My bible teacher told me that jealousy and envy are entirely different. Envy is wanting something someone else has and jealousy is wanting something that is rightfully yours which is why God is a jealous God, I'm not sure how accurate he is though..
Responses (3)
Words in the bible are defined by the context of the first usage.
Exodus 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
The context there is verse 3: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." No connection to envy.
The first usage of 'envy' is Job 5, but the context is not a clear definition. Google says:
en·vy
noun
1. a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck.
"she felt a twinge of envy for the people on board"
synonyms: jealousy, covetousness;
verb
1. desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable attribute belonging to (someone else).
"he envied people who did not have to work on weekends"
Notice that google offers "jealousy" as a synonym for "envy". That is merely repeating the normal confusion of the way people speak, which is the purpose of a dictionary. That is why you look for the bible's definition first.
You can use a concordance to find first usages and to check alternate translations of words. There are many brands. Everybody uses Strong's, but I prefer Young's because it is easier to use.
Straight answer to your question: "Jealous" means demanding loyalty, and "envy" means desiring to take something from someone else.
Let's first,look at the definition of envy and jealousy and look at some bible account pertaining to each one.
Envy : Is a bad feeling toward others because of the money, advantage, and other things they have, the desire to deprive another of what he has. In God's word the bible, we are warned of the downfall of envy, Galatians 5:21,"envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and things like these. I am forewarning you about these things, the same way I already warned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God's Kingdom." Envy can cause someone to kill in order to have what the other person possess. Since we inherit sin, we have to make constant effort to control envy. If we do not allow envy to control us, our lives will be happier and we will please our Heavenly Father, and live a peaceful happy life, proud to know we are making our God heart rejoice.
Jealousy. : Could fall under two brackets. Proper jealousy and Improper jealousy.
Let's look at Proper Jealousy first. 2 Corinthians 11:2 God says,"I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy". God's jealously in this case is for our protection and is known as Proper Jealousy or Godly Jealousy.
Improper jealousy. : Being critical of what others have. Having the mind set that only you is deserving of good things or success. James 3:16 tells us,"For wherever there are jealousy and contentiousness, there will also be disorder and every vile thing." This shows that improper jealousy never results in good things, in fact it cause divisions and disturbs the peace among others,even the jealous person is unhappy never satisfied.