Psalm 51 · a question people ask

"For you don’t delight in sacrifice" (51:16), and then, "you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness" (51:19). Which is it?

In the text

The psalm says both, with one Hebrew verb for delight, chafets (tap delight). First: "For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering" (51:16), and "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart" (51:17). Then comes a prayer for the city: "Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem" (51:18). And last: "Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar" (51:19). Burnt offering in 51:16 and burnt offerings in 51:19 are one Hebrew word too. The psalm doesn't explain its Then beyond the verses before it. Psalm 4's notes set "the sacrifices of righteousness" beside Deuteronomy 33:19, and Psalm 40's notes set 51:16-17 beside other passages on sacrifice; these notes don't repeat them. The verses stand side by side in the psalm, and these notes don't choose how they fit together.

The verses

“For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart. Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar.”
Psalm 51:16-19 · World English Bible
“Offer the sacrifices of righteousness. Put your trust in the LORD.”
Psalm 4:5 · World English Bible
“Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.”
Psalm 40:6 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 51

Psalm 51: Create in me a clean heart

In Hebrew, "Purify me with hyssop" (51:7) is the verb of "I have sinned" (51:4). And "Create in me a clean heart" (51:10) uses the verb of "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1): nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible is a heart what it creates.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions