Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Who owns the earth?A wide set of passages (Gen 14:19, 22; Exod 9:29; 19:5; Deut 10:14; Ps 24:1; 50:12; 89:11; 1 Cor 10:26) affirm that God owns the earth absolutely.
Does God desire animal sacrifices?The Priestly source and the Genesis narrative have Yahweh approving Abel's animal sacrifice and later filling Leviticus with hundreds of verses of mandatory bl…
Hebrews 13:15(v14)Through him, then, let’s offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his…
Psalms 56:12(v14)Your vows are on me, God. I will give thank offerings to you.
Deuteronomy 23:21(v14)When you vow a vow to Yahweh your God, you shall not be slack to pay it, for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you; and it would be…
Psalms 107:21-22(v14)Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men! Let them offer the sacrifices of…
Psalms 116:12-14(v14)What will I give to Yahweh for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call on Yahweh’s name. I will pay my vows…
Show all 67 cross-references
Exodus 19:5(v12)Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all…
1 Peter 2:5(v14)You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God…
Psalms 76:11(v14)Make vows to Yahweh your God, and fulfill them! Let all of his neighbors bring presents to him who is to be feared.
Hosea 14:2(v14)Take words with you, and return to Yahweh. Tell him, “Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good: so we offer our lips like bulls.
Deuteronomy 10:14(v12)Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven, the heaven of heavens, and the earth, with all that is therein.
Psalms 24:1-2(v12)The earth is Yahweh’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell in it. For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on…
Hosea 6:6(v8)For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Romans 12:1(v14)Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your…
1 Thessalonians 5:18(v14)In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.
Hebrews 10:4-10(v8)For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “You didn’t…
Psalms 50:23(v14)Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me, and prepares his way so that I will show God’s salvation to him.”
Isaiah 1:11-31(v8)“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says Yahweh. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed…
Psalms 40:6-8(v8)Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering. Then I said,…
Psalms 51:16(v8)For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering.
Psalms 69:30-31(v14)I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. It will please Yahweh better than an ox, or a bull that…
Psalms 147:1(v14)Praise Yah, for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and fitting to praise him.
1 Corinthians 10:26-28(v12)for “the earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness.” But if one of those who don’t believe invites you to a meal, and you are inclined to go,…
Job 41:11(v12)Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.
Ecclesiastes 5:4-5(v14)When you vow a vow to God, don’t defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow. It is better that you should not…
Jeremiah 27:5-6(v10)‘I have made the earth, the men, and the animals that are on the surface of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm. I give…
Micah 6:6-8(v9)How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year…
1 Peter 2:9(v14)But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of…
Psalms 115:15-16(v12)Blessed are you by Yahweh, who made heaven and earth. The heavens are Yahweh’s heavens, but he has given the earth to the children of men.
Psalms 116:17-18(v14)I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call on Yahweh’s name. I will pay my vows to Yahweh, yes, in the presence of…
Nahum 1:15(v14)Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, Judah! Perform your vows, for the…
Numbers 30:2-16(v14)When a man vows a vow to Yahweh, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all…
Psalms 8:6-8(v10)You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet: All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the…
Psalms 104:14(v10)He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:
Matthew 6:26(v11)See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of…
Genesis 1:20-22(v11)God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” God created the…
Leviticus 27:2-34(v14)“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When a man consecrates a person to Yahweh in a vow, according to your valuation, your…
Psalms 22:25(v14)My praise of you comes in the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those who fear him.
Psalms 27:6(v14)Now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me. I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tent. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises…
Psalms 65:1(v14)Praise waits for you, God, in Zion. Vows shall be performed to you.
Psalms 104:24-25(v10)Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom, you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches. There is the sea, great and wide, in…
Jeremiah 7:21-23(v8)Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I didn’t speak to your fathers or…
Daniel 2:38(v10)Wherever the children of men dwell, he has given the animals of the field and the birds of the sky into your hand, and has made you rule…
Acts 17:25(v9)He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.
Hebrews 10:4-6(v9)For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “You didn’t…
Psalms 69:31(v9)It will please Yahweh better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.
