Psalms 66:15
in Psalms 66I will offer You fatlings as burnt offerings, with the fragrant smoke of rams; I will offer bulls and goats. Selah
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I will offer unto thee burnt-offerings of fatlings, With the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. [Selah
KJV
I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.
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This verse in Psalms 66
Commentary
10 notes on this verseI will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings,.... Of the fattest of the flock; that is, of the best; such as Abel offered, Gen 4:4; with the incense of rams; or "rams with incense" (f); the Targum is, "with sweet incense, the sacrifice of rams;'' Kimchi interprets it of incense of the fat of rams.
This site's exposition
I will enter Your house with burnt offerings
on Psalms 66:13-15
The voice narrows from the congregation to one worshiper. He enters the house with burnt offerings and pays vows his lips spoke when he was in distress. Spurgeon marks the abundance of it, fatlings and rams and bulls and goats brought together.
This site's exposition
the fragrant smoke of rams
Albert Barnes takes the fragrant smoke of rams as smoke rising from the altar the way incense rose in the house of God. The verse names the herd and the flock together. Augustine read the burnt offerings of fatlings as love kept in the marrow.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"And my mouth has spoken in my tribulation." How sweet ofttimes is tribulation, how necessary! In that case what has the mouth of the same spoken in his tribulation? "Holocausts marrowed I will offer to You" [Psalm 66:15]. What is "marrowed"? Within may I keep Your love, it shall not be on the surface, in my marrow it shall be that I love You. For there is nothing more inward than our marrow: the bones are more inward than the flesh, the marrow is more inward than those same bones. Whosoever therefore on the surface loves God, desires rather to please men, but having some other affection within, he offers not holocausts of marrow: but into whosesoever marrow He looks, him He receives whole. "With incense and rams." The rams are the rulers of the Church: the whole Body of Christ is speaking: this is the thing which he offers to God. Incense is what? Prayer. "With incense and rams." For especially the rams do pray for the flocks. "I will offer to You oxen with he-goats." Oxen we find treading out grain, and the same are offered to God. The Apostle has said, that of the preachers of the Gospel must be understood that which has been written, "Of the ox treading out grain the mouth you shall not muzzle. Does God care for oxen?" Therefore great are those rams, great the oxen. What of the rest, that perchance are conscious of certain sins, that perchance in the very road have slipped, and, having been wounded, by penitence are being healed? Shall they too continue, and to the holocausts shall they not belong? Let them not fear, he has added he-goats also. "I will offer to You oxen with he-goats." By the very yoking are saved the he-goats; of themselves they have no strength, being yoked to bulls they are accepted. For they have made friends of the mammon of iniquity, that the same may receive them into everlasting tabernacles. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
By costly sacrifices, which, under the law, were offered to the honour of God. All people had not wherewithal to offer these sacrifices, or wanted zeal to be at such an expense in praising God; but David, for his part, being able, is as willing, in this chargeable way to pay his homage to God (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
If we have learned in every thing to give thanks for ancient and modern mercies, public and personal mercies, we shall know how to sing this psalm with grace and understanding. All Mankind Exhorted to Praise God. 1 Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: 2 Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings. The good man will give his best things to God. No starveling goat upon the hills will he present at the altar, but the well fed bullocks of the luxuriant pastures shall ascend in smoke from the sacred fire. He who is miserly with God is a wretch indeed. Few devise liberal things, but those few find a rich reward in so doing. With the incense of rams.
