What is the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet”?

Covet and desire

Exodus says “lo tachmod” – do not covet; Deuteronomy 5:18 adds “lo titaveh” – do not desire. Maimonides explains the difference: desiring is forbidden as soon as a person plans in his heart how to obtain his neighbour’s property; coveting is violated when he actually obtains it through persistent pressure, even if he pays the full price. The Shulchan Aruch codifies this in the laws of theft.

A commandment about thoughts

This is one of the few commandments that reaches into feelings. The medieval commentator Ibn Ezra asked how a person can be commanded not to want something, and answered with a parable: a villager does not long to marry a princess, because he knows it is out of reach. One who truly sees that what belongs to another was given to him by God will not desire it.

Why it matters

Maimonides notes that desire leads to coveting and coveting to theft, and sometimes to violence – as with Ahab and Naboth’s vineyard (1 Kings 21). Pirkei Avot teaches: “Who is rich? One who is happy with his portion.” The ethical goal is contentment and a “good eye” towards others’ success.

In practice

It is permitted to admire something and to buy one like it, or to ask once, politely, whether the owner would sell. What is forbidden is to keep pressing, through repeated requests or people of influence, until the owner gives in.