Isaiah 43:23-24(v9)You have not brought me any of your sheep for burnt offerings, neither have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you…
Genesis 8:17(vv10, 12)Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on…
Genesis 1:24-25(v10)God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;”…
Genesis 1:28-30(v12)God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the…
Genesis 2:19(v10)Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would…
1 Chronicles 29:14-16(v10)But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from you, and we have given…
Job 39:26-30(v11)“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and…
Psalms 61:8(v14)So I will sing praise to your name forever, that I may fulfill my vows daily.
Psalms 145:15-16(v12)The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season. You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
Jonah 4:11(v10)Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between…
Luke 12:24(v11)Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you…
Genesis 1:11-12(v12)God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the…
Genesis 9:2-3(v10)The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that moves along the…
Genesis 31:9(v10)Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me.
Job 39:13-18(v11)“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; but are they the feathers and plumage of love? For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in…
Job 40:15-24(v10)“See now, behemoth, which I made as well as you. He eats grass as an ox. Look now, his strength is in his thighs. His force is in the…
Psalms 104:12(v11)The birds of the sky nest by them. They sing among the branches.
Psalms 104:24(v12)Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom, you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches.
Psalms 147:9(v11)He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.
Isaiah 56:9(v11)All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest.
Ezekiel 14:15-16(v11)“If I cause evil animals to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it is made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of…
Matthew 10:29-31(v11)“Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will, but the very hairs of…
67 distinct cross-references across this passage (68 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv8, 9, 148 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices,…
8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, etc. God now proceeds to state the charge which he adduced against them. He declares, that he attached no value whatsoever to sacrifices in themselves considered. Not that he asserts this rite of the Jews to have been vain and useless, for in that case it never would have been instituted by God; but there is this difference betwixt religious exercises and others, that they can only meet the approbation of God when performed in their true spirit and meaning. On any other supposition they are deservedly rejected. Similar language we will find employed again and again by the prophets, as I have remarked in other places, and particularly in connection with the fortieth psalm. Mere outward ceremonies being therefore possessed of no value, God repudiates the idea that he had ever insisted upon them as the main thing in religion, or designed that they should be viewed in any other light than as helps to spiritual worship. Thus in Jeremiah 7:22, he denies that he had issued any commandment regarding sacrifices; and the prophet Micah says,
“Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy?” — (Micah 6:7)
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“I desire mercy,” he says in another place, (Hosea 6:6,) “and not sacrifice.” The same doctrine is every where declared by the prophets. I might refer especially to the prophecies of Isaiah, chapter 1:12; 58:1, 2; 66:3. The sacrifices of the ungodly are not only represented as worthless and rejected by the Lord, but as peculiarly calculated to provoke his anger. Where a right use has been made of the institution, and they have been observed merely as ceremonies for the confirmation and increase of faith, then they are described as being essentially connected with true religion; but when offered without faith, or, what is still worse, under the impression of their meriting the favor of God for such as continue in their sins, they are reprobated as a mere profanation of divine worship. It is evident, then, what God means when he says, I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; he looked to something beyond these. The last clause of the verse may be understood as asserting that their burnt-offerings were before the eyes of the Lord to the producing even of satiety and disgust, as we find him saying, (Isaiah 1:13,) that they were “an abomination unto him.” There are some, however, who consider the negative in the beginning of the verse as applying to both clauses, and that God here declares that he did not design to reckon with them for any want of regularity in the observance of their sacrifices. It has been well suggested by some, that the relative may be understood, Thy burnt-offerings which are continually before me; as if he had said, According to the Law these are imperative; but I will bring no accusation against you at this time for omitting your sacrifices.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv8, 10, 13, 14For I pass not for sacrifices, except the true…
For I pass not for sacrifices, except the true use be there, which is to confirm your faith in my promises.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv8–14Psa 50:8 I will not reprove thee for thy…
Psa 50:8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, [to have been] continually before me.
Ver. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices] i.e. For thy neglect of them, but for thy resting in them, sticking in the bark, bringing me the bare shell without the kernel, not referring thy sacrifices to the right end and use; but satisfying thyself in the work done. This was afterwards the sin of the Pharisees, is still of the Papists, and of too many carnal gospellers, who think they have served God, for they have been at church, done their devoir, for they have said their prayers, &c. Yea, many of the better sort among us hold only a certain stint of daily duties, as malt horses their pace, or mill horses their round, that move much, remove little, out of custom or form. Yea, the best find it hard enough to be in duty in respect of performance, and out of duty in respect of dependence; to do all righteousness, and yet to rest in none but Christ’s.
