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Psalm 5:4
For you are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness. Evil can’t live with you.
2Listen to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for I pray to you.
3LORD, in the morning you will hear my voice. In the morning I will lay my requests before you, and will watch expectantly.
4For you are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness. Evil can’t live with you.
5The arrogant will not stand in your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity.
6You will destroy those who speak lies. The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
Notice
Evil has no home with God, a stark claim within a morning prayer that makes his character matter to every request brought before him.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What changes in your morning requests when you address a God who takes no pleasure in wickedness?
Write on thisWhat assumptions about God does the phrase “Evil can’t live with you” challenge or confirm for you?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 11:5The LORD examines the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and him who loves violence.Both psalms describe God’s opposition to wickedness, with Psalm 11 naming his hatred of those who love violence.
Hebrews 12:14Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,Both passages connect God’s presence with holiness: evil cannot live with him, and without sanctification no one will see him.
Malachi 2:17You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the LORD’s sight, and he …Psalm 5 denies that God delights in wickedness, while Malachi rebukes people for claiming that he delights in evildoers.
Psalm 50:21You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.Both passages reject a view of God that makes room for wrongdoing: Psalm 5 denies his pleasure, and Psalm 50 announces rebuke.
Revelation 21:27There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.Both texts describe exclusion: evil cannot live with God, and nothing profane or deceitful will enter the city.
Hebrews 10:38But the righteous one will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”Both passages speak of what gives God no pleasure, though Hebrews addresses shrinking back from faith.
Psalm 101:7He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes.Both psalms use the language of dwelling to exclude wrongdoing, with Psalm 101 naming deceit and falsehood.
Psalm 92:15to show that the LORD is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.Both psalms affirm God’s separation from evil: wickedness gives him no pleasure, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
2 Peter 3:13But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.Dwelling is the shared image: evil cannot live with God, while righteousness dwells in the promised new heavens and earth.
Habakkuk 1:13You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously and keep silent when the wicked …Both prayers affirm God’s opposition to evil, while Habakkuk also asks why he tolerates treachery.
Revelation 21:23The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it and its lamp is the Lamb.The shared thread is God’s presence: Psalm 5 excludes evil from it, while Revelation describes his glory lighting the city.
John 14:23Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.Both passages speak of dwelling with God: Psalm 5 excludes evil, while Jesus promises a home with those who love and obey him.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. temptation. wanting a steady prayer habit.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The God who hears the morning cry takes no pleasure in wickedness. Bringing wrong before him means bringing it before one who gives evil no home.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).