◄ Psalm 5:4 ►
For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; no evil can dwell with You.
Study Bible
For You are not a God who delights in wickedness
This phrase establishes a foundational understanding of God's character. The Hebrew word for "delights" is "ḥāp̄ēṣ," which conveys a sense of pleasure or desire. God does not find pleasure in wickedness, which is "rā‘," meaning evil or morally wrong actions. This highlights God's holiness and righteousness, setting Him apart from human sinfulness. Historically, this understanding of God as holy and separate from evil was crucial for the Israelites, who were surrounded by pagan cultures with deities that often embodied both good and evil traits. This distinction underscores the purity and moral perfection of the God of Israel.

no evil can dwell with You
The word "dwell" is translated from the Hebrew "gûr," which means to sojourn or temporarily reside. This implies that evil cannot even temporarily exist in God's presence. The phrase emphasizes the incompatibility of sin with God's nature. In the broader scriptural context, this is a reminder of the separation between God and sin, which is a recurring theme throughout the Bible. It points to the necessity of holiness and purity for those who wish to approach God, a concept that is further developed in the New Testament through the atoning work of Christ, who bridges the gap between sinful humanity and a holy God.

Persons / Places / Events
1. David
- The author of Psalm 5, David is expressing his understanding of God's nature and character in this prayerful psalm.

2. God
- The central figure in this verse, God is depicted as holy and righteous, unable to tolerate wickedness or evil.

3. Wickedness
- Represents actions and thoughts that are contrary to God's nature and commands.

4. Evil
- Refers to moral corruption and sin, which cannot coexist with God's holiness.
Teaching Points
God's Holiness
God’s nature is inherently holy, and He cannot tolerate sin. This understanding should lead us to a deeper reverence for His purity and righteousness.

Call to Righteous Living
As followers of Christ, we are called to pursue righteousness and turn away from wickedness, aligning our lives with God’s standards.

The Nature of Sin
Recognizing that sin creates a barrier between us and God should motivate us to seek forgiveness and strive for holiness.

God's Incompatibility with Evil
Understanding that no evil can dwell with God should encourage us to examine our lives and remove anything that is not pleasing to Him.

Prayer and Repentance
Like David, we should approach God in prayer, acknowledging His holiness and seeking His guidance to live a life free from sin.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding God's intolerance for wickedness influence your daily decisions and actions?

2. In what ways can you actively pursue righteousness in your life, knowing that no evil can dwell with God?

3. Reflect on a time when sin created a barrier between you and God. How did you overcome it, and what did you learn from the experience?

4. How can the concept of God's holiness and purity shape your prayer life and relationship with Him?

5. What steps can you take to ensure that your life aligns with the truth that God does not delight in wickedness? Consider connections to other scriptures that guide righteous living.
Connections to Other Scriptures
Habakkuk 1:13
- This verse emphasizes God's pure eyes that cannot look upon evil, reinforcing the idea of God's intolerance for wickedness.

1 John 1:5
- Describes God as light, with no darkness in Him, aligning with the concept that no evil can dwell with God.

Isaiah 59:2
- Highlights how sin separates humanity from God, echoing the separation between God and wickedness mentioned in Psalm 5:4.
Sermons
Prayer for Deliverance from Wicked MenC. Short Psalm 5:1-7
A Morning PrayerW. Forsyth Psalm 5:1-12
A Morning Prayer: for Sanctuary Service: in Evil TimesC. Clemance Psalm 5:1-12
David's State of Mind in Relation to God and SocietyHomilistPsalm 5:1-12
Prayer to GodThomas Wilcocks.Psalm 5:1-12
The Inward and Outward Sides of the Divine LifeA. Maclaren, D. D.Psalm 5:1-12
The Oratory GateMarvin R. Vincent, D. D.Psalm 5:1-12
The Poverty of Speech in PrayerPsalm 5:1-12
The Prayerful and UnprayerfulF. B. Meyer, B. A.Psalm 5:1-12
The Unspoken Part of PrayerB. Gregory, D. D.Psalm 5:1-12
God's Hatred of SinJames Marshall, A. M.Psalm 5:4-5
God's Hatred of SinnersN. Emmons, D. DPsalm 5:4-5
The Great Matters of ReligionB. Whichcote, D. D.Psalm 5:4-5
The Relation of the Righteous God to Wicked MenPsalm 5:4-5
People
David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Can't, Delights, Desiring, Dwell, Dwells, Evil, Inhabiteth, Pleasure, Sojourn, Takes, Wicked, Wickedness, Wrongdoing
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 5:4

     5918   pleasure
     8460   pleasing God

Psalm 5:4-5

     5004   human race, and sin
     5875   hatred

Psalm 5:4-6

     8715   dishonesty, and God

Library
A Staircase of Three Steps
'All those that put their trust in Thee ... them also that love Thy name ... the righteous.'--PSALM v. 11, 12. I have ventured to isolate these three clauses from their context, because, if taken in their sequence, they are very significant of the true path by which men draw nigh to God and become righteous. They are all three designations of the same people, but regarded under different aspects and at different stages. There is a distinct order in them, and whether the Psalmist was fully conscious …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Morning Hymn.
"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord."--Psalm 5:3. "Morgen glanz der Ewigkeit." [35]Knov. von Rosenroth. transl., Jane Borthwick, 1855 Jesus, Sun of righteousness, Brightest beam of Love Divine, With the early morning rays Do Thou on our darkness shine, And dispel with purest light All our night! As on drooping herb and flower Falls the soft refreshing dew, Let Thy Spirit's grace and power All our weary souls renew; Sbowers of blessing over all Softly fall! Like the sun's reviving …
Jane Borthwick—Hymns from the Land of Luther

