For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; no evil can dwell with You.
Parallel translations
- WEB For you are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness. Evil can’t live with you.
- KJV For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.
- NKJV For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You.
- NASB ¶For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil can dwell with You.
- NLT O God, you take no pleasure in wickedness; you cannot tolerate the sins of the wicked.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God takes no pleasure in wickedness, and evil cannot dwell with Him. His perfect holiness excludes all sin from His presence.
Overview
David grounds his prayer in God's character: the Lord delights in no wrongdoing and evil can find no home in His presence. This holiness is both comfort to the oppressed and warning to the wicked. It also exposes humanity's need, for none can dwell with the holy God except through the cleansing provided in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 11:5The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked; His soul hates the lover of violence.
- Heb 12:14Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
- Mal 2:17You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”
- Rev 21:27But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
- Ps 50:21You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But now I rebuke you and accuse you to your face.
- Ps 101:7No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who tells lies shall stand in my presence.
- Ps 140:13Surely the righteous will praise Your name; the upright will dwell in Your presence.
- Ps 92:15to proclaim, “The LORD is upright; He is my Rock, and in Him there is no unrighteousness.”
- Hab 1:13Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
- 2 Pet 3:13But in keeping with God’s promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
- Ps 94:20Can a corrupt throne be Your ally—one devising mischief by decree?
- John 14:23Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
- Rev 21:23And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp.
- 1 Chr 29:17I know, my God, that You test the heart and delight in uprightness. All these things I have given willingly and with an upright heart, and now I have seen Your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to You.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 5:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.