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Or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me] Heb. Thy burnt offerings have been continually before me; so that I am sated with the very sight of them, Isa 1:11; there God complained that all his senses were wearied, and his soul vexed, by the abundance of their outward ceremonies, but want of moral service.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv8–14I do not charge thee, or at least this…
I do not charge thee, or at least this is not the principal matter of my charge, that thou hast neglected sacrifices which thou shouldst have offered; for although thou hast many times omitted thy duty in that kind, yet I have greater things than these to charge thee with.
To have been; or, they have been. I confess thou hast been frequent in that work, and hast laid too great a stress upon it, and satisfied thy conscience with it, as if thereby thou hadst made me amends for the errors of thy life.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv8–14I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices,.... For…
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices,.... For the neglect of them; this they were not chargeable with; and had they omitted them, a charge would not have been brought against them on that account, since these were not what God commanded when he brought them out of Egypt, Jer 7:22; and were now abrogated; and when they were in force, acts of mercy, kindness, and beneficence, were preferred unto them, Hos 6:6;
or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me; or, "for thy burnt offerings are continually before me" (u); so far were they from being reprovable for not bringing their sacrifices, that they were continually offering up before the Lord even multitudes of them, though to no purpose, being offered up without faith, and in hypocrisy; and could not take away sin, and make atonement for it; and besides, ought now to have ceased to be offered, Christ the great sacrifice being now offered up, as he was in the times to which this psalm belongs; see Isa 1:14; wherefore it follows:
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(u) So Tigurine version, Vatablus, Piscator, Cocceius, and Ainsworth.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv8, 9, 11, 14I will not - This is not the principal…
I will not - This is not the principal matter of my charge, that thou hast neglected sacrifices which thou shouldst have offered.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv8, 10, 12, 13, 14Verse 8. I will not reprove thee] I do…
Verse 8. I will not reprove thee] I do not mean to find fault with you for not offering sacrifices; you have offered them, they have been continually before me: but you have not offered them in the proper way.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv8, 14Psa 50:8-13. I will not reprove thee for thy…
Psa 50:8-13. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, &c. — This is not the principal matter of my charge against thee, that thou hast neglected sacrifices, which thou shouldest have offered; for, although thou hast often omitted thy duty even in that respect, yet I have greater things than these to charge thee with. I will take no bullock, &c. — Be not so foolish as to imagine that thou dost lay any obligations upon me by thy sacrifices, or that I required them because I had need of them, or took any pleasure or satisfaction in them for their own sakes. Every beast of the forest is mine — I could command or dispose of them at my pleasure, without thy leave or assistance; and the cattle, &c. — Which feed upon innumerable hills, or in valleys and fields. I know all the fowls, &c. — Where they are, and whence I could easily fetch them when I please; and not only tame and domestic fowls, but even such as are wild and fly up and down upon mountains; which, though out of man’s reach, are at my command. If I were hungry — If I wanted or desired any thing, which I do not, being the all-sufficient God; I would not tell thee — That thou mightest supply my wants. For the world is mine, &c. — And all those creatures wherewith it is replenished. Will I eat the flesh of bulls? — If I did want any thing, hast thou such gross and carnal conceptions of me as to suppose that I need or delight in the blood of brute creatures?
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv8–14I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or…
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings - On the words “sacrifices” and “burnt-offerings” here used, see the notes at Isa 1:11. The meaning is, “I do not reprove or rebuke you in respect to the withholding of sacrifices. I do not charge you with neglecting the offering of such sacrifices. I do not accuse the nation of indifference in regard to the external rites or duties of religion. It is not on this ground that you are to be blamed or condemned, for that duty is outwardly and publicly performed. I do not say that such offerings are wrong; I do not say that there has been any failure in the external duties of worship. The charge - the reproof - relates to other matters; to the want of a proper spirit, to the withholding of the heart, in connection with such offerings.”
