Exodus 20:17

Bible in Basic English (1941)

Let not your desire be turned to your neighbour's house, or his wife or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is his.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לֹ֥א תַחְמֹ֖ד בֵּ֣ית רֵעֶ֑ךָ לֹֽא־תַחְמֹ֞ד אֵ֣שֶׁת רֵעֶ֗ךָ וְעַבְדּ֤וֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ֙ וְשׁוֹר֣וֹ וַחֲמֹר֔וֹ וְכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר לְרֵעֶֽךָ׃

Transliteration

lōʾ ṯaḥmōḏ bêṯ rēʿeḵā lōʾ-ṯaḥmōḏ ʾēsheṯ rēʿeḵā wə-ʿaḇdô wa-ʾămāṯô wə-shôrô wa-ḥămōrô wə-ḵōl ʾăsher lə-rēʿeḵā

Grammar Details

• *lōʾ ṯaḥmōḏ*: negative particle + qal imperfect, 2nd masculine singular - you shall not covet
• *bêṯ*: masculine singular construct - house of
• *rēʿeḵā*: masculine singular noun with 2nd masculine singular suffix - your neighbor
• *lōʾ-ṯaḥmōḏ*: negative particle + qal imperfect, 2nd masculine singular - you shall not covet
• *ʾēsheṯ*: feminine singular construct - wife of
• *wə-ʿaḇdô*: conjunction + masculine singular noun with 3rd masculine singular suffix - or his male servant
• *wa-ʾămāṯô*: conjunction + feminine singular noun with 3rd masculine singular suffix - or his female servant
• *wə-shôrô*: conjunction + masculine singular noun with 3rd masculine singular suffix - or his ox
• *wa-ḥămōrô*: conjunction + masculine singular noun with 3rd masculine singular suffix - or his donkey
• *wə-ḵōl*: conjunction + noun construct - or anything
• *ʾăsher*: relative pronoun - that
• *lə-rēʿeḵā*: preposition + masculine singular noun with 2nd masculine singular suffix - [belongs] to your neighbor

Word Meanings

• *ṯaḥmōḏ*: covet/desire strongly/lust after/scheme to acquire
• *bêṯ*: house/household/dwelling place/family
• *ʾēsheṯ*: wife/woman

