The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good its fruit would be to eat, and she thought how wonderful it would be to become wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he also ate it.

that I will not keep anything of yours, not even a thread or a sandal strap. Then you can never say, 'I am the one who made Abram rich.'

Won't all their livestock and everything else they own be ours? So let us agree that they can live among us."

Among the things we seized I saw a beautiful Babylonian cloak, about five pounds of silver, and a bar of gold weighing over one pound. I wanted them so much that I took them. You will find them buried inside my tent, with the silver at the bottom."

Why, then, did you not obey him? Why did you rush to grab the loot, and so do what displeases the LORD?"

The wicked are proud of their evil desires; the greedy curse and reject the LORD.

Give me the desire to obey your laws rather than to get rich.

Here is someone who lives alone. He has no son, no brother, yet he is always working, never satisfied with the wealth he has. For whom is he working so hard and denying himself any pleasure? This is useless, too---and a miserable way to live.

If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless.

The richer you are, the more mouths you have to feed. All you gain is the knowledge that you are rich.

You can survive if you say and do what is right. Don't use your power to cheat the poor and don't accept bribes. Don't join with those who plan to commit murder or to do other evil things.

I was angry with them because of their sin and greed, and so I punished them and abandoned them. But they were stubborn and kept on going their own way.

But you can only see your selfish interests; you kill the innocent and violently oppress your people. The LORD has spoken.

So my people crowd in to hear what you have to say, but they don't do what you tell them to do. Loving words are on their lips, but they continue their greedy ways.

The LORD says, "The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They sell into slavery honest people who cannot pay their debts, the poor who cannot repay even the price of a pair of sandals.

They trample down the weak and helpless and push the poor out of the way. A man and his father have intercourse with the same slave woman, and so profane my holy name.

When they want fields, they seize them; when they want houses, they take them. No one's family or property is safe.

You are doomed! You have made your family rich with what you took by violence, and have tried to make your own home safe from harm and danger!

And he went on to say to them all, "Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be."

When the Pharisees heard all this, they made fun of Jesus, because they loved money.

I have not wanted anyone's silver or gold or clothing.

Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, "Do not desire what belongs to someone else," I would not have known such a desire.

or who steal or are greedy or are drunkards or who slander others or are thieves---none of these will possess God's Kingdom.

They are going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that belong to this world.

You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed (for greed is a form of idolatry).

Well, religion does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have.

So then, if we have food and clothes, that should be enough for us.

For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows.

Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never leave you; I will never abandon you."

One day, late in the afternoon, David got up from his nap and went to the palace roof. As he walked around up there, he saw a woman taking a bath in her house. She was very beautiful.

David sent messengers to get her; they brought her to him and he made love to her. (She had just finished her monthly ritual of purification.) Then she went back home.

I have made a solemn promise never to look with lust at a woman.

If I have been attracted to my neighbor's wife, and waited, hidden, outside her door,

Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.

It can keep you away from bad women, from the seductive words of other men's wives.

Don't be tempted by their beauty; don't be trapped by their flirting eyes.

They were like well-fed stallions wild with desire, each lusting for his neighbor's wife.

But now I tell you: anyone who looks at a woman and wants to possess her is guilty of committing adultery with her in his heart.

Don't I have the right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?' "

Before you sold the property, it belonged to you; and after you sold it, the money was yours. Why, then, did you decide to do such a thing? You have not lied to people---you have lied to God!"