חָפֵץ (Chafets)

MEANINGTo delight in, desire, take pleasure in, be pleased with. Describes settled interior pleasure --- not mild preference but deep settled delight. The OT's most direct word for genuine desire.

GRAMMARQal imperfect in Ezekiel 33:11 (lo echpots --- 'I do not take pleasure'). The imperfect expresses ongoing, habitual state --- what God consistently and characteristically does not take pleasure in. The negation is absolute: lo (not) + echpots = no settled delight whatsoever.

SIGNIFICANCEEzekiel 33:11 uses chafets with the chai-ani oath: God swears by his own life that he does not take settled pleasure in the death of the wicked. This is Thread 1's strongest single OT statement. The two-wills doctrine must claim that chafets describes God's 'revealed will' while his 'decretive will' ordains what chafets explicitly says God does not delight in.

KEY VERSE / SCRIPTURESPsalm 22:8 (he delights in him); Isaiah 42:1 (God delights in his servant); Isaiah 1:11 (God does NOT delight in sacrifices without obedience); Ezekiel 33:11; 18:32; Micah 7:18 (who is a God like you who delights in chesed?).

CROSS-REFERENCESEzekiel 33:11 · 18:32 · Micah 7:18 · θέλει thelei (NT parallel --- 1 Timothy 2:4)