What does the Bible say about jealousy and envy? And why is God called jealous?

Ethics

Short answer

Scripture treats envy as corrosive and names it repeatedly among the sins that destroy a person and a community. It appears in the vice lists (Galatians 5:19; Galatians 5:21; Romans 1:29; 1 Peter 2:1), it is called rottenness to the bones (Proverbs 14:30), and it is given as the motive behind two of the Bible's darkest acts: Joseph's brothers selling him (Genesis 37:11; Acts 7:9) and the handing over of Jesus (Matthew 27:18; Mark 15:10).

God is also called jealous, and that is not the same thing. The word covers two different postures that English blurs together:

Envy is wanting what belongs to someone else, and resenting that they have it. Always condemned.
Jealousy in the sense used of God is the protectiveness of a rightful relationship, closer to what a faithful spouse feels about a marriage than to what a rival feels about a competitor (Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24).

The distinction is not a modern rescue of an awkward word. Scripture applies the same protective sense to human relationships where the claim is legitimate (Numbers 5:14; 2 Corinthians 11:2), and condemns it where the claim is not.

Question

What does the Bible say about jealousy and envy? And why is God called jealous?

Analysis

Envy, as Scripture describes it

Description	Where
Listed among works of the flesh	Galatians 5:19; Galatians 5:21
Listed among what defiles a person, from Jesus	Mark 7:21; Mark 7:22
Rots the bones; contrasted with a peaceful heart	Proverbs 14:30
Produces disorder and every evil practice	James 3:14; James 3:16
To be put away as believers grow	1 Peter 2:1; Titus 3:3
Incompatible with love	1 Corinthians 13:4
Motive behind Joseph's betrayal and Jesus' handover	Genesis 37:11; Acts 7:9; Matthew 27:18; Mark 15:10

The tenth commandment

Coveting is the one commandment aimed entirely at the interior life: it forbids not the act of taking but the wanting (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21). Paul says it was this specific commandment that exposed sin in him, precisely because it reaches where no one else can see (Romans 7:7).

The honest problem Scripture itself raises

The Bible does not pretend envy is irrational. Two whole passages are given to the complaint that the wicked prosper while the faithful struggle:

Psalms 73 states it bluntly: the writer says he envied the arrogant when he saw their prosperity, and that his feet nearly slipped (Psalms 73:2; Psalms 73:3). The resolution is not a denial that they prosper but a change of vantage point (Psalms 73:16; Psalms 73:17).
Jeremiah puts the same complaint to God directly (Jeremiah 12:1).

That Scripture preserves the complaint rather than correcting it away is part of the answer.

What is offered instead

Remedy	Where
Contentment, described as learned rather than natural	Philippians 4:11; Philippians 4:12; 1 Timothy 6:6; Hebrews 13:5
Rejoicing with those who rejoice	Romans 12:15
Counting others more significant than yourself	Philippians 2:3
Measuring yourself against your own work, not another's	Galatians 6:4
Gratitude for what has actually been given	1 Thessalonians 5:18; James 1:17

Why God's jealousy is not envy

Envy wants what it has no claim to. The jealousy attributed to God concerns what Scripture presents as already his: a covenant relationship with a people who have promised themselves to him (Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24; Deuteronomy 6:15). It appears almost always in the context of that people turning to other gods, and the imagery used is marital rather than commercial (Hosea 2:19; Hosea 2:20; Jeremiah 3:14; 2 Corinthians 11:2). Read that way, indifference rather than jealousy would be the failure.

Sources, trace every one

Every cited verse, in full. Tap any reference to open it in the reader.

Galatians 5:19bsb
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
Galatians 5:21bsb
and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Romans 1:29bsb
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,
1 Peter 2:1bsb
Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.
Proverbs 14:30bsb
A tranquil heart is life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
Genesis 37:11bsb
And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what he had said.
Acts 7:9bsb
Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him
Matthew 27:18bsb
For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
Mark 15:10bsb
For he knew it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over.
Exodus 20:5bsb
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Exodus 34:14bsb
For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 4:24bsb
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Numbers 5:14bsb
and if a feeling of jealousy comes over her husband and he suspects his wife who has defiled herself— or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he suspects her even though she has not defiled herself—
2 Corinthians 11:2bsb
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
Mark 7:21bsb
For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
Mark 7:22bsb
greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.

On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.