Psalms 40:6-8

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.

40:7 Then I say,

“Look! I come!

What is written in the scroll pertains to me. ³ 

40:8 I want to do what pleases you, ⁴  my God.

Your law dominates my thoughts.” ⁵ 

Psalms 50:8-23

50:8 I am not condemning ⁶  you because of your sacrifices,

or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me. ⁷ 

50:9 I do not need to take ⁸  a bull from your household

or goats from your sheepfolds.

50:10 For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me,

as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills. ⁹ 

50:11 I keep track of ¹⁰  every bird in the hills,

and the insects ¹¹  of the field are mine.

50:12 Even if I were hungry, I would not tell you,

for the world and all it contains belong to me.

50:13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls?

Do I drink the blood of goats? ¹² 

50:14 Present to God a thank-offering!

Repay your vows to the sovereign One! ¹³ 

50:15 Pray to me when you are in trouble! ¹⁴ 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me!” ¹⁵ 

50:16 God says this to the evildoer: ¹⁶ 

“How can you declare my commands,

and talk about my covenant? ¹⁷ 

50:17 For you hate instruction

and reject my words. ¹⁸ 

50:18 When you see a thief, you join him; ¹⁹ 

you associate with men who are unfaithful to their wives. ²⁰ 

50:19 You do damage with words, ²¹ 

and use your tongue to deceive. ²² 

50:20 You plot against your brother; ²³ 

you slander your own brother. ²⁴ 

50:21 When you did these things, I was silent, ²⁵ 

so you thought I was exactly like you. ²⁶ 

But now I will condemn ²⁷  you

and state my case against you! ²⁸ 

50:22 Carefully consider this, you who reject God! ²⁹ 

Otherwise I will rip you to shreds ³⁰ 

and no one will be able to rescue you.

50:23 Whoever presents a thank-offering honors me. ³¹ 

To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.” ³² 

Isaiah 1:11

1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” ³³ 

says the Lord.

“I am stuffed with ³⁴  burnt sacrifices

of rams and the fat from steers.

The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats

I do not want. ³⁵ 

Jeremiah 6:20

6:20 I take no delight ³⁶  when they offer up to me ³⁷ 

frankincense that comes from Sheba

or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land.

I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me.

I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.’ ³⁸ 

Amos 5:21-22

5:21 “I absolutely despise ³⁹  your festivals!

I get no pleasure ⁴⁰  from your religious assemblies!

5:22 Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, ⁴¹  I will not be satisfied;

I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves. ⁴² 

[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.

[40:7]  ³ tn Heb “in the roll of the scroll it is written concerning me.” Apparently the psalmist refers to the law of God (see v. 8), which contains the commandments God desires him to obey. If this is a distinctly royal psalm, then the psalmist/king may be referring specifically to the regulations of kingship prescribed in Deut 17:14-20. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 315.

[40:8]  ⁴ tn Or “your will.”

[40:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “your law [is] in the midst of my inner parts.” The “inner parts” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s thought life and moral decision making.

[50:8]  ⁶ tn Or “rebuking.”

[50:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “and your burnt sacrifices before me continually.”

[50:9]  ⁸ tn Or “I will not take.”

[50:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “[the] animals on a thousand hills.” The words “that graze” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The term בְּהֵמוֹה (bÿhemot, “animal”) refers here to cattle (see Ps 104:14).

[50:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I know.”

[50:11]  ¹¹ tn The precise referent of the Hebrew word, which occurs only here and in Ps 80:13, is uncertain. Aramaic, Arabic and Akkadian cognates refer to insects, such as locusts or crickets.

[50:13]  ¹² tn The rhetorical questions assume an emphatic negative response, “Of course not!”

[50:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.

[50:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”

[50:15]  ¹⁵ sn In vv. 7-15 the Lord makes it clear that he was not rebuking Israel because they had failed to offer sacrifices (v. 8a). On the contrary, they had been faithful in doing so (v. 8b). However, their understanding of the essence of their relationship with God was confused. Apparently they believed that he needed/desired such sacrifices and that offering them would ensure their prosperity. But the Lord owns all the animals of the world and did not need Israel’s meager sacrifices (vv. 9-13). Other aspects of the relationship were more important to the Lord. He desired Israel to be thankful for his blessings (v. 14a), to demonstrate gratitude for his intervention by repaying the vows they made to him (v. 14b), and to acknowledge their absolute dependence on him (v. 15a). Rather than viewing their sacrifices as somehow essential to God’s well-being, they needed to understand their dependence on him.

[50:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “evil [one].” The singular adjective is used here in a representative sense; it refers to those within the larger covenant community who have blatantly violated the Lord’s commandments. In the psalms the “wicked” (רְשָׁעִים, rÿsha’im) are typically proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander, and cheat others (Ps 37:21).