Morning Hymns
Morning Hymns. [2] My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up. Psalm 5:3 …
Catherine Winkworth—Lyra Germanica: The Christian Year

Moreover what is Written "Thou Wilt Destroy all that Speak Leasing...
35. Moreover what is written "Thou wilt destroy all that speak leasing:" [2360] one saith that no lie is here excepted, but all condemned. Another saith: Yea verily: but they who speak leasing from the heart, as we disputed above; for that man speaketh truth in his heart, who hateth the necessity of lying, which he understands as a penalty of the moral life. Another saith: All indeed will God destroy who speak leasing, but not all leasing: for there is some leasing which the Prophet was at that time …
St. Augustine—On Lying

But if no Authority for Lying Can be Alleged...
9. But if no authority for lying can be alleged, neither from the ancient Books, be it because that is not a lie which is received to have been done or said in a figurative sense, or be it because good men are not challenged to imitate that which in bad men, beginning to amend, is praised in comparison with the worse; nor yet from the books of the New Testament, because Peter's correction rather than his simulation, even as his tears rather than his denial, is what we must imitate: then, as to those …
St. Augustine—On Lying

A Great Deal for Me to Read Hast Thou Sent...
1. A great deal for me to read hast thou sent, my dearest brother Consentius: a great deal for me to read: to the which while I am preparing an answer, and am drawn off first by one, then by another, more urgent occupation, the year has measured out its course, and has thrust me into such straits, that I must answer in what sort I may, lest the time for sailing being now favorable, and the bearer desirous to return, I should too long detain him. Having therefore unrolled and read through all that …
St. Augustine—Against Lying

On the Other Hand, those who Say that we must Never Lie...
6. On the other hand, those who say that we must never lie, plead much more strongly, using first the Divine authority, because in the very Decalogue it is written "Thou shall not bear false witness;" [2306] under which general term it comprises all lying: for whoso utters any thing bears witness to his own mind. But lest any should contend that not every lie is to be called false witness, what will he say to that which is written, "The mouth that lieth slayeth the soul:" [2307] and lest any should …
St. Augustine—On Lying

What Then, if a Homicide Seek Refuge with a Christian...
22. What then, if a homicide seek refuge with a Christian, or if he see where the homicide have taken refuge, and be questioned of this matter by him who seeks, in order to bring to punishment a man, the slayer of man? Is he to tell a lie? For how does he not hide a sin by lying, when he for whom he lies has been guilty of a heinous sin? Or is it because he is not questioned concerning his sin, but about the place where he is concealed? So then to lie in order to hide a person's sin is evil; but …
St. Augustine—On Lying

Since the Case is So, what is Man...
19. Since the case is so, what is man, while in this life he uses his own proper will, ere he choose and love God, but unrighteous and ungodly? "What," I say, "is man," a creature going astray from the Creator, unless his Creator "be mindful of him," [2683] and choose [2684] him freely, and love [2685] him freely? Because he is himself not able to choose or love, unless being first chosen and loved he be healed, because by choosing blindness he perceiveth not, and by loving laziness is soon wearied. …
St. Augustine—On Patience

Second Sunday after Trinity Exhortation to Brotherly Love.
Text: 1 John 3, 13-18. 13 Marvel not, brethren, if the world hateth you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death. 15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 16 Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath the world's goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Question of the Division of Life into the Active and the Contemplative
I. May Life be fittingly divided into the Active and the Contemplative? S. Augustine, De Consensu Evangelistarum, I., iv. 8 " Tractatus, cxxiv. 5, in Joannem II. Is this division of Life into the Active and the Contemplative a sufficient one? S. Augustine, Of the Trinity, I., viii. 17 I May Life be fittingly divided into the Active and the Contemplative? S. Gregory the Great says[291]: "There are two kinds of lives in which Almighty God instructs us by His Sacred Word--namely, the active and …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

Covenanting a Duty.
The exercise of Covenanting with God is enjoined by Him as the Supreme Moral Governor of all. That his Covenant should be acceded to, by men in every age and condition, is ordained as a law, sanctioned by his high authority,--recorded in his law of perpetual moral obligation on men, as a statute decreed by him, and in virtue of his underived sovereignty, promulgated by his command. "He hath commanded his covenant for ever."[171] The exercise is inculcated according to the will of God, as King and …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Covenant Duties.
It is here proposed to show, that every incumbent duty ought, in suitable circumstances, to be engaged to in the exercise of Covenanting. The law and covenant of God are co-extensive; and what is enjoined in the one is confirmed in the other. The proposals of that Covenant include its promises and its duties. The former are made and fulfilled by its glorious Originator; the latter are enjoined and obligatory on man. The duties of that Covenant are God's law; and the demands of the law are all made …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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