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Psalm 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.
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.
19Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar.
Notice
A broken spirit is named as an offering God receives, touching the fear that a contrite heart might meet contempt when brought before him.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What do you understand a “broken and contrite heart” to mean in this prayer?
Write on thisWhere, if anywhere, does fear of God's contempt shape what you bring to him?
Write on thisHow does naming a broken spirit as a sacrifice affect your understanding of worship?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 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
Matthew 5:3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.Jesus blesses the poor in spirit; the psalm names a broken spirit as a sacrifice God will not despise.
Psalm 34:18The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.Both psalms name a broken heart and spirit, describing God's nearness and care toward people in that condition.
Isaiah 66:2For my hand has made all these things, and so all these things came to be,” says the LORD: “but I will look to this man, even to he who is poor and of a …Both passages name a contrite spirit as something God regards with favor, and Isaiah adds trembling at God's word.
John 4:24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”Both passages describe what worship acceptable to God involves: a contrite heart here, spirit and truth in John.
Isaiah 61:1The Lord GOD’s Spirit is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim …The broken heart appears in both passages: God will not despise it, and his anointed messenger is sent to bind it up.
Psalm 147:3He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.Both psalms describe God's care for the broken in heart, through refusing to despise them and healing their wounds.
Luke 15:10Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”The contrite heart and the repenting sinner both meet a welcome: the psalm rejects contempt, while Luke describes joy.
Mark 12:33and to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important …Both texts connect sacrifice with the heart; Mark names love for God and neighbor as greater than burnt offerings.
2 Chronicles 33:12–13When he was in distress, he begged the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.The plea in Chronicles comes from distress and humility before God, echoing the psalm's broken and contrite heart.
Isaiah 57:15For the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, says: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble …Both passages name the contrite spirit: God will not despise it, and Isaiah says he dwells with and revives the contrite.
Psalm 102:17He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer.Both psalms say God does not despise what is brought to him: a contrite heart and the destitute person's prayer.
1 Peter 2:5You also as living stones are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.Both passages speak of sacrifices God accepts; the psalm names a broken spirit, while Peter describes spiritual sacrifices offered through Jesus Christ.
Where this verse fits
Guilt and confession. feeling distant from God.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
God's response to a contrite heart is clear here: he will not despise it. Your confession can rest on his character even while sorrow remains.
Now put it in your words.
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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).