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Psalm 69:31

It will please the LORD better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.

29But I am in pain and distress. Let your salvation, God, protect me.
30I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31It will please the LORD better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.
32The humble have seen it, and are glad. You who seek after God, let your heart live.
33For the LORD hears the needy, and doesn’t despise his captive people.
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← Psalm 69:30Psalm 69:32 →
Notice

The bull’s horns and hoofs make the offering concrete, yet the singer trusts that praise and thanksgiving will please God more than this substantial sacrifice.

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

What changes in your view of worship when thanksgiving pleases God more than a bull?

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What could you thank God for in song while still naming your pain?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

9 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
Proverbs 16:7When a man’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.Both passages speak of pleasing the LORD, with the psalm naming thanksgiving and Proverbs speaking of a person’s ways.
Hebrews 13:15Through him, then, let’s offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name.Both passages connect praise of God’s name with sacrifice, treating spoken or sung praise as an offering to God.
Psalm 50:13–14Both passages mention bulls in worship and challenge the assumption that God’s pleasure depends on an animal offering.
Psalm 50:23Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me, and prepares his way so that I will show God’s salvation to him.”Thanksgiving pleases God in Psalm 69, and Psalm 50 says that offering thanksgiving glorifies him.
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 offerings God accepts, with praise in the psalm and spiritual sacrifices through Jesus Christ in Peter.
Ephesians 5:19–20speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;The song promised just before this verse and the singing in Ephesians both direct praise to the Lord.
Psalm 50:9I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens.Both passages mention a bull while directing attention beyond its value: God needs no bull, and thanksgiving pleases him more.
Hosea 14:2Take words with you, and return to the LORD. Tell him, “Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good; so we offer bulls as we vowed of our lips.Both passages connect words offered to the LORD with the language of bull offerings.
Numbers 29:17“‘On the second day you shall offer twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;Both mention bulls as offerings, though Numbers specifies required animals while the psalm values praise above an animal sacrifice.
Where this verse fits

Praise and worship. gratitude.

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

Something small to carry out of this verse

Sing a short song of thanks to God

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Encouragement

The singer has named pain and distress before promising praise. Your thanksgiving need not wait until trouble ends; praise offered from within distress can please the Lord.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 69:31. 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 69 · 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).