Psalms 66:13

66:13 I will enter ¹  your temple with burnt sacrifices;

I will fulfill the vows I made to you,

Psalms 20:3

20:3 May he take notice ²  of your offerings;

may he accept ³  your burnt sacrifice! (Selah)

Psalms 50:8

50:8 I am not condemning ⁴  you because of your sacrifices,

or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me. ⁵ 

Psalms 40:6

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

You make that quite clear to me! ⁷ 

You do not ask for burnt sacrifices and sin offerings.

Psalms 51:16

51:16 Certainly ⁸  you do not want a sacrifice, or else I would offer it; ⁹ 

you do not desire a burnt sacrifice. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 51:19

51:19 Then you will accept ¹¹  the proper sacrifices, burnt sacrifices and whole offerings;

then bulls will be sacrificed ¹²  on your altar. ¹³ 

Psalms 66:15

66:15 I will offer up to you fattened animals as burnt sacrifices,

along with the smell of sacrificial rams.

I will offer cattle and goats. (Selah)

[66:13]  ¹ sn Here the psalmist switches to the singular; he speaks as the representative of the nation.

[20:3]  ² tn Or “remember.” For other examples of the verb זָכַר (zakhar) carrying the nuance “take notice of,” see Pss 8:4 and 9:12.

[20:3]  ³ tc Heb “consider as fat.” The verbal form should probably be emended to יְדַשְּׁנֶהָ (yÿdashÿneha), the final he (ה) being understood as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix referring back to the feminine noun “burnt sacrifice.”

[50:8]  ³ tn Or “rebuking.”

[50:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “and your burnt sacrifices before me continually.”

[40:6]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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.

[51:16]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.

[51:19]  ⁶ tn Or “desire, take delight in.”

[51:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “then they will offer up bulls.” The third plural subject is indefinite.

[51:19]  ⁸ sn Verses 18-19 appear to reflect the exilic period, when the city’s walls lay in ruins and the sacrificial system had been disrupted.