The characterization intensifies: 'Who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil.' The wicked do not merely commit evil but 'delight' (samach) in it—they find joy and satisfaction in wrongdoing. They 'rejoice' (gilu) in perverseness. This reveals a hardened state where evil is not a regrettable lapse but the object of genuine desire. The person has come to prefer wickedness; his affections have been inverted so that he loves what is destructive. This is the condition of the hardened fool who has rejected wisdom's calls so often that his heart has become incapable of recognizing good. 'Perverseness' (iqqeshut) denotes crookedness, moral distortion. To rejoice in this is to have lost the very capacity to perceive moral reality aright. This verse illustrates the spiritual danger of persistent rejection of wisdom: the heart becomes twisted in its desires.

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