Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo
Read

Psalm 51:16

For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering.

14Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15Lord, open my lips. My mouth will declare your praise.
16For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering.
17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.
18Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →
← Psalm 51:15Psalm 51:17 →
Notice

The phrase “or else I would give it” catches the wish to offer something, even as the speaker admits sacrifice cannot please God here.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

When have you hoped a religious act could settle guilt you still needed to confess?

Write on this

How does the next verse’s broken and contrite heart shape your understanding of God’s pleasure?

Write on this
Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Hosea 6:6For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.Both passages speak of what God desires, denying that sacrifice or burnt offerings are themselves what pleases him.
Psalm 40:6Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.Both psalms address God with the confession that sacrifice and burnt offering are not what he desires.
Hebrews 10:5–6Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “You didn’t desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me.Both passages address God with the statement that he did not desire sacrifice and offering.
1 Samuel 15:22Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the LORD’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to …Both passages question sacrifice as a source of God's delight, with Samuel naming obedience as better than sacrifice.
Psalm 51:6Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.Both verses concern God's desire, with one naming inward truth and the other denying his pleasure in burnt offering.
Psalm 50:8I don’t rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me.Both mention burnt offerings, though Psalm 50 says their presence is not the reason for God's rebuke.
Proverbs 21:27The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination— how much more, when he brings it with a wicked mind!Both passages deny that sacrifice guarantees God's pleasure; Proverbs names the wicked person's sacrifice as an abomination.
Isaiah 1:11–15“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says the LORD. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I don’t …Both passages state God's lack of delight in animal sacrifices, including burnt offerings.
Amos 5:21–23I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.Both describe God's rejection of religious observance, naming sacrifice in the psalm and feasts and assemblies in Amos.
Jeremiah 7:22–23For I didn’t speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices;Both speak of burnt offerings and sacrifices, though Jeremiah addresses what God commanded when bringing Israel out of Egypt.
Proverbs 15:8The sacrifice made by the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.Both concern God's delight and the limits of sacrifice; Proverbs contrasts the wicked person's offering with the upright person's prayer.
Where this verse fits

Guilt and confession. praise and worship.

What the Bible says about guilt →What the Bible says about worship →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Pray through verses 16–17, naming your need for mercy

prayeroncelight
Encouragement

An offering cannot settle the guilt named in this prayer. The next verse shows where hope rests: God will not despise a broken and contrite heart.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 51:16. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 51 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).