| Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. | Dispose my heart to follow your statutes and to flee selfish gain. |
| But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints. | Indeed, fornication and impurity of any kind, as well as greed, should not even be mentioned among you. Such talk is not fitting for saints. |
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| And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. | After this, he said to the crowd, “Take care to be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not depend upon an abundance of one’s possessions.” |
| Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. | And so you should put to death everything in your nature that is earthly: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, and greed (which is idolatry). |
| Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. | Do not succumb to the love of money, but be content with what you have, for God has said, “I will never forsake you or abandon you.” |
| And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. | Then he went on, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For from within, from the human heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from within, and they defile a person.” |
| What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. | What then should we say? That the Law is sinful? Absolutely not! Yet if it had not been for the Law, I would not have known what sin was. I would not have known what covet is if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” |
