Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Parallel translations
- WEB Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
- BSB Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.
- NKJV Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
- NASB ¶You have not desired sacrifice and meal offering; You have opened my ears; You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
- NLT You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings. Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand— you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God desires obedience more than mere sacrifice and has opened David's ears to hear. Ritual without a willing heart cannot satisfy God.
Overview
David grasps that God prizes a heart attentive to His will above ceremonial offerings. Hebrews 10:5-7 applies this passage to Christ, who came to do God's will and offer the perfect, final sacrifice. The verse points beyond the old offerings to the obedient Servant.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Heb 10:5–12Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
- Isa 1:11To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
- 1 Sam 15:22And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
- Ps 51:16For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
- Hos 6:6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
- Matt 9:13But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
- Matt 12:7But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
- Amos 5:22Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
- Jer 7:21–23Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
- Isa 66:3He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
- Job 33:16Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,
- Ps 50:8I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
- Isa 50:4–5The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.
- Exod 21:6Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 40:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.