Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Psalms 5:4 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 4. 4For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 5:4: The reason or consequence in “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness” supports the surrounding claim in “Morning prayer against deceit and violence.”
Read It With
- Psalms 5:1–12
Read Psalms 5:4 with 5:1–12. Read alone, “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness” could lose the individual voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 5:1–12, the individual voice carries the movement “Morning prayer against deceit and violence” as part of “Morning prayer against deceit and violence.” Its lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 5:1–12 opens Psalm 5 with “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation” and establishes the individual voice and “Morning prayer against deceit and violence” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 5:4 supplies a reason or consequence through “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness” and must be read with the claim it supports.
What Remains True
In “Morning prayer against deceit and violence,” Psalm 5:4 supplies a reason or consequence through “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness” and must be read with the claim it supports. The resulting truth stays bounded by this movement: Wrong and rage may be named honestly before the LORD, yet judgment remains accountable to justice and never turns another person into disposable prey. The local movement is “Morning prayer against deceit and violence.” The unit's reviewed limit is: Enemy language names harmful conduct in the poem; it cannot be transferred to a race, nation, party, denomination, or disliked neighbor.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because Psalm 5:4 belongs to “Morning prayer against deceit and violence,” its role must lead the practice: Psalm 5:4 supplies a reason or consequence through “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness” and must be read with the claim it supports. When “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness” voices danger or judgment, verify the harm, protect those at risk, and submit retaliation to lawful and accountable processes.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Psalms 5:1–12 — Morning prayer against deceit and violenceSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 5:1–12, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 5:1–12
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 5:1–12.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 5 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 5:1–12
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