To have been continually before me - The words “to have been” are inserted by the translators, and weaken the sense. The simple idea is, that their offerings “were” continually before him; that is, they were constantly made. He had no charge of neglect in this respect to bring against them. The insertion of the words “to have been” would seem to imply that though they had neglected this external rite, it was a matter of no consequence; whereas the simple meaning is, that they were “not” chargeable with this neglect, or that there was “no” cause of complaint on this point. It was on other grounds altogether that a charge was brought against them. It was, as the following verses show, because they supposed there was special “merit” in such offerings; because they supposed that they laid God under obligation by so constant and so expensive offerings, as if they did not already belong to him, or as if he needed them; and because, while they did this, they withheld the very offering which he required, and without which all other sacrifices would be vain and worthless - a sincere, humble, thankful heart.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn v8However scrupulous in external worship, it was offered as…
However scrupulous in external worship, it was offered as if they conferred an obligation in giving God His own, and with a degrading view of Him as needing it [Psa 50:9-13]. Reproving them for such foolish and blasphemous notions, He teaches them to offer, or literally, "sacrifice," thanksgiving, and pay, or perform, their vows--that is, to bring, with the external symbolical service, the homage of the heart, and faith, penitence, and love. To this is added an invitation to seek, and a promise to afford, all needed help in trouble.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv13–1413. Will I eat the flesh of bulls—Such gross…
13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls—Such gross ideas of worship as linger in the mere forms, as if God delighted in them, arise from gross ideas of God, and this is the source of corruption in all heathenism and false religions.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv8, 11, 12, 13, 148. Render with R.V.,
8. Render with R.V.,
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices;
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And thy burnt offerings are continually before me.
This rendering is grammatically preferable to that of R.V. marg. Nor for thy burnt offerings, which are &c., which gives substantially the same sense. God’s indictment does not relate to sacrifice: the stated offerings are duly presented. Continually seems to allude to the ‘continual burnt offering,’ which was offered daily, morning and evening. See Num_28:3 ff.
9ff. The owner of the vast herds of animals which roam the forests and range over a thousand mountains is not like some earthly king who comes and takes the choicest of his subjects’ possessions at his will (1Sa_8:16 f.). The phrase rendered upon a thousand hills may mean upon the mountains where thousands are. The construction in either case is peculiar, and it has been conjectured that we should read upon the mountains of God, as in Psa_36:6; but the alteration is hardly necessary.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv8, 9, 10, 11, 14(8) I will not . . .—Better, Not on…
(8) I will not . . .—Better, Not on account of thy sacrifices do I reprove thee, nor thy burnt offerings, which are always before me. This part of the nation is judged not for neglect of ritual, but for mistaken regard for it. (See Introduction to this psalm.)
As usual in such visions of judgment (comp. Mat_25:32) the arraigned nation is separated into two classes when brought before the bar of the judge, and the better part is first reproved.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv8–14I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or…
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings. It is for no neglect of the outward ritual of religion of sacrifice and offering that I have to reprove thee. To have been continually before me; rather, they have been continually before me. I have had enough of them, and to spare. Not only have the daily morning and evening sacrifices been regularly offered, and the national worship thus kept up without a break; but the private offerings of individuals (see vers. 9, 13) have been continuous and ample in number. But they have not been acceptable.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv8–14Ver. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy…
Ver. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been ever before me. Though they had not failed in maintaining his outward worship, or even if they had, he was not about to call them to account for this: a more weighty matter was now under consideration. They thought the daily sacrifices and the abounding burnt offerings to be everything: he counted them nothing if the inner sacrifice of heart devotion had been neglected. What was greatest with them was least with God. It is even so today. Sacraments (so called) and sacred rites are them main concern with unconverted but religious men, but with the Most High the spiritual worship which they forget is the sole matter. Let the external be maintained by all means, according to the divine command, but if the secret and spiritual be not in them, they are a vain oblation, a dead ritual, and even an abomination before the Lord.
Ver. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; i.e., for thy neglect of them, but for thy resting in them, sticking in the bark, bringing me the bare shell without the kernel, not referring to the right end and use, but satisfying thyself in the work done. John Trapp.
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Ver. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings continually before me. Those words to have been, which our translators supply, may be left out, and the sense remain perfect: or if those words be continued, then the negative particle not, is to be reassumed out of the first part of the verse, and the whole read thus, I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, or thy burnt offerings not to have been continually before me. That is, I will not charge thee with a neglect of outward duty or worship, the inward or spiritual (of which he speaks, Ps 50:14), being that which is most pleasing unto me. Joseph Caryl.
