Psalms 40:6

Sacrifice. Heb. zebach, an offering involving blood.

Offering. The psalmist wonders how he can thank God for His wondrous works to him, and concludes that God requires of him a higher service than can be shown by all the offerings of the Temple service. This higher service is the subject of the following verses.

Hast thou opened. Heb. karah, “to hollow out,” “to dig.” The idea seems to be that God has digged out His servant’s ears so that there is an unimpeded means of communication between God and His servant (see Isa. 35:5; 50:5). There is no allusion here to the custom of boring through the ear of a servant with an awl, to signify that he was his master’s forever (in that case, only the outer rim of the external ear was pierced, see Ex. 21:6). The idea here is that of digging out, of unstopping, the internal passage of the ear. The ear is open to God’s Word. Obedience is superior to mere sacrifice (see Ps. 51:16, 17).

Ps. 40:6–8 is quoted in Heb. 10:5–7. However, the reading of the LXX rather than the Hebrew is there found. Instead of the clause, “mine ears hast thou opened” (Ps. 40:6), Heb. 10:5 reads, “but a body hast thou prepared me.” This is the reading of the Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, and Alexandrinus manuscripts of the LXX. The versions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion on the other hand read “ears,” as does the Hebrew.

Burnt offering. An offering totally consumed by fire (see on Lev. 1:3). Compare Isa. 1:11.

Sin offering. See Lev. 4:1–35 (see on Lev. 4:2).