Psalms 51:16–17
What God does not despise is a broken heart
Study it word by word16For you do not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; in burnt offering you do not take pleasure.
17The sacrifices of Elohim are a broken spirit; a broken and crushed heart, Elohim, you will not despise.
In its context
14Deliver me from bloodguilt, Elohim, Elohim of my salvation; my tongue will shout for joy at your righteousness.
15Adonai, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
…
18Do good in your favor to Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem.
19Then you will delight in sacrifices of righteousness, burnt offering and whole offering; then bulls will go up on your altar.
Its words in the original
- תַחְפֹּץtachpots· desire, delight in
Want, desire; be pleased with someone, delight in.
- זֶבַחzevach· sacrifice
Sacrifice: an animal offered to God; part of its meat was eaten in a shared meal.
- אֶתֵּנָהetena· give, put, set
Give, in a very wide sense: hand over, put, place, grant, allow, make something be.
- עוֹלָהola· burnt offering
Burnt offering: a sacrifice in which the animal is burned whole on the altar, as a total gift to God. The Hebrew word means "what goes up" (in smoke).
- תִרְצֶהtirtse· accept, be pleased with
Receive with pleasure, accept; take delight in someone. Also pay off a debt.
- אֱלֹהִיםelohim· Elohim, God, gods
The Hebrew word usually translated "God". This translation keeps "Elohim" when it speaks of the one true God, the Creator, the God of Israel. The word ends like a plural, but it does not mean several: for him the verb is singular ("Elohim created"); the plural form expresses greatness. The same word as a common noun names the "gods" of other peoples, and there it is a true plural, translated "gods". It is also used of mighty ones or judges.
- רוּחַruach· spirit, wind, breath
The basic idea is "air in motion". The same word can be "wind"; "breath", the air that is breathed and keeps life; or "spirit": the mood or inner strength of a person, or the Spirit of God, his presence and power at work.
- נִשְׁבָּרָהnishbara· break
Break, shatter; break down.
- לֵבlev· heart
Heart. In Hebrew it is not only the place of feelings: it is the center of the person, where one thinks, decides and wills; also the middle of something.
- נִדְכֶּהnidke· crouch, be crushed
To crouch, to be crushed: to bend down to the ground, willingly or under a weight.
- תִבְזֶהtivze· despise
Despise, think little of.