Greek word · G5354
φθονέω
phthoneō
to envy
To envy or begrudge: to resent another's good fortune and wish they did not have it. Phthonos (envy) differs from zēlos (zeal or jealousy, which can be good or bad). Phthonos is almost always negative in moral writing, a corrosive ill will toward someone's advantage.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
φθονέω, -ῶ
(φθόνος), [in LXX: Tobit 4:7, 16 AB * ;]
to envy: with dative (L, txt., Tr., mg., WH, mg., accusative), as in cl., Galatians 5:26.†
(AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
From the study of Galatians 5:26
- Range of meaning
To envy or begrudge: to resent another's good fortune and wish they did not have it. Phthonos (envy) differs from zēlos (zeal or jealousy, which can be good or bad). Phthonos is almost always negative in moral writing, a corrosive ill will toward someone's advantage.
- Against the English
"Envying" (KJV, BSB, ESV, WEB) is accurate. NLT's "be jealous of" blurs it slightly, because in modern English jealousy often means guarding what is one's own, while phthonos means resenting what belongs to someone else.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Common in Greek ethics. Aristotle (Rhetoric 2.10) defines phthonos as pain at the good fortune of equals. Wisdom 2:24: "through the envy of the devil death entered the world." Matthew 27:18: the chief priests handed Jesus over "out of envy." In Gal 5:21, phthonoi (envyings) is listed among the works of the flesh.
Similar words
Where it appears
Galatians · 1
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Galatians 5:26 φθονοῦντες.¶ envying.
Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.
Here: Present participle: "begrudging one another", resenting what someone else has and wanting them not to have it. It is the other side of the same contest: those who feel outranked resent those above them.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.