Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Psalms 40:6 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 6. 6Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 40:6: Within “Rescue remembered, obedience embodied, help requested: Rescue remembered and praise declared,” the line “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire” supplies one distinct parallel claim, image, address, or response.
Read It With
- Psalms 40:1–10
- Psalms 40:1–17
Read Psalms 40:6 with 40:1–10 and 40:1–17. Read alone, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire” could lose the individual voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 40:1–10, the individual voice carries the movement “Rescue remembered and praise declared” as part of “Rescue remembered, obedience embodied, help requested.” Its thanksgiving-lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 40:1–10 opens Psalm 40 with “I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry” and establishes the individual voice and “Rescue remembered and praise declared” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 40:6 adds the distinct poetic line “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire” within “Rescue remembered and praise declared,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope.
Follow the Context
- Identify the individual voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 40:1–10; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
- Within Psalms 40:1–10, the individual voice carries the movement “Rescue remembered and praise declared” as part of “Rescue remembered, obedience embodied, help requested.” Its thanksgiving-lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
- This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The movement from rescue to renewed trouble resists formulas; Hebrews' later reuse is Christian interpretation, not cancellation of the psalm's Israelite voice.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Psalms 40:6 does not allow “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse adds the distinct poetic line “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire” within “Rescue remembered and praise declared,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope. The complete movement is “Rescue remembered and praise declared.” This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The movement from rescue to renewed trouble resists formulas; Hebrews' later reuse is Christian interpretation, not cancellation of the psalm's Israelite voice.
What Remains True
Psalm 40:6 carries “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire” inside the thanksgiving-lament movement “Rescue remembered and praise declared.” Its durable contribution is this: Praise remembers concrete divine character and action, gathers many voices, and remains honest about grief rather than demanding one emotional performance. The local movement is “Rescue remembered and praise declared.” The unit's reviewed limit is: The movement from rescue to renewed trouble resists formulas; Hebrews' later reuse is Christian interpretation, not cancellation of the psalm's Israelite voice.
How It Can Shape Life
- Psalm 40:6 contributes to “Rescue remembered, obedience embodied, help requested: Rescue remembered and praise declared” in a specific way: Psalm 40:6 adds the distinct poetic line “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire” within “Rescue remembered and praise declared,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope. Respond by doing this: Join the praise around “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire” in a form your community can receive, while leaving honest space for silence, lament, and disability.
Teach It Back
In your own words, place “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire” inside “Rescue remembered, obedience embodied, help requested: Rescue remembered and praise declared.” Identify its thanksgiving-lament role, the neighboring poetic movement, one uncertainty, one enduring truth, one proportionate action, and this boundary: This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The movement from rescue to renewed trouble resists formulas; Hebrews' later reuse is Christian interpretation, not cancellation of the psalm's Israelite voice.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Psalms 40:1–10 — Rescue remembered, obedience embodied, help requested: Rescue remembered and praise declaredSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
Where care is needed
The movement from rescue to renewed trouble resists formulas; Hebrews' later reuse is Christian interpretation, not cancellation of the psalm's Israelite voice.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 40:1–10, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 40:1–10
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 40:1–10.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 40 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 40:1–10
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: individual and communal lament, from lament to praise, and Bible in the World; applied to Psalms 40:1–10
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 40 for Psalms 40:1–10
Open NETS Psalms ↗peer reviewed open access research overview
An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms: Reformed and Evangelical Approaches to the Interpretation of Imprecatory Psalms
Daniel Simango and P. Paul Krüger
Old Testament Essays 29.3, 2016
Supports: Major historical, literary, covenantal, ethical, and reception approaches to curses and enemy language.
Exact location: Simango and Krüger, 'An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms,' OTE 29.3 (2016), pp. 581–600, complete approach survey; applied to Psalms 40:1–10
Open the imprecatory-psalm overview ↗peer reviewed open access literary and ethical study
Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words in the 21st century
Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford
Acta Theologica Supplementum 32, 2021
Supports: Imprecation retained as difficult prayer and communal speech without converting violent wishes into commands or erasing Jewish reception.
Exact location: deClaissé-Walford, 'Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words,' Acta Theologica Suppl. 32 (2021), pp. 275–292, especially literary, liturgical, trauma, and ethical proposal; applied to Psalms 40:1–10
Open deClaissé-Walford on imprecation ↗