Discovery BoxPsalms 40:6-8
Context40:6 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 51:16
Context51:16 Certainly 6 you do not want a sacrifice, or else I would offer it; 7
you do not desire a burnt sacrifice. 8
Isaiah 1:11-31
Context1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” 9
says the Lord.
“I am stuffed with 10 burnt sacrifices
of rams and the fat from steers.
The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats
I do not want. 11
1:12 When you enter my presence,
do you actually think I want this –
animals trampling on my courtyards? 12
1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless 13 offerings;
I consider your incense detestable! 14
You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,
but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! 15
1:14 I hate your new moon festivals and assemblies;
they are a burden
that I am tired of carrying.
1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I look the other way; 16
when you offer your many prayers,
I do not listen,
because your hands are covered with blood. 17
1:16 18 Wash! Cleanse yourselves!
Remove your sinful deeds 19
from my sight.
Stop sinning!
1:17 Learn to do what is right!
Promote justice!
Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! 20
Take up the cause of the orphan!
Defend the rights of the widow! 21
1:18 22 Come, let’s consider your options,” 23 says the Lord.
“Though your sins have stained you like the color red,
you can become 24 white like snow;
though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet,
you can become 25 white like wool. 26
1:19 If you have a willing attitude and obey, 27
then you will again eat the good crops of the land.
1:20 But if you refuse and rebel,
you will be devoured 28 by the sword.”
Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. 29
1:21 How tragic that the once-faithful city
has become a prostitute! 30
She was once a center of 31 justice,
fairness resided in her,
but now only murderers. 32
1:22 Your 33 silver has become scum, 34
your beer is diluted with water. 35
1:23 Your officials are rebels, 36
they associate with 37 thieves.
All of them love bribery,
They do not take up the cause of the orphan, 40
or defend the rights of the widow. 41
1:24 Therefore, the sovereign Lord who commands armies, 42
the powerful ruler of Israel, 43 says this:
“Ah, I will seek vengeance 44 against my adversaries,
I will take revenge against my enemies. 45
I will purify your metal with flux. 47
I will remove all your slag. 48
1:26 I will reestablish honest judges as in former times,
wise advisers as in earlier days. 49
Then you will be called, ‘The Just City,
Faithful Town.’”
1:27 50 Zion will be freed by justice, 51
and her returnees by righteousness. 52
1:28 All rebellious sinners will be shattered, 53
those who abandon the Lord will perish.
1:29 Indeed, they 54 will be ashamed of the sacred trees
you 55 find so desirable;
you will be embarrassed because of the sacred orchards 56
where you choose to worship.
1:30 For you will be like a tree whose leaves wither,
like an orchard 57 that is unwatered.
1:31 The powerful will be like 58 a thread of yarn,
their deeds like a spark;
both will burn together,
and no one will put out the fire.
Jeremiah 7:21-23
Context7:21 The Lord said to the people of Judah, 59 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all 60 says: ‘You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too! 61 7:22 Consider this: 62 When I spoke to your ancestors after I brought them out of Egypt, I did not merely give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices. 7:23 I also explicitly commanded them: 63 “Obey me. If you do, I 64 will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you 65 and things will go well with you.”
Hosea 6:6
Context6:6 For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice;
I delight 66 in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings. 67
Hebrews 10:4-10
Context10:4 For the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. 68 10:5 So when he came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.
10:6 “Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in.
10:7 “Then I said, ‘Here I am: 69 I have come – it is written of me in the scroll of the book – to do your will, O God.’” 70
10:8 When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them” 71 (which are offered according to the law), 10:9 then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” 72 He does away with 73 the first to establish the second. 10:10 By his will 74 we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
[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] 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.
[51:16] 6 tn Or “For.” The translation assumes the particle is asseverative (i.e., emphasizing: “certainly”). (Some translations that consider the particle asseverative leave it untranslated.) If taken as causal or explanatory (“for”, cf. NRSV), the verse would explain why the psalmist is pleading for forgiveness, rather than merely offering a sacrifice.
[51:16] 7 tn The translation assumes that the cohortative is used in a hypothetical manner in a formally unmarked conditional sentence, “You do not want a sacrifice, should I offer [it]” (cf. NEB). For other examples of cohortatives in the protasis (“if” clause) of a conditional sentence, see GKC 320 §108.e. (It should be noted, however, that GKC understands this particular verse in a different manner. See GKC 320 §108.f, where it is suggested that the cohortative is part of an apodosis with the protasis being suppressed.)
[51:16] 8 sn You do not desire a burnt sacrifice. The terminology used in v. 16 does not refer to expiatory sacrifices, but to dedication and communion offerings. This is not a categorical denial of the sacrificial system in general or of the importance of such offerings. The psalmist is talking about his specific situation. Dedication and communion offerings have their proper place in worship (see v. 19), but God requires something more fundamental, a repentant and humble attitude (see v. 17), before these offerings can have real meaning.
