Envy is grief and resentment at another's good — not merely desire for what they have, but displeasure that they have it. Scripture treats envy as one of the most destructive of sins: it was envy that caused the first murder (Cain and Abel, Gen 4), that drove Joseph's brothers to sell him into slavery (Acts 7:9), and that motivated the religious leaders to hand Jesus over to Pilate (Matt 27:18). Paul lists envy among the works of the flesh (Gal 5:21) and as a mark of depraved minds given over to sin (Rom 1:29). Proverbs diagnoses it clinically: "A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot" (Prov 14:30). The antidote is contentment grounded in the sovereign goodness of God's allocation of gifts and callings.
EN'VY, n. [Fr. envie; L. invidia, from invideo, to look at with malice; in and video, to see.]
1. Pain, uneasiness, mortification or discontent excited by the sight of another's superiority or success, accompanied with some degree of hatred or malignity, and often or usually with a desire or an effort to depreciate the person, and with pleasure in seeing him depressed.
2. Rivalry; competition. [Obsolete in this sense]
Envy is a vice; it is sin. It differs from emulation, which desires to equal or excel what another has, without wishing to deprive him of it. The envious man cannot rejoice in another's good.
Modern culture has rehabilitated envy as a social virtue — repackaged as "righteous indignation at inequality" or fuel for activism. Social media is an envy machine by design: the infinite scroll of curated success triggers precisely the invidia that Scripture warns against. More insidious is the therapeutic normalization of envy: "You're allowed to feel what you feel." While feelings of envy are understandable, the biblical response is not validation but mortification — the killing of envy through grateful acknowledgment of God's sovereign wisdom in distributing gifts and callings differently. Comparison is the thief of contentment, and contentment is a learned grace (Phil 4:11).
Latin invidia → Old French envie → Middle English envie → "envy" Root: invidēre (in + vidēre) — to look upon with ill-will → also → "invidious" (hateful, likely to provoke envy) Hebrew: קִנְאָה (qin'ah, H7068) — jealousy, zeal, envy → Can be righteous (God's jealousy for his people) or sinful (human envy) → Root: קָנָא (qana) — to be zealous/jealous (both senses in OT) Greek: φθόνος (phthonos, G5355) — envy, ill-will → Distinguished from ζῆλος (zēlos) — zeal/jealousy (can be positive) → phthonos is always negative in NT usage → Matt 27:18; Rom 1:29; Gal 5:21; Phil 1:15; 1 Tim 6:4; Titus 3:3; Jas 4:5; 1 Pet 2:1
• Proverbs 14:30 — "A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot."
• Matthew 27:18 — "For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up."
• Galatians 5:19–21 — Envy listed among the works of the flesh.
• James 3:16 — "Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice."
• 1 Corinthians 13:4 — "Love does not envy or boast."
H7068 — qin'ah (קִנְאָה): jealousy, envy, zeal; can denote righteous divine jealousy or sinful human envy depending on context.
G5355 — phthonos (φθόνος): envy; always sinful in NT; contrasted with agape (love), which "does not envy" (1 Cor 13:4).