וְלֹ֥א תַחְמֹ֖ד אֵ֣שֶׁת רֵעֶ֑ךָ (ס) וְלֹ֨א תִתְאַוֶּ֜ה בֵּ֣ית רֵעֶ֗ךָ שָׂדֵ֜הוּ וְעַבְדּ֤וֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ֙ שׁוֹר֣וֹ וַחֲמֹר֔וֹ וְכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר לְרֵעֶֽךָ׃ (ס)
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not crave your neighbor’s house, or his field, or his male or female slave, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
לֹ֥א תַחְמֹ֖ד בֵּ֣ית רֵעֶ֑ךָ לֹֽא־תַחְמֹ֞ד אֵ֣שֶׁת רֵעֶ֗ךָ וְעַבְדּ֤וֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ֙ וְשׁוֹר֣וֹ וַחֲמֹר֔וֹ וְכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר לְרֵעֶֽךָ׃ (פ)
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female slave, or his ox or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
וַתֵּ֣רֶא הָֽאִשָּׁ֡ה כִּ֣י טוֹב֩ הָעֵ֨ץ לְמַאֲכָ֜ל וְכִ֧י תַֽאֲוָה־ה֣וּא לָעֵינַ֗יִם וְנֶחְמָ֤ד הָעֵץ֙ לְהַשְׂכִּ֔יל וַתִּקַּ֥ח מִפִּרְי֖וֹ וַתֹּאכַ֑ל וַתִּתֵּ֧ן גַּם־לְאִישָׁ֛הּ עִמָּ֖הּ וַיֹּאכַֽל׃
When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating, and an object of craving to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate.
(9) A lover of money never has their fill of money, nor a lover of wealth their fill of income. This too is futile.
רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר הַקַּפָּר אוֹמֵר, הַקִּנְאָה וְהַתַּאֲוָה וְהַכָּבוֹד, מוֹצִיאִין אֶת הָאָדָם מִן הָעוֹלָם:
Rabbi Elazar HaKappar said: envy, craving, and [desire for] honor take a person out of the world.
"You shall not covet": Rabbi says: One verse states, "You shall not covet," and another, "You shall not crave" (Deut 5:18). How can both these verses be relevant? This [second verse] is a warning for one who circles around after an adulterer.
"You shall not covet": Many people are amazed at this commandment. They ask, how is it possible for a person not to covet in his heart any beautiful thing that appears desirable in his eyes? I will now give you a parable [about this question]: Know that a sensible peasant who sees a beautiful princess will not have covetous thoughts about sleeping with her, for he knows that this cannot happen. And this peasant will not think like the insane men who crave to have wings in order to fly into the sky, for it cannot be--just as a man does not desire to sleep with his mother even if she is beautiful, for they have trained him since his youth to know that she is forbidden to him. So too every wise person needs to know that one does not acquire a beautiful wife or money due to his own intelligence and knowledge, but only according to what God has allotted him. And as Ecclesiastes said, "He gives his portion to the man who has not toiled for it" (2:21). And our Sages said: Children, longevity, and prosperity depend on mazal, not on merit. And because of this, the wise person will not crave or covet. Once he knows that God has prohibited his neighbor’s wife to him, she will be more exalted in his eyes than the princess in the eyes of the peasant. He will therefore be happy with his lot and will not allow his heart to covet or crave anything which is not his, since he knows that what God did not want to give him, he cannot acquire by his own strength, thoughts, or schemes. He will therefore trust that his Creator will sustain him and do what is right in His eyes.
(א) ומלת חמד בלשון הקדש מתפרשת לשני טעמים האחד גזל ועושק וקחת של אחרים בחזקה ובאונס וכך ולא יחמוד איש את ארצך כי אם אין פירושו כן הנה תהיה הארץ רעה ולא בא הכתוב אלא לשבח והטעם השני לשון תאוה בלב ולא תצא לפועל. ... ורבים אמרו כי אין עון במחשבת הלב ואין עליהם שכר ועונש ויש ראיות רבות להשיב עליהן ולא אאריך רק אראה להם לב חורש מחשבות און הטיבות כי היה עם לבבך ולישרים בלבותם ומשה אמר בסוף בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו. ועיקר כל המצות ליישר הלב, ורובם זכר והמזיד והשוגג יוכיחו:
(1) The Hebrew root ḥ-m-d has two different meanings. One meaning is robbery, oppression, taking from others through force or coercion, as in, “no man will ḥ-m-d / attack your land,” (Exodus 34: 24), since if it did not mean this [but meant, "no man will covet your land"] then [it would be saying that] the land is bad, and the Torah only intended to praise it. The other meaning is an internal craving that is not acted on....Now many people have said that there is no sin connected with thought, and there is neither reward nor punishment for them. Although there are many counter-arguments to this, I will not go on at length about it. Let it suffice if I point out to them: “The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to God ” (Proverbs 15: 26); “You did well, insofar as it was your intention” (I Kings 8: 18); “To those who are upright in their hearts” (Psalms 125: 4). And Moses says at the end of the Torah, “[God's word is] in your mouth and in your heart, to do it” (Deut 30:14). And the main purpose of all the commandments is to correct the heart, and most of them are [essentially] reminders. And the distinction between intentional and unintentional sins proves that this [i.e., the importance of thoughts] is true.
(ט) כל החומד עבדו או אמתו או ביתו וכליו של חבירו או דבר שאפשר לו שיקנהו ממנו והכביר עליו ברעים והפציר בו עד שלקחו ממנו אף על פי שנתן לו דמים רבים הרי זה עובר [ה] בלא תעשה שנאמר לא תחמוד. ואין לוקין על לאו זה מפני שאין בו מעשה.
Anyone who covets his neighbor’s servants, house, utensils, or any article of his for sale, and pressures him through friends and implores him until he acquires it from him, even though he pays him well for it, violates the negative commandment of "Do not covet." But he is not lashed for this transgression since there is no [forbidden] action connected with it.
"You shall not covet, etc."....And after God said, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, and forbade taking what belongs to another, now God says that what belongs to our fellow must be in our eyes as if it were impossible to attain by us. And since God commanded us not to take anything belonging to another, because of this we will not covet it. And anyone who covets despises the word of the Lord, and violence comes easily to him and it seems quite possible. But anyone who reveres God's word sees violence as impossible, and what is not his seems as if it were in the heavens, so that he cannot get it and does not covet it. He rejoices in what he has, and rejoices in his fellows' good fortune--loving them and being loved by them. But the one who covets spends all his days in the storm of cravings and anxieties: coveting what is not his, and oppressing his fellow; envying his fellows--hating them and being hated by them. "And he will die for lack of instruction" (Prov 5:23). "And envy kills a fool" (Job 5:2). And see Ibn Ezra's words [on this commandment] which are beautiful.