[1:11] 9 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] 10 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] 11 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.
[1:12] 12 tn Heb “When you come to appear before me, who requires this from your hand, trampling of my courtyards?” The rhetorical question sarcastically makes the point that God does not require this parade of livestock. The verb “trample” probably refers to the eager worshipers and their sacrificial animals walking around in the temple area.
[1:13] 13 tn Or “worthless” (NASB, NCV, CEV); KJV, ASV “vain.”
[1:13] 14 sn Notice some of the other practices that Yahweh regards as “detestable”: homosexuality (Lev 18:22-30; 20:13), idolatry (Deut 7:25; 13:15), human sacrifice (Deut 12:31), eating ritually unclean animals (Deut 14:3-8), sacrificing defective animals (Deut 17:1), engaging in occult activities (Deut 18:9-14), and practicing ritual prostitution (1 Kgs 14:23).
[1:13] 15 tn Heb “sin and assembly” (these two nouns probably represent a hendiadys). The point is that their attempts at worship are unacceptable to God because the people’s everyday actions in the socio-economic realm prove they have no genuine devotion to God (see vv. 16-17).
[1:15] 16 tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”
[1:15] 17 sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.
[1:16] 18 sn Having demonstrated the people’s guilt, the Lord calls them to repentance, which will involve concrete action in the socio-economic realm, not mere emotion.
[1:16] 19 sn This phrase refers to Israel’s covenant treachery (cf. Deut 28:10; Jer 4:4; 21:12; 23:2, 22; 25:5; 26:3; 44:22; Hos 9:15; Ps 28:4). In general, the noun ַמעַלְלֵיכֶם (ma’alleykhem) can simply be a reference to deeds, whether good or bad. However, Isaiah always uses it with a negative connotation (cf. 3:8, 10).
[1:17] 20 tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The translation assumes an emendation of חָמוֹץ (khamots, “oppressor [?]”) to חָמוּץ (khamuts, “oppressed”), a passive participle from II חָמַץ (khamats, “oppress”; HALOT 329 s.v. II חמץ) and takes the verb II אָשַׁר (’ashar) in the sense of “make happy” (the delocutive Piel, meaning “call/pronounce happy,” is metonymic here, referring to actually effecting happiness). The parallelism favors this interpretation, for the next two lines speak of positive actions on behalf of the destitute. The other option is to retain the MT pointing and translate, “set right the oppressor,” but the nuance “set right” is not clearly attested elsewhere for the verb I אשׁר. This verb does appear as a participle in Isa 3:12 and 9:16 with the meaning “to lead or guide.” If it can mean to “lead” or “rebuke/redirect” in this verse, the prophet could be contrasting this appeal for societal reformation (v. 17c) with a command to reorder their personal lives (v. 17a-b). J. A. Motyer (The Prophecy of Isaiah, 47) suggests that these three statements (v. 17a-c) provide “the contrast between the two ends of imperfect society, the oppressor and the needy, the one inflicting and the other suffering the hurt. Isaiah looks for a transformed society wherever it needs transforming.”
[1:17] 21 tn This word refers to a woman who has lost her husband, by death or divorce. The orphan and widow are often mentioned in the OT as epitomizing the helpless and impoverished who have been left without the necessities of life due to the loss of a family provider.
[1:18] 22 sn The Lord concludes his case against Israel by offering them the opportunity to be forgiven and by setting before them the alternatives of renewed blessing (as a reward for repentance) and final judgment (as punishment for persistence in sin).
[1:18] 23 tn Traditionally, “let us reason together,” but the context suggests a judicial nuance. The Lord is giving the nation its options for the future.
[1:18] 24 tn The imperfects must be translated as modal (indicating capability or possibility) to bring out the conditional nature of the offer. This purification will only occur if the people repent and change their ways.
[1:18] 25 tn The imperfects must be translated as modal (indicating capability or possibility) to bring out the conditional nature of the offer. This purification will only occur if the people repent and change their ways.
[1:18] 26 tn Heb “though your sins are like red, they will become white like snow; though they are red like scarlet, they will be like wool.” The point is not that the sins will be covered up, though still retained. The metaphorical language must be allowed some flexibility and should not be pressed into a rigid literalistic mold. The people’s sins will be removed and replaced by ethical purity. The sins that are now as obvious as the color red will be washed away and the ones who are sinful will be transformed.
[1:19] 27 tn Heb “listen”; KJV “obedient”; NASB “If you consent and obey.”
[1:20] 28 sn The wordplay in the Hebrew draws attention to the options. The people can obey, in which case they will “eat” v. 19 (תֹּאכֵלוּ [to’khelu], Qal active participle of אָכַל) God’s blessing, or they can disobey, in which case they will be devoured (Heb “eaten,” תְּאֻכְּלוּ, [tÿ’ukkÿlu], Qal passive/Pual of אָכַל) by God’s judgment.
