What Does Hebrews 10:8 Mean in the King James?
Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Greek root behind “wouldest not” links this refusal to the next verse’s “thy will”: what God does not desire is set beside a life that comes to do God’s will.
THE MEANING
The verse names a hard distinction: an offering can be presented according to rule without being what God desires or delights in. The surrounding lines turn toward a body prepared and a voice saying, “I come … to do thy will,” shifting the focus from the offering brought to the life that responds.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a religious act, simply because it is prescribed or costly, guarantees that God delights in it.
THE ROOT
οὐκ ἠθέλησας
ouk ēthelēsas
GROWS FROM
θέλω (thelō), with the stem θελ- (thel-)
to will, wish, or desire
“wouldest not” in this verse is ouk ēthelēsas. The verse says God neither wills these offerings nor takes pleasure in them. The same Greek word family appears in Hebrews 10:7 as “thy will,” placing the rejected offering beside a life that comes to do what God wills.
ALSO GROWS
thelēma: will, desire, or intention
θέλημα
This noun appears in Hebrews 10:7; its shared stem links the refusal here to the stated will in the next line.
thelōn: willing or wishing; one who wills
θέλων
This participle carries the same desire-root, keeping the passage’s focus on willing as well as on what is offered.
ἁμαρτίας
hamartias
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ-
hamart-
to miss, err, or go wrong
“Offering for sin” is an offering concerning the missing. That concrete sense sits inside a verse that names these offerings as prescribed by law while saying they are not what God wills or welcomes.
ALSO GROWS
hamartanō: to miss or err
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb makes the underlying idea of “sin” an act of missing or going wrong, rather than only an abstract label.
hamartōlos: one who errs or misses
ἁμαρτωλός
This related word carries the same root into a description of a person, showing how the word-family connects an act of missing with the one who misses.
THE PATTERN
An offering does not secure God’s delight when the response God desires is absent.
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.THE THREAD
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.“Wouldest” in verse 8 and “will” here share the Greek θέλω (thelō) word family. The passage places offerings God does not will beside the speaker’s coming to do God’s will.
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