sacrifices are worthless, even odious to God (see sidebar, “Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice,” p. 200). The sacrifices are meant to be a visible sign of what God truly desires: the people’s covenant fidelity. When that is lacking, they are mere hypocrisy, an insult to God. The next line of Psalm 40 says literally in Hebrew, “ears you dug for me,” meaning, “you gave me the ability to hear and obey your voice.” But our author quotes from the †Septuagint version: but a body you prepared for me.6 The