[1:20] 29 tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The introductory כִּי (ki) may be asseverative (as reflected in the translation) or causal/explanatory, explaining why the option chosen by the people will become reality (it is guaranteed by the divine word).
[1:21] 30 tn Heb “How she has become a prostitute, the faithful city!” The exclamatory אֵיכָה (’ekhah, “how!”) is used several times as the beginning of a lament (see Lam 1:1; 2;1; 4:1-2). Unlike a number of other OT passages that link references to Israel’s harlotry to idolatry, Isaiah here makes the connection with social and moral violations.
[1:21] 31 tn Heb “filled with.”
[1:21] 32 tn Or “assassins.” This refers to the oppressive rich and/or their henchmen. R. Ortlund (Whoredom, 78) posits that it serves as a synecdoche for all varieties of criminals, the worst being mentioned to imply all lesser ones. Since Isaiah often addressed his strongest rebuke to the rulers and leaders of Israel, he may have in mind the officials who bore the responsibility to uphold justice and righteousness.
[1:22] 33 tn The pronoun is feminine singular; personified Jerusalem (see v. 21) is addressed.
[1:22] 34 tn Or “dross.” The word refers to the scum or impurites floating on the top of melted metal.
[1:22] 35 sn The metaphors of silver becoming impure and beer being watered down picture the moral and ethical degeneration that had occurred in Jerusalem.
[1:23] 36 tn Or “stubborn”; CEV “have rejected me.”
[1:23] 37 tn Heb “and companions of” (so KJV, NASB); CEV “friends of crooks.”
[1:23] 38 tn Heb “pursue”; NIV “chase after gifts.”
[1:23] 39 sn Isaiah may have chosen the word for gifts (שַׁלְמוֹנִים, shalmonim; a hapax legomena here), as a sarcastic pun on what these rulers should have been doing. Instead of attending to peace and wholeness (שָׁלוֹם, shalom), they sought after payoffs (שַׁלְמוֹנִים).
[1:23] 40 sn See the note at v. 17.
[1:23] 41 sn The rich oppressors referred to in Isaiah and the other eighth century prophets were not rich capitalists in the modern sense of the word. They were members of the royal military and judicial bureaucracies in Israel and Judah. As these bureaucracies grew, they acquired more and more land and gradually commandeered the economy and legal system. At various administrative levels bribery and graft become commonplace. The common people outside the urban administrative centers were vulnerable to exploitation in such a system, especially those, like widows and orphans, who had lost their family provider through death. Through confiscatory taxation, conscription, excessive interest rates, and other oppressive governmental measures and policies, they were gradually disenfranchised and lost their landed property, and with it, their rights as citizens. The socio-economic equilibrium envisioned in the law of Moses was radically disturbed.
[1:24] 42 tn Heb “the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” On the title “the Lord who commands armies,” see the note at v. 9.
[1:24] 43 tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Israel.”
[1:24] 44 tn Heb “console myself” (i.e., by getting revenge); NRSV “pour out my wrath on.”
[1:24] 45 sn The Lord here identifies with the oppressed and comes as their defender and vindicator.
[1:25] 46 tn Heb “turn my hand against you.” The second person pronouns in vv. 25-26 are feminine singular. Personified Jerusalem is addressed. The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack,” in Ps 81:15 HT (81:14 ET); Ezek 38:12; Am 1:8; Zech 13:7. In Jer 6:9 it is used of gleaning grapes.
[1:25] 47 tn Heb “I will purify your dross as [with] flux.” “Flux” refers here to minerals added to the metals in a furnace to prevent oxides from forming. For this interpretation of II בֹּר (bor), see HALOT 153 s.v. II בֹּר and 750 s.v. סִיג.
[1:25] 48 sn The metaphor comes from metallurgy; slag is the substance left over after the metallic ore has been refined.
[1:26] 49 tn Heb “I will restore your judges as in the beginning; and your counselors as in the beginning.” In this context, where social injustice and legal corruption are denounced (see v. 23), the “judges” are probably government officials responsible for making legal decisions, while the “advisers” are probably officials who helped the king establish policies. Both offices are also mentioned in 3:2.
[1:27] 50 sn The third person reference to the Lord in v. 28 indicates that the prophet is again (see vv. 21-24a) speaking. Since v. 27 is connected to v. 28 by a conjunction, it is likely that the prophet’s words begin with v. 27.
