you wanting something that someone else has.  But jealousy is the fear of losing what you may have due to the other person’s influence on a mutual third party.

But in some definitions, the distinction between the two terms mentioned in the paragraph above is an additional definition, and the base definitions are that the two are synonymous.  In other words, envy and jealousy are the same to some extent, but jealousy has more definitions.

In some Bible studies, the words seem synonymous.

I suppose you can make up your own mind on these terms, and we should avoid both.

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The Answers:

	Question	Bible References	Answers
1	Eliphaz tells Job that resentment kills a fool, and envy does what to the simple?	Job 5:2	Slays
2	To whom is Mount Bashan, a mountain East of the Jordan so envious?	Psalm 68:16	Mount Zion, Jerusalem, where God has chosen to “reside.”
3	In Proverbs 3, what is the son taught to not envy?	Proverbs 3:31	The violent
4	In Proverbs 14, a heart of peace gives life to the body, but what does envy do to the bones?	Proverbs 14:30	Rots the bones
5	In Mark 7, Jesus speaks of how food corrupts the heart, but what comes out of a person’s heart defiles them.  Name at least two other than envy.	Mark 7:21-22	For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
6	Paul tells the Gentiles, in his letter to the Romans, that in bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles, he might provoke some of his own people (the Jews) to envy so that they might what?	Romans 11:14	Save some of them.
7	In 1 Corinthians 13, love is a few things, is not a few things, and does not do four things.  Name at least one of the does not statements other than does not envy.	1 Corinthians 13:4-6	Love does not boast.  Love does not dishonor others. And love does not delight in evil.
8	Paul hints to the Galatians what one bad attribute might lead to provoking and envying one another?	Galatians 5:26	Conceited, also making the connection in 1 Timothy 6:4
9	Paul reminds Titus of what they were before having Jesus come into their hearts.  They now love others and do good works, but they were once what?	Titus 3:3	Hated and they hated everyone.
10	What does James link with envy that causes disorder and every evil practice.	James 3:14-16	Selfish ambition

Whether you did well on this quiz or, ummm, not so well, for the first video, here is Donna Quinn singing The Shadow Called Jealousy.

Here is Edem Evangelist with Jealousy.  You might have to watch it a couple of times to catch the words, even though this is a lyric video.  Or maybe the beat is so much fun, you want to listen to it again.

Here is Elyssa Smith singing Jealous.

Elyssa Smith is one of the writers of the song, and she flips the concept completely.  God loved us so much that Jesus died for us.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.