Referenced Verses

• Rom 13:9 : 9 And this, Do not be untrue in married life, Do not put to death, Do not take what is another's, Do not have desire for what is another's, and if there is any other order, it is covered by this word, Have love for your neighbour as for yourself.
• Luke 12:15 : 15 And he said to them, Take care to keep yourselves free from the desire for property; for a man's life is not made up of the number of things which he has.
• Rom 7:7 : 7 What then is to be said? is the law sin? in no way. But I would not have had knowledge of sin but for the law: for I would not have been conscious of desire if the law had not said, You may not have a desire for what is another's.
• Heb 13:5 : 5 Be free from the love of money and pleased with the things which you have; for he himself has said, I will be with you at all times.
• Col 3:5 : 5 Then put to death your bodies which are of the earth; wrong use of the flesh, unclean things, passion, evil desires and envy, which is the worship of strange gods;
• Eph 5:3 : 3 But evil acts of the flesh and all unclean things, or desire for others' property, let it not even be named among you, as is right for saints;
• Matt 5:28 : 28 But I say to you that everyone whose eyes are turned on a woman with desire has had connection with her in his heart.
• Mic 2:2 : 2 They have a desire for fields and take them by force; and for houses and take them away: they are cruel to a man and his family, even to a man and his heritage.
• Jer 5:8 : 8 They were full of desire, like horses after a meal of grain: everyone went after his neighbour's wife.
• Jer 22:17 : 17 But your eyes and your heart are fixed only on profit for yourself, on causing the death of him who has done no wrong, and on violent and cruel acts.
• Ezek 33:31 : 31 And they come to you as my people come, and are seated before you as my people, hearing your words but doing them not: for deceit is in their mouth and their heart goes after profit for themselves.
• Amos 2:6-7 : 6 These are the words of the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and for four, I will not let its fate be changed; because they have given the upright man for silver, and the poor for the price of two shoes; 7 Crushing the head of the poor, and turning the steps of the gentle out of the way: and a man and his father go in to the same young woman, putting shame on my holy name:
• Hab 2:9 : 9 A curse on him who gets evil profits for his family, so that he may put his resting-place on high and be safe from the hand of the wrongdoer!
• Matt 20:15 : 15 Have I not the right to do as seems good to me in my house? or is your eye evil, because I am good?
• Eph 5:5 : 5 Being certain of this, that no man who gives way to the passions of the flesh, no unclean person, or one who has desire for the property of others, or who gives worship to images, has any heritage in the kingdom of Christ and God.
• 1 Cor 6:10 : 10 Or is a thief, or the worse for drink, or makes use of strong language, or takes by force what is not his, will have any part in the kingdom of God.
• Luke 16:14 : 14 And the Pharisees, who had a great love of money, hearing these things, were making sport of him.
• Acts 5:4 : 4 While you had it, was it not your property? and after you had given it in exchange, was it not still in your power? how has this purpose come into your mind? you have been false, not to men, but to God.
• Acts 20:33 : 33 I have had no desire for any man's silver or gold or clothing.
• Gen 3:6 : 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and gave it to her husband.
• Gen 14:23 : 23 That I will not take so much as a thread or the cord of a shoe of yours; so that you may not say, I have given wealth to Abram:
• Gen 34:23 : 23 Then will not their cattle and their goods and all their beasts be ours? so let us come to an agreement with them so that they may go on living with us.
• Josh 7:21 : 21 When I saw among their goods a fair robe of Babylon and two hundred shekels of silver, and a mass of gold, fifty shekels in weight, I was overcome by desire and took them; and they are put away in the earth in my tent, and the silver is under it.
• 1 Sam 15:19 : 19 Why then did you not do the orders of the Lord, but by violently taking their goods did evil in the eyes of the Lord?
• 2 Sam 11:2-4 : 2 Now one evening, David got up from his bed, and while he was walking on the roof of the king's house, he saw from there a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent to get knowledge who the woman was. And one said, Is this not Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4 And David sent and took her; and she came to him, and he took her to his bed: (for she had been made clean;) then she went back to her house.
• Job 31:1 : 1 I made an agreement with my eyes; how then might my eyes be looking on a virgin?
• Job 31:9 : 9 If my heart went after another man's wife, or if I was waiting secretly at my neighbour's door;
• Ps 10:3 : 3 For the evil-doer is lifted up because of the purpose of his heart, and he whose mind is fixed on wealth is turned away from the Lord, saying evil against him.
• Ps 119:36 : 36 Let my heart be turned to your unchanging word, and not to evil desire.
• Prov 4:23 : 23 And keep watch over your heart with all care; so you will have life.
• Prov 6:24-25 : 24 They will keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the strange woman. 25 Let not your heart's desire go after her fair body; let not her eyes take you prisoner.
• Eccl 4:8 : 8 It is one who is by himself, without a second, and without son or brother; but there is no end to all his work, and he has never enough of wealth. For whom, then, am I working and keeping myself from pleasure? This again is to no purpose, and a bitter work.
• Eccl 5:10-11 : 10 When goods are increased, the number of those who take of them is increased; and what profit has the owner but to see them? 11 The sleep of a working man is sweet, if he has little food or much; but to him who is full, sleep will not come.
• Isa 33:15 : 15 He whose ways are true, and whose words are upright; he who gives no thought to the profits of false acts, whose hands have not taken rewards, who will have no part in putting men to death, and whose eyes are shut against evil;
• Isa 57:17 : 17 I was quickly angry with his evil ways, and sent punishment on him, veiling my face in wrath: and he went on, turning his heart from me.
• 1 Tim 6:6-9 : 6 But true faith, with peace of mind, is of great profit: 7 For we came into the world with nothing, and we are not able to take anything out; 8 But if we have food and a roof over us, let that be enough. 9 But those who have a desire for wealth are falling into danger, and are taken as in a net by a number of foolish and damaging desires, through which men are overtaken by death and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all evil: and some whose hearts were fixed on it have been turned away from the faith, and been wounded with unnumbered sorrows.
• Phil 3:19 : 19 Whose end is destruction, whose god is the stomach, and whose glory is in their shame, whose minds are fixed on the things of the earth.