The first reference to God saying that He is a jealous God can be found in Exodus 20:5 where we read: “…you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.” This is part of the second of God’s Ten Commandments.
Young’s Analytical Concordance shows that the word for jealousy in this verse is “qanna” which can mean zealous and jealous. The same word is used in the same context in other verses as follows:
Exodus 34:14: “…for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God…”
Deuteronomy 4:24: “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
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