Ver. 8-9. It is the very remonstrance which our Lord himself makes against the Pharisees of his days, for laying so much stress on the outward observance of their own traditions, the washing of pots and cups and other such like things; the paying of tithes of anise and mint and cummin; the ostentatious fulfilment of all ceremonious observances in the eyes of men, the exalting the shadow to the exclusion of the substance. And have we not seen the like in our own days, even to the very vestment of the minister, the obeisance of the knee, and the posture of the body? as if the material church were all in all, and God were not Spirit, that demanded of those that worshipped him that they should worship him in spirit and in truth; as if the gold and ornaments of the temple were far beyond the hidden man of the heart in that which is incorruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Barton Bouchier.
None.
Psalms 50:9*
Ver. 8-9. It is the very remonstrance which our Lord himself makes against the Pharisees of his days, for laying so much stress on the outward observance of their own traditions, the washing of pots and cups and other such like things; the paying of tithes of anise and mint and cummin; the ostentatious fulfilment of all ceremonious observances in the eyes of men, the exalting the shadow to the exclusion of the substance. And have we not seen the like in our own days, even to the very vestment of the minister, the obeisance of the knee, and the posture of the body? as if the material church were all in all, and God were not Spirit, that demanded of those that worshipped him that they should worship him in spirit and in truth; as if the gold and ornaments of the temple were far beyond the hidden man of the heart in that which is incorruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Barton Bouchier.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv8, 12, 14I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or…
Psa_50:8-13
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings.
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Lessons
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; i.e. for thy neglect of them, but for thy resting in them, sticking in the bark, bringing Me the bare shell without the kernel, not referring to the right end and use, but satisfying thyself in the work done. (John Trapp.)
Lifeless duties
Go out into the woods, where the white oak is, and where the beech is. Their leaves died last November, but they all hang on the trees yet. The trees have not strength to slough them. They always make me think of a great many people. Sap does not run in them any more, but their duties hang on them like dead leaves all over. They would not like to drop their duties: they are not quite in that state yet; but those duties are dry, sapless and enforced. (E. P. Thwing.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv9, 12, 14areas surrounded by walls in which sheep and goats…
folds
areas surrounded by walls in which sheep and goats are kept
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the cattle on a thousand hills
The phrase "on a thousand hills" does not represent the total number of cattle that God owns. The number is an exaggeration that emphasizes that God owns all of the cattle in the world. The verb may be supplied from the previous phrase. AT: "all the cattle in the world are mine" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization and Ellipsis)
thousand hills
"1,000 hills" (See: Numbers)
I know all the birds
Here the word "know" implies ownership. AT: "I own all the birds" (See: Idiom and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 14 8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices,…
8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, etc. God now proceeds to state the charge which he adduced against them. He declares, that he attached no value whatsoever to sacrifices in themselves considered. Not that he asserts this rite of the Jews to have been vain and useless, for in that case it never would have been instituted by God; but there is this difference betwixt religious exercises and others, that they can only meet the approbation of God when performed in their true spirit and meaning. On any other supposition they are deservedly rejected. Similar language we will find employed again and again by the prophets, as I have remarked in other places, and particularly in connection with the fortieth psalm. Mere outward ceremonies being therefore possessed of no value, God repudiates the idea that he had ever insisted upon them as the main thing in religion, or designed that they should be viewed in any other light than as helps to spiritual worship. Thus in Jeremiah 7:22, he denies that he had issued any commandment regarding sacrifices; and the prophet Micah says,
“Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy?” — (Micah 6:7)
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“I desire mercy,” he says in another place, (Hosea 6:6,) “and not sacrifice.” The same doctrine is every where declared by the prophets. I might refer especially to the prophecies of Isaiah, chapter 1:12; 58:1, 2; 66:3. The sacrifices of the ungodly are not only represented as worthless and rejected by the Lord, but as peculiarly calculated to provoke his anger. Where a right use has been made of the institution, and they have been observed merely as ceremonies for the confirmation and increase of faith, then they are described as being essentially connected with true religion; but when offered without faith, or, what is still worse, under the impression of their meriting the favor of God for such as continue in their sins, they are reprobated as a mere profanation of divine worship. It is evident, then, what God means when he says, I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; he looked to something beyond these. The last clause of the verse may be understood as asserting that their burnt-offerings were before the eyes of the Lord to the producing even of satiety and disgust, as we find him saying, (Isaiah 1:13,) that they were “an abomination unto him.” There are some, however, who consider the negative in the beginning of the verse as applying to both clauses, and that God here declares that he did not design to reckon with them for any want of regularity in the observance of their sacrifices. It has been well suggested by some, that the relative may be understood, Thy burnt-offerings which are continually before me; as if he had said, According to the Law these are imperative; but I will bring no accusation against you at this time for omitting your sacrifices.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 13, 14 For I pass not for sacrifices, except the true…
For I pass not for sacrifices, except the true use be there, which is to confirm your faith in my promises.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–14 Psa 50:8 I will not reprove thee for thy…
Psa 50:8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, [to have been] continually before me.
