What Does Psalm 51:19 Mean in the King James?
Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
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 offering that pleases God is alignment made visible in what rises on the altar.
THE MEANING
The verse joins alignment to a concrete offering: the whole burnt offering rises, and bullocks are placed on the altar. What pleases God takes embodied form in what is offered.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that the act of offering alone makes a gift pleasing; this verse names alignment as part of what rises.
THE ROOT
צֶדֶק
tsedeq
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
Alignment, rightness, and justice.
English “righteousness” can sound like a status someone possesses; this word also carries the sense of being rightly aligned. Here, the sacrifice itself is characterized by alignment, so the offering expresses a right relation rather than standing apart from it.
ALSO GROWS
tsaddiq: A righteous or just person.
צַדִּיק
The same root describes a person whose way is aligned, linking the character of the giver with the character of the offering.
tsedaqah: Righteousness or justice, including acts of generosity.
צְדָקָה
This branch carries alignment into action, showing that rightness can take visible form in what a person gives.
זְבָחִים
zevachim
GROWS FROM
זבח
z-b-ḥ
To slaughter for sacrifice.
The Hebrew words for “sacrifices” and “altar” grow from the same root. English separates the offering from its place, while the Hebrew word-family holds them together as parts of one act.
ALSO GROWS
zevach: A sacrifice or sacrificial meal.
זֶבַח
This singular form shows the offering as an enacted act of giving.
mizbeach: An altar.
מִזְבֵּחַ
The altar named at the verse’s end shares the sacrifice’s root, joining what is offered to where it rises.
עֹלָה
olah
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
To go up or ascend.
The burnt offering takes its name from rising. The verse then uses the same root in “they offer,” so the Hebrew repeats the movement: what rises is itself the offering.
ALSO GROWS
ya'alu: They go up; they offer.
יַעֲלוּ
This verb appears in the verse, echoing the root of “burnt offering” and tying the offering to ascent.
ma'alah: An ascent or step.
מַעֲלָה
This related word preserves the root’s sense of rising, illuminating the upward movement carried by the offering.
THE PATTERN
What is offered outwardly becomes pleasing when it embodies alignment and wholehearted giving.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.THE THREAD
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.Psalm 4:5 uses the same Hebrew pairing, “sacrifices of righteousness,” and immediately joins it with trust in the LORD. The shared wording reveals an offering rooted in alignment and reliance.
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