A baby’s belly laugh. A bunch of monarch butterflies in a tree. A favorite meal. Visiting with a life-long friend. Sunrises and sunsets. The sound of waves crashing on the beach. The first flowers of spring. The first snowfall.
What do all these things have in common? They are things that bring delight.
So often in life, we focus on the hard things or the things that frustrate us. How often do we intentionally notice the things that delight us? Probably not as often as we should, at least for me.
While reading my devotions, I came across this verse:
Psalm 36:8: They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.
The idea of drinking from God’s river of delights intrigued me. What types of delight might we find in this river? That’s what sparked the idea for doing this word study on “delight.”
This study will be divided into 7 lessons:
Overview and Hebrew/Greek Background
The Old Self: Delighting in the Flesh
The New Self: Delighting in God
The New Self: Delighting in God’s Gifts
What God Delights In
What God Does for Those He Delights In
Other Types of Delight
This study will be spread out in November and December, with weeks off for the holidays.
Hebrew/Greek Words for Delight
To start our word study on delight, I wanted to look briefly at the Hebrew and Greek words that are translated into “delight” in English. There are way more than I expected! The exhaustive concordance that I use listed 28 different Hebrew words translated into delight in English and 6 more in Greek.
I then cross-referenced the Hebrew and Greek words translated as “delight” and looked up those same words under “pleasure” and “desire” (and their various forms) to get a more comprehensive view of how these words are used in the Bible. I did add a couple additional words that seemed to fit the “delight” theme, but I was selective if the verses used words that were not translated into delight elsewhere.
I’m neither a Hebrew nor Greek scholar, but I’ll do my best to at least give a brief overview of the words. I’m sure I could have taken this a lot further, but I feel like this gives us a good overview of how the Bible talks about delight.
Hebrew
Positive and Negative Uses
Many of the Hebrew words for delight can be used for both “positive” delight (aligned with the new self or God) and “negative” delight (aligned with the old self or the flesh), or to specify things that the person (or God) does not delight in.
The most common word translated “delight” in the Old Testament is hapes(1). Similar words are hapes(3) and hepes. Some representative verses include:
Jeremiah 9:23-24: 23 This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
24 but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.
Psalm 119:35: Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.
Psalm 18:19: He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
Ezekiel 33:11: Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’
Proverbs 18:2: Fools find no pleasure in understanding
but delight in airing their own opinions.
Another word used in both positive and negative ways is hamad. Some representative verses are:
Genesis 2:9: The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Proverbs 1:22: “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?”
Isaiah 1:29: “You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks
in which you have delighted;
you will be disgraced because of the gardens
that you have chosen.”
The last word we’ll look at that has both positive and negative uses is samah. Representative verses include:
1 Samuel 2:1: Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.”
Isaiah 9:17: Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,
nor will he pity the fatherless and widows,
for everyone is ungodly and wicked,
every mouth speaks folly.Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.
God’s Pleasure or Delight
Some Hebrew words are primarily used when referring to God’s pleasure or delight. One example is rasa(1):
1 Chronicles 29:17: I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.
Haggai 1:8: Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord.
Psalm 147:10-11: 10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
11 the Lord delights in those who fear him,
who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Sus is often used for either God delighting in people or people delighting in God.
Deuteronomy 30:9-10: 9 Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, 10 if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Isaiah 61:10: I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Nihoah is used repeatedly in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) to refer to sacrifices being a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
Exodus 29:18: Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord.
Leviticus 2:1-2: “‘When anyone brings a grain offering to the Lord, their offering is to be of the finest flour. They are to pour olive oil on it, put incense on it 2 and take it to Aaron’s sons the priests. The priest shall take a handful of the flour and oil, together with all the incense, and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.”
People’s Pleasure or Delight
When it comes to people’s delight, we can delight in the things of God or the things of this world. For example, sasuim is most frequently used in Psalm 119 to speak about delighting in God’s law:
Psalm 119:174: I long for your salvation, Lord,
and your law gives me delight.
In contrast, simha most often refers to taking pleasure in worldly things.
Ecclesiastes 2:10: I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
Proverbs 21:17: Whoever loves pleasure will become poor;
whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich.
Rason is similar in use to rasa(1), which we talked about above, but is also is used to refer to people doing as they please.
Daniel 11:3: Then a mighty king will arise, who will rule with great power and do as he pleases.
Nehemiah 9:37: Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.
Sometimes, words are used to speak of one person pleasing another, such as tob(1), which is often in the phrase “if it pleases the king.”
Esther 5:4: “If it pleases the king,” replied Esther, “let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him.”
Nehemiah 2:4-5: 4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
Tob(2) is used similarly to tob(1) but also to refer to a person pleasing God. Both words have the connotation of a person with lower status pleasing a person with higher authority.
Ecclesiastes 2:26: To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
As you can see, the word delight or pleasure has a wide variety of uses. Some words are fairly generic and can be used in many ways, whereas others have a more specific use. This also holds true for Greek words related to delight or pleasure.
Greek
The New Testament talks about pleasure or delight much less frequently than the Old Testament, with less than half the total number of references. However, the themes are much the same.
God’s Pleasure or Delight
The word eudokeo (ευδοκεω) is frequently used to refer to things that God is pleased or not pleased with, most commonly being used to refer to God being pleased with Jesus.
Matthew 3:16-17: 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
2 Corinthians 12:10: That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Interestingly, one thing that God does not desire is sacrifice, as is emphasized by the word thelo (θέλω).
Hebrews 10:5-8: 5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’”8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law.
Matthew 9:13: But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
We also learn that God’s actions are based on what pleases or delights him, as we see with the word eudokia (ευδοκία).
Luke 10:21: At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.”
Ephesians 1:5-10: In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
People’s Desire for the World
Reading through the New Testament verses, I was struck by how often it refers to the pleasures or desires of the world. This is related to our flesh, or our old self. For example, epithymia (επιθυμία) is almost exclusively used to refer to desires of the flesh.
Colossians 3:5: Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
1 Peter 1:14: As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
Similarly, hedone (ηδονή) is also often used to refer to the pleasures of the world.
Luke 8:14: The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
Titus 3:3: At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
A related term is chairo (χαίρω), which often—but not always—refers to a selfish type of delight.
Mark 14:10-11: 10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. 11 They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
Luke 23:8: When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort.
People’s Desire to Please God
Another way we see the delight or pleasure terms used is to encourage Christians to do what is pleasing to God, as we see with euarestos (ευάρεστος).
Romans 12:1-2: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Conclusion
We’ll work through all of these themes and more as we explore what the Bible has to say about delight in the coming weeks. I hope you’ll join me!
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