Genesis 26:14

26:14 He had ¹  so many sheep ²  and cattle ³  and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous ⁴  of him.

Genesis 37:11

37:11 His brothers were jealous ⁵  of him, but his father kept in mind what Joseph said. ⁶ 

Genesis 37:1

Joseph’s Dreams

37:1 But Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, ⁷  in the land of Canaan. ⁸ 

Genesis 18:15

18:15 Then Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. But the Lord said, “No! You did laugh.” ⁹ 

Proverbs 27:4

27:4 Wrath is cruel and anger is overwhelming, ¹⁰ 

but who can stand before jealousy? ¹¹ 

Ecclesiastes 4:4

Labor Motivated by Envy

4:4 Then I considered ¹²  all the skillful work ¹³  that is done:

Surely it is nothing more than ¹⁴  competition ¹⁵  between one person and another. ¹⁶ 

This also is profitless – like ¹⁷  chasing the wind.

James 4:5-6

4:5 Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, ¹⁸  “The spirit that God ¹⁹  caused ²⁰  to live within us has an envious yearning”? ²¹  4:6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” ²² 

[26:14]  ¹ tn Heb “and there was to him.”

[26:14]  ² tn Heb “possessions of sheep.”

[26:14]  ³ tn Heb “possessions of cattle.”

[26:14]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew verb translated “became jealous” refers here to intense jealousy or envy that leads to hostile action (see v. 15).

[37:11]  ⁵ sn Joseph’s brothers were already jealous of him, but this made it even worse. Such jealousy easily leads to action, as the next episode in the story shows. Yet dreams were considered a form of revelation, and their jealousy was not only of the favoritism of their father, but of the dreams. This is why Jacob kept the matter in mind.

[37:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “kept the word.” The referent of the Hebrew term “word” has been specified as “what Joseph said” in the translation for clarity, and the words “in mind” have been supplied for stylistic reasons.

[37:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “the land of the sojournings of his father.”

[37:1]  ⁸ sn The next section begins with the heading This is the account of Jacob in Gen 37:2, so this verse actually forms part of the preceding section as a concluding contrast with Esau and his people. In contrast to all the settled and expanded population of Esau, Jacob was still moving about in the land without a permanent residence and without kings. Even if the Edomite king list was added later (as the reference to kings in Israel suggests), its placement here in contrast to Jacob and his descendants is important. Certainly the text deals with Esau before dealing with Jacob – that is the pattern. But the detail is so great in chap. 36 that the contrast cannot be missed.

[18:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “And he said, ‘No, but you did laugh.’” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “fierceness of wrath and outpouring [= flood] of anger.” A number of English versions use “flood” here (e.g., NASB, NCV, NLT).

[27:4]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “jealousy” here probably has the negative sense of “envy” rather than the positive sense of “zeal.” It is a raging emotion (like “anger” and “wrath,” this word has nuances of heat, intensity) that defies reason at times and can be destructive like a consuming fire (e.g., 6:32-35; Song 8:6-7). The rhetorical question is intended to affirm that no one can survive a jealous rage. (Whether one is the subject who is jealous or the object of the jealousy of someone else is not so clear.)

[4:4]  ¹² tn Heb “saw.”

[4:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “all the toil and all the skill.” This Hebrew clause (אֶת־כָּל־עָמָל וְאֵת כָּל־כִּשְׁרוֹן, ’et-kol-’amal vÿ’et kol-kishron) is a nominal hendiadys (a figurative expression in which two independent phrases are used to connote the same thing). The second functions adverbially, modifying the first, which retains its full nominal function: “all the skillful work.”

[4:4]  ¹⁴ tn The phrase “nothing more than” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[4:4]  ¹⁵ tn The noun קִנְאַה (qin’ah, “competition”) has a wide range of meanings: “zeal; jealousy; envy; rivalry; competition; suffering; animosity; anger; wrath” (HALOT 1110 s.v.; BDB 888 s.v.). Here, as in 9:6, it denotes “rivalry” (BDB 888 s.v. 1) or “competitive spirit” (HALOT 1110 s.v. 1.b). The LXX rendered it ζῆλος (zhlos, “envy; jealousy”). The English versions reflect this broad range: “rivalry” (NEB, NAB, NASB), “envy” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NRSV, MLB, NIV, NJPS), and “jealousy” (Moffatt).

[4:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a man and his neighbor.”

[4:4]  ¹⁷ tn The word “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[4:5]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “vainly says.”

[4:5]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:5]  ²⁰ tc The Byzantine text and a few other mss (P 33 Ï) have the intransitive κατῴκησεν (katwkhsen) here, which turns τὸ πνεῦμα (to pneuma) into the subject of the verb: “The spirit which lives within us.” But the more reliable and older witnesses (Ì⁷⁴ א B Ψ 049 1241 1739 al) have the causative verb, κατῴκισεν (katwkisen), which implies a different subject and τὸ πνεῦμα as the object: “The spirit that he causes to live within us.” Both because of the absence of an explicit subject and the relative scarcity of the causative κατοικίζω (katoikizw, “cause to dwell”) compared to the intransitive κατοικέω (katoikew, “live, dwell”) in biblical Greek (κατοικίζω does not occur in the NT at all, and occurs one twelfth as frequently as κατοικέω in the LXX), it is easy to see why scribes would replace κατῴκισεν with κατῴκησεν. Thus, on internal and external grounds, κατῴκισεν is the preferred reading.

[4:5]  ²¹ tn Interpreters debate the referent of the word “spirit” in this verse: (1) The translation takes “spirit” to be the lustful capacity within people that produces a divided mind (1:8, 14) and inward conflicts regarding God (4:1-4). God has allowed it to be in man since the fall, and he provides his grace (v. 6) and the new birth through the gospel message (1:18-25) to counteract its evil effects. (2) On the other hand the word “spirit” may be taken positively as the Holy Spirit and the sense would be, “God yearns jealously for the Spirit he caused to live within us.” But the word for “envious” or “jealous” is generally negative in biblical usage and the context before and after seems to favor the negative interpretation.

[4:6]  ²² sn A quotation from Prov 3:34.