What Does Hebrews 10:6 Mean?
In whole burnings and in offerings for falling short, you did not delight.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.THE KEY
Even an offering wholly consumed cannot purchase the pleasure God does not place in it.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to the belief that spiritual cost makes God pleased: even a wholly consumed offering does not settle what God wants. The next line locates the turn in doing God’s will.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse dissolves is that God’s approval can be purchased by increasing the cost of an offering.
THE ROOT
εὐδόκησας
eudokēsas
GROWS FROM
εὐδοκέω
eudokeō
To regard favorably, approve, or take pleasure in.
“did not delight” in this verse is eudokēsas. The word points to approval, not merely a passing feeling of enjoyment. The verse says these offerings do not receive that approval.
ALSO GROWS
eudokia: Good pleasure, favor, or approval.
εὐδοκία
This related word makes the sense of favorable regard visible in the same word family.
dokeō: To think, seem, or regard.
δοκέω
As the base of the compound, it carries the idea of regarding something well.
ὁλοκαυτώματα
holokautōmata
GROWS FROM
ὅλος + καίω (holos + kaiō, whole + burn)
A whole-burning: an offering burned completely.
“burnt offerings” in this verse is holokautōmata. The Greek word itself names total consumption. The verse places even this complete burning outside what God takes pleasure in.
ALSO GROWS
holos: Whole, complete, or entire.
ὅλος
It shows the completeness implied by the offering’s name.
kaiō: To burn or kindle.
καίω
It names what happens to the offering, making its total consumption explicit.
ἁμαρτίας
hamartias
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτάνω
hamartanō
To miss, or fail to reach what is aimed at.
“sin” in this verse is hamartias. The word carries the sense of missing, rather than only naming a fixed category. These offerings are connected with what has gone off course, yet the verse does not place God’s pleasure in the offering itself.
ALSO GROWS
hamartēma: A miss, fault, or wrong act.
ἁμάρτημα
It keeps the concrete sense of a failure or miss within the same word family.
hamartōlos: A sinner, one characterized by missing the mark.
ἁμαρτωλός
This branch shows how the word for missing can describe a person in relation to that condition.
THE PATTERN
Ritual alone cannot substitute for the response God seeks.
And Samuel said, Does the LORD delight in rising offerings and slaughtered offerings as much as in hearing and responding to the voice of the LORD? Behold, hearing and responding is better than a slaughtered offering; to prick the ear is better than the fat of rams.For you do not delight in the slaughtered offering, else I would give it; the rising offering you do not receive.Doing alignment and judgment is more chosen by the LORD than the slain offering.THE THREAD
You do not delight in slaughtered offering or gift. You bore through my ears. The rising offering and the offering for falling short you do not ask.Hebrews echoes this psalm’s line about burnt and sin offerings. The psalm pairs those offerings with opened ears, widening the passage toward a life receptive to God’s will.
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