envy and jealousy

¹⁶For wherever envy and contention is, there too is inconstancy and every depraved work.

³⁰The well-being of the heart is life for the flesh. But envy is decay for the bones.

²You desire, and you do not have. You envy and you kill, and you are unable to obtain. You argue and you fight, and you do not have, because you do not ask. ³You ask and you do not receive, because you ask badly, so that you may use it toward your own desires.

¹⁴But if you hold a bitter zeal, and if there is contention in your hearts, then do not boast and do not be liars against the truth.

⁴Anger holds no mercy, nor does fury when it erupts. And who can bear the assault of one who has been provoked?

¹³Temptation should not take hold of you, except what is human. For God is faithful, and he will not permit you to be tempted beyond your ability. Instead, he will effect his Providence, even during temptation, so that you may be able to bear it.

¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are manifest; they are: fornication, lust, homosexuality, self-indulgence, ²⁰the serving of idols, drug use, hostility, contentiousness, jealousy, wrath, quarrels, dissensions, divisions, ²¹envy, murder, inebriation, carousing, and similar things. About these things, I continue to preach to you, as I have preached to you: that those who act in this way shall not obtain the kingdom of God.

¹⁴But if you hold a bitter zeal, and if there is contention in your hearts, then do not boast and do not be liars against the truth. ¹⁵For this is not wisdom, descending from above, but rather it is earthly, beastly, and diabolical.

³And since there is still envy and contention among you, are you not carnal, and are you not walking according to man?

²¹Do not allow evil to prevail, instead prevail over evil by means of goodness.

¹⁷You shall not covet the house of your neighbor; neither shall you desire his wife, nor male servant, nor female servant, nor ox, nor donkey, nor anything that is his.”

¹If I were to speak in the language of men, or of Angels, yet not have charity, I would be like a clanging bell or a crashing cymbal. ²And if I have prophecy, and learn every mystery, and obtain all knowledge, and possess all faith, so that I could move mountains, yet not have charity, then I am nothing. ³And if I distribute all my goods in order to feed the poor, and if I hand over my body to be burned, yet not have charity, it offers me nothing. ⁴Charity is patient, is kind. Charity does not envy, does not act wrongly, is not inflated. ⁵Charity is not ambitious, does not seek for itself, is not provoked to anger, devises no evil. ⁶Charity does not rejoice over iniquity, but rejoices in truth.

⁸Whoever does not love, does not know God. For God is love.

¹²Hatred rises up from disputes. And charity covers all offenses.

⁴Again, I was contemplating all the labors of men. And I took notice that their endeavors are open to the envy of their neighbor. And so, in this, too, there is emptiness and superfluous anxiety.

⁴May all those who act unjustly over nothing be confounded. O Lord, demonstrate your ways to me, and teach me your paths. ⁵Direct me in your truth, and teach me. For you are God, my Savior, and I remain with you all day long.