Ver. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices] i.e. For thy neglect of them, but for thy resting in them, sticking in the bark, bringing me the bare shell without the kernel, not referring thy sacrifices to the right end and use; but satisfying thyself in the work done. This was afterwards the sin of the Pharisees, is still of the Papists, and of too many carnal gospellers, who think they have served God, for they have been at church, done their devoir, for they have said their prayers, &c. Yea, many of the better sort among us hold only a certain stint of daily duties, as malt horses their pace, or mill horses their round, that move much, remove little, out of custom or form. Yea, the best find it hard enough to be in duty in respect of performance, and out of duty in respect of dependence; to do all righteousness, and yet to rest in none but Christ’s.
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Or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me] Heb. Thy burnt offerings have been continually before me; so that I am sated with the very sight of them, Isa 1:11; there God complained that all his senses were wearied, and his soul vexed, by the abundance of their outward ceremonies, but want of moral service.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv8–14 I do not charge thee, or at least this…
I do not charge thee, or at least this is not the principal matter of my charge, that thou hast neglected sacrifices which thou shouldst have offered; for although thou hast many times omitted thy duty in that kind, yet I have greater things than these to charge thee with.
To have been; or, they have been. I confess thou hast been frequent in that work, and hast laid too great a stress upon it, and satisfied thy conscience with it, as if thereby thou hadst made me amends for the errors of thy life.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8–14 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices,.... For…
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices,.... For the neglect of them; this they were not chargeable with; and had they omitted them, a charge would not have been brought against them on that account, since these were not what God commanded when he brought them out of Egypt, Jer 7:22; and were now abrogated; and when they were in force, acts of mercy, kindness, and beneficence, were preferred unto them, Hos 6:6;
or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me; or, "for thy burnt offerings are continually before me" (u); so far were they from being reprovable for not bringing their sacrifices, that they were continually offering up before the Lord even multitudes of them, though to no purpose, being offered up without faith, and in hypocrisy; and could not take away sin, and make atonement for it; and besides, ought now to have ceased to be offered, Christ the great sacrifice being now offered up, as he was in the times to which this psalm belongs; see Isa 1:14; wherefore it follows:
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(u) So Tigurine version, Vatablus, Piscator, Cocceius, and Ainsworth.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 11, 14 I will not - This is not the principal…
I will not - This is not the principal matter of my charge, that thou hast neglected sacrifices which thou shouldst have offered.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 12, 13, 14 Verse 8. I will not reprove thee] I do…
Verse 8. I will not reprove thee] I do not mean to find fault with you for not offering sacrifices; you have offered them, they have been continually before me: but you have not offered them in the proper way.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv8, 14 Psa 50:8-13. I will not reprove thee for thy…
Psa 50:8-13. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, &c. — This is not the principal matter of my charge against thee, that thou hast neglected sacrifices, which thou shouldest have offered; for, although thou hast often omitted thy duty even in that respect, yet I have greater things than these to charge thee with. I will take no bullock, &c. — Be not so foolish as to imagine that thou dost lay any obligations upon me by thy sacrifices, or that I required them because I had need of them, or took any pleasure or satisfaction in them for their own sakes. Every beast of the forest is mine — I could command or dispose of them at my pleasure, without thy leave or assistance; and the cattle, &c. — Which feed upon innumerable hills, or in valleys and fields. I know all the fowls, &c. — Where they are, and whence I could easily fetch them when I please; and not only tame and domestic fowls, but even such as are wild and fly up and down upon mountains; which, though out of man’s reach, are at my command. If I were hungry — If I wanted or desired any thing, which I do not, being the all-sufficient God; I would not tell thee — That thou mightest supply my wants. For the world is mine, &c. — And all those creatures wherewith it is replenished. Will I eat the flesh of bulls? — If I did want any thing, hast thou such gross and carnal conceptions of me as to suppose that I need or delight in the blood of brute creatures?
