What Does Exodus 20:17 Mean?
You shall not desire your neighbor's house. You shall not desire your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.THE KEY
The command exposes possession as something that begins in the gaze before it appears in the hand.
THE MEANING
Your neighbor’s home, relationships, work, animals, and every belonging remain theirs even within your desire. The verse sets the boundary before anything is taken, then closes the list with “any thing” so no category is left outside it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that only taking crosses the boundary; the verse names the inward claim that can come before the outward act.
THE ROOT
תַחְמֹד
taḥmōd
GROWS FROM
חמד
To desire, find desirable, or take pleasure in.
This root can describe something seen as lovely or valuable; here, the command turns attention to what that desire is fixed on: what belongs to your neighbor. The word reaches the inward valuation before any seizure, while “any thing” keeps the boundary from shrinking to the items listed.
ALSO GROWS
neḥmād: Desirable, pleasant, or lovely.
נֶחְמָד
Genesis describes the tree as “to be desired”; the same root lets you see desire before the act of taking.
ḥemdāh: A desirable or precious thing.
חֶמְדָּה
This noun carries the same seed into the idea of something valued; Exodus focuses that desire on what belongs to another.
THE PATTERN
Desire can cross a boundary inwardly before taking crosses it outwardly.
And the woman saw that the tree was good for eating, and that it was a craving for the eyes, and a tree to be desired for making one wise. And she took of its fruit and ate, and gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.They covet fields and tear them away, and houses, and carry them off. So they press a man and his house, even a man and his inheritance.I have set my desire on no one's silver, gold, or clothing.THE THREAD
They covet fields and tear them away, and houses, and carry them off. So they press a man and his house, even a man and his inheritance.Micah uses the same root חמד for desiring another’s fields, then pairs that desire with violent taking. Exodus names the inward seed; Micah shows the harm it can grow into.
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