I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings. The good man will give his best things to God. No starveling goat upon the hills will he present at the altar, but the well fed bullocks of the luxuriant pastures shall ascend in smoke from the sacred fire. He who is miserly with God is a wretch indeed. Few devise liberal things, but those few find a rich reward in so doing. With the incense of rams. The smoke of burning rams should also rise from the altar; he would offer the strength and prime of his flocks as well as his herds. Of all we have we should give the Lord his portion, and that should be the choicest we can select. It was no waste to burn the fat upon Jehovah's altar, nor to pour the precious ointment upon Jesus' head; neither are large gifts and bountiful offerings to the church of God any diminution to a man's estate: such money is put to good interest and placed where it cannot be stolen by thieves nor corroded by rust. I will offer bullocks with goats. A perfect sacrifice, completing the circle of offerings, should show forth the intense love of his heart. We should magnify the Lord with the great and the little. None of his ordinances should be disregarded; we must not omit either the bullocks or the goats. In these three verses we have gratitude in action, not content with words, but proving its own sincerity by deeds of obedient sacrifice. Selah. It is most fit that we should suspend the song while the smoke of the victims ascends the heavens; let the burnt offerings stand for praises while we meditate upon the infinitely greater sacrifice of Calvary.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
I will offer, etc. - Thou shalt have the best of the herd and of the fold; the lame and the blind shall never be given to thee for sacrifice. The incense of rams - The fine effluvia arising from the burning of the pure fat.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings - Margin, marrow. On the word rendered “burnt-offerings” see the notes at Isa 1:11. The word rendered “fatlings” is rendered in Isa 5:17, lambs. It may be applied to any animal considered as fat - a qualification required in sacrifices to be made on the altar, Isa 1:11. With the incense of rams - The word here rendered incense is commonly applied to aromatics which were burned in the tabernacle or temple, producing a grateful odor (see the notes at Isa 1:13); but it seems here to be used with reference to the smoke ascending from burning rams offered in sacrifice - ascending as the smoke of incense did. The smoke thus ascending would be as grateful and acceptable as incense. I will offer bullocks with goats - Bullocks and goats. That is, I will present sacrifices in all the forms required in worship; in all the forms that will express gratitude to God, or that will be an acknowledgment of dependence and guilt; in all that would properly express homage to the Deity. Bullocks and goats were both required in the ancient worship.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֹ֘ל֤וֹת | olot | burnt offerings of | H5930 → | 287 times |
| מֵחִ֣ים | mechim | fatlings | H4220 → | |
| אַעֲלֶה־ | ʾaaleh- | I will offer up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| לָּ֭ךְ | lakh | to you | ||
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| קְטֹ֣רֶת | ketoret | [the] smoke of | H7004 → | |
| אֵילִ֑ים | ʾeilim | rams | H352 → | 187 times |
| אֶ֥עֱשֶֽׂה | ʾeeseh | I will offer | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| בָקָ֖ר | vakar | cattle | H1241 → | |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| עַתּוּדִ֣ים | ʾatudim | goats | H6260 → | 29 times |
| סֶֽלָה׃ | selah | Selah | H5542 → | 74 times |
עֹ֘ל֤וֹתburnt offerings of
olotH5930 →287 times
מֵחִ֣יםfatlings
mechimH4220 →
אַעֲלֶה־I will offer up
ʾaaleh-H5927 →890 times
לָּ֭ךְto you
lakh
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
קְטֹ֣רֶת[the] smoke of
ketoretH7004 →
אֵילִ֑יםrams
ʾeilimH352 →187 times
אֶ֥עֱשֶֽׂהI will offer
ʾeesehH6213 →2628 times
בָקָ֖רcattle
vakarH1241 →
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
עַתּוּדִ֣יםgoats
ʾatudimH6260 →29 times
סֶֽלָה׃Selah
selahH5542 →74 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 51:19Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, in whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.
it leads to
- Psalms 4:5
Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the LORD.
- Malachi 3:3
And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in…
- Ephesians 5:2
and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
- Psalms 4:5
Through
Jeremiah 41:5eighty men who had shaved off their beards, torn their garments, and cut themselves came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, carrying grain offerings and frankincense for the house of the LORD.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 16:24
He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city there, calling it Samaria after the name of Shemer, who had owned the hill.
- Joshua 18:1
Then the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. And though the land was subdued before them,
- 1 Kings 16:24
Through
2 Samuel 6:13When those carrying the ark of the LORD had advanced six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.
it leads to
- 1 Chronicles 15:15
And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD.
- 1 Kings 8:5
There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.
- Numbers 4:15
When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all their equipment, as soon as the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites shall come and do the carrying. But they…
- 1 Chronicles 15:15
About Psalms

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 66; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