[1:27] 51 tn Heb “Zion will be ransomed with justice.” Both cola in this verse end with similar terms: justice and righteousness (and both are preceded by a בְּ [bet] preposition). At issue is whether these virtues describe the means or result of the deliverance and whether they delineate God’s justice/righteousness or that of the covenant people. If the righteousness of Israelite returnees is in view, the point seems to be that the reestablishment of Zion as a center of justice (God’s people living in conformity with God’s demand for equity and justice) will deliver the city from its past humiliation and restore it to a place of prominence (see 2:2-4; cf. E. Kissane, Isaiah, 1:19). Most scholars conclude that “righteousness and “justice” refers to God alone (J. Ridderbos, Isaiah [BSC], 50; J. Watts, Isaiah [WBC], 1:25; E. J. Young, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:89; cf. NLT, TEV) or serves as a double reference to both divine and human justice and righteousness (J. A. Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 51; J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:10; H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:72). If it refers to both sides of the coin, these terms highlight the objective divine work of redemption and the subjective human response of penitence (Motyer, 51).
[1:27] 52 tc The Hebrew text has, “her repentant ones/returnees with righteousness.” The form שָׁבֶיהָ (shaveha, “her repentant ones”), as pointed in MT, is a masculine plural Qal participle from שׁוּב (shuv, “return”). Used substantivally, it refers to the “returning (i.e., repentant) ones.” It is possible that the parallel line (with its allusion to being freed by a ransom payment) suggests that the form be repointed to שִׁבְיָהּ (shivyah, “her captivity”), a reading that has support from the LXX. Some slightly emend the form to read וְשָׁבָה (vÿshavah, “and will return”). According to this view, the verb from the first line applies to the second line as well with the following translation as a result: “she will be released when fairness is restored.” Regardless, it makes best sense in the context to regard this as a reference to repentant Israelites returning to the land of promise. This understanding provides a better contrast with the rebels and sinners in 1:28.
[1:28] 53 tn Heb “and [there will be] a shattering of rebels and sinners together.”
[1:29] 54 tc The Hebrew text (and the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa) has the third person here, though a few Hebrew
[1:29] 55 tn The second person pronouns in vv. 29-30 are masculine plural, indicating that the rebellious sinners (v. 28) are addressed.
[1:29] 56 tn Or “gardens” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “groves.”
[1:30] 57 tn Or “a garden” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[1:31] 58 tn Heb “will become” (so NASB, NIV).
[7:21] 59 tn The words “The
[7:21] 60 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”
[7:21] 61 tn Heb “Add your burnt offerings to your [other] sacrifices and eat the meat!” See the following sn for explanation. This is an example of the rhetorical use of the imperative for a sarcastic challenge. Cf. GKC 324 §110.a; cf. Amos 4:4, “Go to Bethel and sin!”
[7:22] 62 tn Heb “For” but this introduces a long explanation about the relative importance of sacrifice and obedience.
[7:23] 63 tn Verses 22-23a read in Hebrew, “I did not speak with your ancestors and I did not command them when I brought them out of Egypt about words/matters concerning burnt offering and sacrifice, but I commanded them this word:” Some modern commentators have explained this passage as an evidence for the lateness of the Pentateuchal instruction regarding sacrifice or a denial that sacrifice was practiced during the period of the wilderness wandering. However, it is better explained as an example of what R. de Vaux calls a dialectical negative, i.e., “not so much this as that” or “not this without that” (Ancient Israel, 454-56). For other examples of this same argument see Isa 1:10-17; Hos 6:4-6; Amos 5:21-25.
[7:23] 64 tn Heb “Obey me and I will be.” The translation is equivalent syntactically but brings out the emphasis in the command.
[7:23] 65 tn Heb “Walk in all the way that I command you.”
[6:6] 66 tn The phrase “I delight” does not appear in the Hebrew text a second time in this verse, but is implied from the parallelism in the preceding line.
[6:6] 67 sn Contrary to popular misunderstanding, Hosea does not reject animal sacrifice nor cultic ritual, and advocate instead obedience only. Rather, God does not delight in ritual sacrifice without the accompanying prerequisite moral obedience (1 Sam 15:22; Pss 40:6-8; 51:16-17; Prov 21:3; Isa 1:11-17; Jer 7:21-23; Hos 6:6; Mic 6:6-8). However, if prerequisite moral obedience is present, he delights in sacrificial worship as an outward expression (Ps 51:19). Presented by a repentant obedient worshiper, whole burnt offerings were “an aroma pleasing” to the
[10:4] 68 tn Grk “for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
[10:7] 69 tn Grk “behold,” but this construction often means “here is/there is” (cf. BDAG 468 s.v. ἰδού 2).
[10:7] 70 sn A quotation from Ps 40:6-8 (LXX). The phrase a body you prepared for me (in v. 5) is apparently an interpretive expansion of the HT reading “ears you have dug out for me.”
[10:8] 71 sn Various phrases from the quotation of Ps 40:6 in Heb 10:5-6 are repeated in Heb 10:8.
[10:9] 72 tc The majority of
[10:10] 74 tn Grk “by which will.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
