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I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
Psalms 50:8 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB I don’t rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me.
  • BSB I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are ever before Me.
  • NKJV I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices Or your burnt offerings, Which are continually before Me.
  • NASB “I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
  • NLT I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly offer.

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's complaint is not that Israel failed to bring sacrifices; their offerings were continual. The problem lies deeper than ritual omission.

Overview

God clarifies that He is not rebuking their sacrificial practice, which was abundant and regular. This guards against misreading the passage as a rejection of the sacrificial system He Himself ordained. Rather, He is exposing a heart and life that contradict the worship they offer, as the following verses reveal.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 6

  • Hos 6:6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
  • Heb 10:4–10For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
  • Isa 1:11–31To 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.
  • Ps 51:16For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
  • Ps 40:6–8Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
  • Jer 7:21–23Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 50:8YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 50:8 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.