חָפֵץ

From the study of Ezekiel 33:11

Range of meaning

To delight in, take pleasure in, desire, want, be inclined to, choose (BDB, HALOT). It covers both what pleases someone emotionally and what they will or intend. With the preposition 'in' (bə-), it names the thing a person wants or approves.

Against the English

'Take no pleasure' / 'have no pleasure' (BSB, KJV, WEB, NIV, ESV) is a fair rendering. In modern English, though, 'pleasure' mostly means enjoyment. That could suggest God brings death on the guilty while merely not enjoying it. The Hebrew says more: their death is not what he wants. LXX ('I do not will', ou boulomai) and the Vulgate ('I do not will', nolo) both read the verb as a matter of will.

How it drifted

In older English, 'pleasure' also meant will, as in 'at His Majesty's pleasure' or 'his good pleasure'. The KJV wording carried that sense. Modern English has narrowed the word to enjoyment.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Samuel 2:25: 'YHWH desired (ḥāpēṣ) to put them to death'. Isaiah 53:10: 'it pleased (ḥāpēṣ) YHWH to crush him'. Both show the verb covering what God wills, not just what he enjoys. Micah 7:18: God 'delights in steadfast love'. Psalm 51:16: God does not delight in sacrifice. The same claim appears twice in Ezekiel 18 (vv. 23, 32). The Greek book of Wisdom (1:13) echoes it: 'God did not make death, and does not delight in the destruction of the living.'

From the study of Hosea 6:6

Range of meaning

To delight in, take pleasure in, be pleased with, want, will. It is used of people's desires and of God's will or pleasure.

Against the English

'Desire' (BSB, NIV, ESV, WEB) is fair but can sound like wishing for something you don't have. 'Delight' (NASB 1995) keeps the sense of what pleases and is accepted. KJV/YLT 'desired' put it in the past tense, which misreads a Hebrew verb of state. It describes a present, standing preference.

Used elsewhere in the period

The verb belongs to the vocabulary of God accepting or rejecting worship: 1 Sam 15:22 ('Does YHWH delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying?'); Isa 1:11 ('I do not delight in the blood of bulls'); Ps 40:6 [Heb 40:7]; Ps 51:16 [Heb 51:18]; Mal 1:10. Septuagint: thelō ('I want'), which Matthew keeps.

From the study of Isaiah 53:10

Range of meaning

The verb covers being inclined toward something: to delight in, take pleasure in, desire, want, choose. When it governs another verb ('ḥāpēṣ to do X'), the usual sense is 'to want to, be willing to, decide to'. The noun ḥēpeṣ ranges from 'delight' to 'desire', 'purpose', 'business' and 'affair'.

Against the English

The KJV and WEB say 'it pleased the LORD', and the YLT says 'delighted'. In 1611 'it pleased' was a normal formal way to say 'it was someone's will' ('it pleased God to…'). Today it sounds like enjoyment. The BSB, NIV and ESV say 'will', and the NLT says 'good plan'. For the noun, 'pleasure' (KJV, WEB) can sound like enjoyment, while 'purpose' or 'will' fits the sense better.

How it drifted

English 'please' has narrowed from 'it seemed good to / was the decision of' to 'gave enjoyment to'. The older idiom survives in phrases like 'if it please the court'.

Used elsewhere in the period

With a following verb: Judg 13:23 'If Yahweh had wanted to kill us…'; 1 Sam 2:25 'Yahweh wanted to put them to death'. The same verb is used to deny that God enjoys suffering: Ezek 18:23, 32 'Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?' The noun meaning 'purpose' comes in the same part of Isaiah: 44:28 (Cyrus 'will fulfil all my purpose'), 46:10 ('I will do all my purpose'), 48:14, and 55:11, where God's word does 'what I desired (ḥāpaṣtî)' and 'succeeds (hiṣlîaḥ)'.