What Does Psalm 66:15 Mean in the King James?

I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.

Psalm 66:15 · KJV

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 Hebrew name for a burnt offering carries its direction: it is what rises.

THE MEANING

The speaker’s vow makes devotion bodily and costly: fatlings, rams, bullocks, and goats. The burnt offering rises to God with the incense of rams, so gift and ascent meet in the same scene. Selah leaves the full, physical weight of that offering before you.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that worship is only inward or weightless: here, it takes material form and carries a cost.

THE ROOT

עֹלוֹת

ʿolot

GROWS FROM

עלה

to go up, ascend

The Hebrew offering-name ʿolah (⁨עֹלָה⁩, burnt offering) comes from the verb for ascending. The animals are given over to the fire, and the offering is named by its upward movement, a dimension that the English phrase “burnt sacrifices” does not show on its own.

ALSO GROWS

ʿalah: to go up, ascend

עָלָה

This verb names the upward movement contained in the offering’s name.

maʿalah: an ascent, step, or degree

מַעֲלָה

This branch keeps the sense of rising visible, echoing the offering’s direction toward God.

קְטֹרֶת

qetoret

GROWS FROM

קטר

to make smoke, burn incense

The Hebrew noun qetoret (⁨קְטֹרֶת⁩, incense) belongs to a root meaning to make smoke or burn incense. Beside the ʿolah (⁨עֹלָה⁩, burnt offering), it places the smoke of the offering and the incense of rams in one scene of what rises before God.

ALSO GROWS

qitter: to burn incense, make smoke

קִטֵּר

This verb names the smoke-making action carried by the incense in the verse.

miqteret: censer, incense burner

מִקְטֶרֶת

This vessel belongs to the same smoke-making family, making the act of burning incense tangible.

THE PATTERN

What is set before God is pictured as rising, whether it is a burnt offering, incense, or prayer.

And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Genesis 8:20 · KJVThe burnt offering again carries the shape of an ascent from the altar.

Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Psalm 141:2 · KJVPrayer and lifted hands take the place of incense and sacrifice in the speaker’s offering.

And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

Revelation 8:4 · KJVIncense smoke rises with prayer before God, making explicit the upward motion carried in this offering.

THE THREAD

Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Psalm 141:2 · KJV

The Hebrew word qetoret (⁨קְטֹרֶת⁩, incense) appears in both verses. Here it accompanies the animal offering; in Psalm 141:2, prayer itself is set before God as qetoret (⁨קְטֹרֶת⁩, incense), linking the rising smoke with the voice of the one who prays.

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