Bible Strands
Psalms 40:6
Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the LORD, moving from praise of God's wonders (v. 5) into a declaration of willing presence (v. 7). This verse is the hinge: God's rejection of ritual makes the psalmist's "Here I am" (v. 7) a response of obedience, not performance.
The words — כָּרִיתָ (kari.ta, H3738) is the verb translated "opened" in the BSB but literally means "you dug," as in clearing an ear canal or breaking open ground. The image is of God making the psalmist's hearing possible, not merely inviting it.
The thread — Hebrews 10:5 quotes this verse but substitutes "a body You prepared" for "my ears You opened," reading the passage christologically. Isaiah 1:11 and 1 Samuel 15:22 independently press the same point: God's dissatisfaction with ritual when it replaces obedience.
Why it lands — The verse removes the reader from the role of one who performs for God and places them in the role of one who is made to hear. It asks whether your faith is a list of things you do or a posture of being shaped by what you have been given.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 10:5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me.
- Isaiah 1:11 “What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
- 1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.
- Psalms 51:16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.
- Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
- Matthew 9:13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
- Matthew 12:7 If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.
- Amos 5:22 Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard.
- Jeremiah 7:21 This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!
- Job 33:16 He opens their ears and terrifies them with warnings