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv8–14 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or…
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings - On the words “sacrifices” and “burnt-offerings” here used, see the notes at Isa 1:11. The meaning is, “I do not reprove or rebuke you in respect to the withholding of sacrifices. I do not charge you with neglecting the offering of such sacrifices. I do not accuse the nation of indifference in regard to the external rites or duties of religion. It is not on this ground that you are to be blamed or condemned, for that duty is outwardly and publicly performed. I do not say that such offerings are wrong; I do not say that there has been any failure in the external duties of worship. The charge - the reproof - relates to other matters; to the want of a proper spirit, to the withholding of the heart, in connection with such offerings.”
To have been continually before me - The words “to have been” are inserted by the translators, and weaken the sense. The simple idea is, that their offerings “were” continually before him; that is, they were constantly made. He had no charge of neglect in this respect to bring against them. The insertion of the words “to have been” would seem to imply that though they had neglected this external rite, it was a matter of no consequence; whereas the simple meaning is, that they were “not” chargeable with this neglect, or that there was “no” cause of complaint on this point. It was on other grounds altogether that a charge was brought against them. It was, as the following verses show, because they supposed there was special “merit” in such offerings; because they supposed that they laid God under obligation by so constant and so expensive offerings, as if they did not already belong to him, or as if he needed them; and because, while they did this, they withheld the very offering which he required, and without which all other sacrifices would be vain and worthless - a sincere, humble, thankful heart.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v8 However scrupulous in external worship, it was offered as…
However scrupulous in external worship, it was offered as if they conferred an obligation in giving God His own, and with a degrading view of Him as needing it [Psa 50:9-13]. Reproving them for such foolish and blasphemous notions, He teaches them to offer, or literally, "sacrifice," thanksgiving, and pay, or perform, their vows--that is, to bring, with the external symbolical service, the homage of the heart, and faith, penitence, and love. To this is added an invitation to seek, and a promise to afford, all needed help in trouble.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv13–14 13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls—Such gross…
13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls—Such gross ideas of worship as linger in the mere forms, as if God delighted in them, arise from gross ideas of God, and this is the source of corruption in all heathenism and false religions.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8, 11, 12, 13, 14 8. Render with R.V.,
8. Render with R.V.,
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices;
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And thy burnt offerings are continually before me.
This rendering is grammatically preferable to that of R.V. marg. Nor for thy burnt offerings, which are &c., which gives substantially the same sense. God’s indictment does not relate to sacrifice: the stated offerings are duly presented. Continually seems to allude to the ‘continual burnt offering,’ which was offered daily, morning and evening. See Num_28:3 ff.
9ff. The owner of the vast herds of animals which roam the forests and range over a thousand mountains is not like some earthly king who comes and takes the choicest of his subjects’ possessions at his will (1Sa_8:16 f.). The phrase rendered upon a thousand hills may mean upon the mountains where thousands are. The construction in either case is peculiar, and it has been conjectured that we should read upon the mountains of God, as in Psa_36:6; but the alteration is hardly necessary.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 11, 14 (8) I will not . . .—Better, Not on…
(8) I will not . . .—Better, Not on account of thy sacrifices do I reprove thee, nor thy burnt offerings, which are always before me. This part of the nation is judged not for neglect of ritual, but for mistaken regard for it. (See Introduction to this psalm.)
