You are not pleased is expressed by a past tense in the Greek, meaning “you took no pleasure in.” Most translations keep the past tense, but Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Moffatt use the present. What in the English sentence is the complement of the verb pleased must be made the causative subject in some languages; for example, “When animals are completely burned on the altar or when sacrifices to take away sins are performed, these do not cause you to be pleased” or “… these do not make you happy.”

With animals burned whole on the altar or with sacrifices to take away sins translates only four Greek words, but the expansion is necessary to give the full meaning. The Hebrew Old Testament has the singular for “burnt offering,” which is followed by some manuscripts of the Septuagint and of Hebrews. The plural is used in Psalm 51.16. There is no difference in meaning here. The expression rendered “sin offerings” (Revised Standard Version) is literally “for sin,” but “sacrifice(s)” or something similar must be added to make the meaning clear.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .