ONE: You shall have no other gods before Me.
TWO: You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
THREE: You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
FOUR: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
FIVE: Honor your father and your mother.
SIX: You shall not murder.
SEVEN: You shall not commit adultery.
EIGHT: You shall not steal.
NINE: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
(יד) לֹ֥א תַחְמֹ֖ד בֵּ֣ית רֵעֶ֑ךָ לֹֽא־תַחְמֹ֞ד אֵ֣שֶׁת רֵעֶ֗ךָ וְעַבְדּ֤וֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ֙ וְשׁוֹר֣וֹ וַחֲמֹר֔וֹ וְכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר לְרֵעֶֽךָ׃ (פ)
(14) You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any thing that is your neighbour’s.
(כה) פְּסִילֵ֥י אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֖ם תִּשְׂרְפ֣וּן בָּאֵ֑שׁ לֹֽא־תַחְמֹד֩ כֶּ֨סֶף וְזָהָ֤ב עֲלֵיהֶם֙ וְלָקַחְתָּ֣ לָ֔ךְ פֶּ֚ן תִּוָּקֵ֣שׁ בּ֔וֹ כִּ֧י תוֹעֲבַ֛ת יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ הֽוּא׃
(25) The graven images of their gods you shall burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared therein; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.
אמר ליה רב אחא מדיפתי לרבינא והא קא עבר על לאו (שמות כ, יג) דלא תחמוד לא תחמוד לאינשי בלא דמי משמע להו
(l) Question (Rav Acha mi'Difti): He transgressed "do not covet" (this should disqualify him from swearing)!
(m) Answer (Ravina): People think that that is only when one tries to take the object without paying.
(ט) כל החומד עבדו או אמתו או ביתו וכליו של חבירו או דבר שאפשר לו שיקנהו ממנו והכביר עליו ברעים והפציר בו עד שלקחו ממנו אף על פי שנתן לו דמים רבים הרי זה עובר [ה] בלא תעשה שנאמר לא תחמוד. ואין לוקין על לאו זה מפני שאין בו מעשה. ואינו עובר בלאו זה עד שיקח החפץ שחמד. כענין שנאמר לא תחמוד כסף וזהב עליהם ולקחת לך חימוד שיש בו מעשה.
Anyone who covets his neighbor’s servant, maidservant, house and utensils, or any other article that he can purchase from him, and pressures him through friends and implores him until he acquires it, transgresses a negative commandment, even though he pays good money for it, as scripture states: ‘You shall not covet.’ He does not transgress this prohibition until he acquires the object”
(יא) הַתַּאֲוָה מְבִיאָה לִידֵי חִמּוּד וְהַחִמּוּד מֵבִיא לִידֵי גֵּזֶל. שֶׁאִם לֹא רָצוּ הַבְּעָלִים לִמְכֹּר אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁהִרְבָּה לָהֶם בְּדָמִים וְהִפְצִיר בְּרֵעִים יָבוֹא לִידֵי גֵּזֶל שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (מיכה ב-ב) "וְחָמְדוּ בָּתִּים וְגָזָלוּ". וְאִם עָמְדוּ הַבְּעָלִים בְּפָנָיו לְהַצִּיל מָמוֹנָם אוֹ מְנָעוּהוּ מִלִּגְזל יָבוֹא לִידֵי שְׁפִיכוּת דָּמִים. צֵא וּלְמַד מִמַּעֲשֵׂה אַחְאָב וְנָבוֹת:
(11) Desire leads to coveting and coveting leads to robbery. That if owners do not want to sell even if a great deal of money has been offered and pleading by friends, one is lead into robbery as it says, "They coveted houses and stole them (Micah 2:2)." And if the owners stand against them to protect their property or prevent him from theft, he will be moved to shed bled. Go and learn from the example of Achav and Navot.
Rabbi Shai Held, "Coveting, Craving... and Being Free," http://www.mechonhadar.org/torah-resource/coveting-craving-and-being-free
But many scholars maintain that coveting means what it sounds like—the internal state of desiring something (or someone) that belongs to someone else. While it is true that the other four commandments in the second tablet refer to actions, the concluding commandment could well be different. Perhaps it concerns the attitude that makes the rest of the violations possible. As Bible scholar John Durham writes, “The tenth commandment… functions as a kind of summary commandment, the violation of which is a first step that can lead to the violation of any one or all of the rest of the commandments. As such, it is necessarily all embracing and descriptive of an attitude rather than a deed.” In other words, coveting may well lead to taking, but it does not denote it. With the last commandment the Torah reaches inward, beyond our actions to our inner life and the motivations that animate our behavior in the world. “All peoples acknowledge that it is forbidden to commit adultery or steal, but here the commandment goes further... it is even forbidden to desire in one’s heart another’s wife or property.” In any case, the verses often cited to connect coveting and acting may well prove just the opposite: “If hamad [covet] had meant ‘covet and seize,’ a second verb [like l-k-h, take] would have been unnecessary...
Dismissing what he sees as the destructive notion that Judaism cares only about what we do but not about what we think or feel, Ibn Ezra insists, radically, that “the main purpose of the all the commandments is to straighten the heart. This is evident from the fact that we distinguish between one who sinned intentionally and one who sinned in error” (Commentary to Deuteronomy 5). The danger, in other words, is not just where covetousness can lead, but what covetousness itself represents. The Torah cares deeply about our inner lives; character matters.
Ah, those who plan iniquity and design evil on their beds; when morning dawns they do it, for they have the power. They covet (hamdu) fields (sadot) and seize them; houses (batim), and take them away”
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath (1951), pp. 89-90.
Nothing is as hard to suppress as the will to be a slave to one’s own pettiness. Gallantly, ceaselessly, quietly, man must fight for inner liberty. Inner liberty depends upon being exempt from domination of things as well as from domination of people. There are many who have acquired a high degree of political and social liberty, but only very few are not enslaved to things. This is our constant problem—how to live with people and remain free, how to live with things and remain independent. In a moment of eternity, while the taste of redemption was still fresh to the former slaves, the people of Israel were given the Ten Words, the Ten Commandments. In its beginning and end, the Decalogue deals with the liberty of man. The first Word—I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage— reminds him that his outer liberty was given to him by God, and the tenth Word— Thou shalt not covet!—reminds him that he himself must achieve his inner liberty.