As usual in such visions of judgment (comp. Mat_25:32) the arraigned nation is separated into two classes when brought before the bar of the judge, and the better part is first reproved.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv8–14 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or…
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings. It is for no neglect of the outward ritual of religion of sacrifice and offering that I have to reprove thee. To have been continually before me; rather, they have been continually before me. I have had enough of them, and to spare. Not only have the daily morning and evening sacrifices been regularly offered, and the national worship thus kept up without a break; but the private offerings of individuals (see vers. 9, 13) have been continuous and ample in number. But they have not been acceptable.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv8–14 Ver. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy…
Ver. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been ever before me. Though they had not failed in maintaining his outward worship, or even if they had, he was not about to call them to account for this: a more weighty matter was now under consideration. They thought the daily sacrifices and the abounding burnt offerings to be everything: he counted them nothing if the inner sacrifice of heart devotion had been neglected. What was greatest with them was least with God. It is even so today. Sacraments (so called) and sacred rites are them main concern with unconverted but religious men, but with the Most High the spiritual worship which they forget is the sole matter. Let the external be maintained by all means, according to the divine command, but if the secret and spiritual be not in them, they are a vain oblation, a dead ritual, and even an abomination before the Lord.
Ver. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; i.e., for thy neglect of them, but for thy resting in them, sticking in the bark, bringing me the bare shell without the kernel, not referring to the right end and use, but satisfying thyself in the work done. John Trapp.
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Ver. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings continually before me. Those words to have been, which our translators supply, may be left out, and the sense remain perfect: or if those words be continued, then the negative particle not, is to be reassumed out of the first part of the verse, and the whole read thus, I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, or thy burnt offerings not to have been continually before me. That is, I will not charge thee with a neglect of outward duty or worship, the inward or spiritual (of which he speaks, Ps 50:14), being that which is most pleasing unto me. Joseph Caryl.
Ver. 8-9. It is the very remonstrance which our Lord himself makes against the Pharisees of his days, for laying so much stress on the outward observance of their own traditions, the washing of pots and cups and other such like things; the paying of tithes of anise and mint and cummin; the ostentatious fulfilment of all ceremonious observances in the eyes of men, the exalting the shadow to the exclusion of the substance. And have we not seen the like in our own days, even to the very vestment of the minister, the obeisance of the knee, and the posture of the body? as if the material church were all in all, and God were not Spirit, that demanded of those that worshipped him that they should worship him in spirit and in truth; as if the gold and ornaments of the temple were far beyond the hidden man of the heart in that which is incorruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Barton Bouchier.
None.
Psalms 50:9*
Ver. 8-9. It is the very remonstrance which our Lord himself makes against the Pharisees of his days, for laying so much stress on the outward observance of their own traditions, the washing of pots and cups and other such like things; the paying of tithes of anise and mint and cummin; the ostentatious fulfilment of all ceremonious observances in the eyes of men, the exalting the shadow to the exclusion of the substance. And have we not seen the like in our own days, even to the very vestment of the minister, the obeisance of the knee, and the posture of the body? as if the material church were all in all, and God were not Spirit, that demanded of those that worshipped him that they should worship him in spirit and in truth; as if the gold and ornaments of the temple were far beyond the hidden man of the heart in that which is incorruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Barton Bouchier.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv8, 12, 14 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or…
Psa_50:8-13
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings.
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Lessons
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; i.e. for thy neglect of them, but for thy resting in them, sticking in the bark, bringing Me the bare shell without the kernel, not referring to the right end and use, but satisfying thyself in the work done. (John Trapp.)
Lifeless duties
Go out into the woods, where the white oak is, and where the beech is. Their leaves died last November, but they all hang on the trees yet. The trees have not strength to slough them. They always make me think of a great many people. Sap does not run in them any more, but their duties hang on them like dead leaves all over. They would not like to drop their duties: they are not quite in that state yet; but those duties are dry, sapless and enforced. (E. P. Thwing.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 12, 14 areas surrounded by walls in which sheep and goats…
folds
areas surrounded by walls in which sheep and goats are kept
Read full note →
the cattle on a thousand hills
The phrase "on a thousand hills" does not represent the total number of cattle that God owns. The number is an exaggeration that emphasizes that God owns all of the cattle in the world. The verb may be supplied from the previous phrase. AT: "all the cattle in the world are mine" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization and Ellipsis)
thousand hills
"1,000 hills" (See: Numbers)
I know all the birds
Here the word "know" implies ownership. AT: "I own all the birds" (See: Idiom and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
cow
house
goat
beast
know
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 10, 14 50:9 Unlike pagan gods, God does not need food;…
50:9 Unlike pagan gods, God does not need food; instead, he wants his people to serve him with a right heart (50:14-15).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.