Bible Strands
Psalms 51:16
For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David, mid-penitential prayer (Psalm 51), addressing the Lord directly. He has just asked God to open his lips (v. 15) and is now explaining why ritual cannot fill that role.
The words — תַחְפֹּץ (tach.Potz, "you desire") and תִרְצֶֽה (tir.Tzeh, "you are pleased with") are two distinct verbs: the first names God's will, the second His satisfaction. Together they close off both the motive and the result of offering sacrifice.
The thread — The same argument recurs in Hosea 6:6, Psalms 40:6, and Hebrews 10:5, each time pairing the rejection of ritual with a positive demand (mercy, an opened ear, a body).
Why it lands — It removes the option of substituting religious performance for genuine repentance, forcing the reader to ask what they are actually offering when they think they are offering something to God.
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
For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Cross-references
- Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 51:6 Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
- Proverbs 21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable—how much more so when brought with ill intent!
- 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.
- Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
- Jeremiah 7:22 For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices,
- Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.