[50:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “What to you to declare my commands and lift up my covenant upon your mouth?” The rhetorical question expresses sarcastic amazement. The Lord is shocked that such evildoers would give lip-service to his covenantal demands, for their lifestyle is completely opposed to his standards (see vv. 18-20).

[50:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and throw my words behind you.”

[50:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you run with him.”

[50:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and with adulterers [is] your portion.”

[50:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “your mouth you send with evil.”

[50:19]  ²² tn Heb “and your tongue binds together [i.e., “frames”] deceit.”

[50:20]  ²³ tn Heb “you sit, against your brother you speak.” To “sit” and “speak” against someone implies plotting against that person (see Ps 119:23).

[50:20]  ²⁴ tn Heb “against the son of your mother you give a fault.”

[50:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “these things you did and I was silent.” Some interpret the second clause (“and I was silent”) as a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer, “[When you do these things], should I keep silent?” (cf. NEB). See GKC 335 §112.cc.

[50:21]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew infinitive construct (הֱיוֹת, heyot) appears to function like the infinitive absolute here, adding emphasis to the following finite verbal form (אֶהְיֶה, ’ehyeh). See GKC 339-40 §113.a. Some prefer to emend הֱיוֹת (heyot) to the infinitive absolute form הָיוֹ (hayo).

[50:21]  ²⁷ tn Or “rebuke” (see v. 8).

[50:21]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and I will set in order [my case against you] to your eyes.” The cohortative form expresses the Lord’s resolve to accuse and judge the wicked.

[50:22]  ²⁹ tn Heb “[you who] forget God.” “Forgetting God” here means forgetting about his commandments and not respecting his moral authority.

[50:22]  ³⁰ sn Elsewhere in the psalms this verb is used (within a metaphorical framework) of a lion tearing its prey (see Pss 7:2; 17:12; 22:13).

[50:23]  ³¹ sn The reference to a thank-offering recalls the earlier statement made in v. 14. Gratitude characterizes genuine worship.

[50:23]  ³² tn Heb “and [to one who] sets a way I will show the deliverance of God.” Elsewhere the phrase “set a way” simply means “to travel” (see Gen 30:36; cf. NRSV). The present translation assumes an emendation of וְשָׂם דֶּרֶךְ (vÿsam derekh) to וְשֹׁמֵר דְּרָכַּי (vÿshomer dÿrakhay, “and [the one who] keeps my ways” [i.e., commands, see Pss 18:21; 37:34). Another option is to read וְשֹׁמֵר דַּרְכּוֹ (vÿshomer darko, “and [the one who] guards his way,” i.e., “the one who is careful to follow a godly lifestyle”; see Ps 39:1).

[1:11]  ³³ tn Heb “Why to me the multitude of your sacrifices?” The sarcastic rhetorical question suggests that their many sacrifices are of no importance to the Lord. This phrase answers the possible objection that an Israelite could raise in response to God’s indictment: “But we are offering the sacrifices you commanded!”

[1:11]  ³⁴ tn The verb שָׂבַע (sava’, “be satisfied, full”) is often used of eating and/or drinking one’s fill. See BDB 959 s.v. שָׂבַע. Here sacrifices are viewed, in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion, as food for the deity. God here declares that he has eaten and drunk, as it were, his fill.

[1:11]  ³⁵ sn In the chiastic structure of the verse, the verbs at the beginning and end highlight God’s displeasure, while the heaping up of references to animals, fat, and blood in the middle lines hints at why God wants no more of their sacrifices. They have, as it were, piled the food on his table and he needs no more.

[6:20]  ³⁶ tn Heb “To what purpose is it to me?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[6:20]  ³⁷ tn The words “when they offer up to me” are not in the text but are implicit from the following context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:20]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.” “The shift from “your” to “their” is an example of the figure of speech (apostrophe) where the speaker turns from talking about someone to addressing him/her directly. Though common in Hebrew style, it is not common in English. The shift to the third person in the translation is an accommodation to English style.

[5:21]  ³⁹ tn Heb “I hate”; “I despise.”

[5:21]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “I will not smell.” These verses are full of vivid descriptions of the Lord’s total rejection of Israelite worship. In the first half of this verse two verbs are used together for emphasis. Here the verb alludes to the sense of smell, a fitting observation since offerings would have been burned on the altar ideally to provide a sweet aroma to God (see, e.g., Lev 1:9, 13, 17; Num 29:36). Other senses that are mentioned include sight and hearing in vv. 22-23.

[5:22]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “burnt offerings and your grain offerings.”

[5:22]  ⁴² tn Heb “Peace offering[s], your fattened calves, I will not look at.”