Psalms 40:6

40:6 Receiving sacrifices and offerings are not your primary concern. ¹ 

You make that quite clear to me! ² 

You do not ask for burnt sacrifices and sin offerings.

Micah 6:8

6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good,

and what the Lord really wants from you: ³ 

He wants you to ⁴  promote ⁵  justice, to be faithful, ⁶ 

and to live obediently before ⁷  your God.

[40:6]  ¹ tn Heb “sacrifice and offering you do not desire.” The statement is exaggerated for the sake of emphasis (see Ps 51:16 as well). God is pleased with sacrifices, but his first priority is obedience and loyalty (see 1 Sam 15:22). Sacrifices and offerings apart from genuine allegiance are meaningless (see Isa 1:11-20).

[40:6]  ² tn Heb “ears you hollowed out for me.” The meaning of this odd expression is debated (this is the only collocation of “hollowed out” and “ears” in the OT). It may have been an idiomatic expression referring to making a point clear to a listener. The LXX has “but a body you have prepared for me,” a reading which is followed in Heb 10:5.

[6:8]  ³ sn What the Lord really wants from you. Now the prophet switches roles and answers the hypothetical worshiper’s question. He makes it clear that the Lord desires proper attitudes more than ritual and sacrifice.

[6:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “except.” This statement is actually linked with what precedes, “What does he want from you except….”

[6:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “to do,” in the sense of “promote.”

[6:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “to love faithfulness.”

[6:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “to walk humbly [or perhaps, “carefully”] with.”