Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
From vanity connected with kings, he passes to vanities (Ecclesiastes 5:7) which may be fallen into in serving the King of kings, even by those who, convinced of the vanity of the creature, wish to worship the Creator.
Keep, thy foot. So the Qeri'. But the original Kethibh, 'thy feet' (Psalms 119:101). In going to worship, go with considerate, circumspect, reverent feeling. Better not to go at all, than to go in a wrong spirit. The allusion is to the taking off of the shoes, or sandals in entering a temple (Exodus 3:5; Joshua 5:15), which passages perhaps gave rise to the custom. Compare Jacob's words (Genesis 28:16-17), Surely the Lord is in this place etc.
Be more ready to hear (cf. James 1:19) - rather, 'To be ready (to draw nigh with the desire) to hear (obey) (1 Samuel 15:22) is a better sacrifice than the offering of fools' (Holden; the Vulgate; Syriac). The order of the words and the Hebrew accents forbid the English version, whereby "the sacrifice" governs "of fools." "To give sacrifice" is an unusual phrase (Psalms 51:16-17; Proverbs 21:3; Amos 5:21-24). The warning is against mere ceremonial self-righteousness. Obedience is the spirit of the law's requirements (Deuteronomy 10:12). Solomon sorrowfully looks back on his own neglect of this (cf. 1 Kings 8:63 with 11:4,6). Positive precepts of God must be kept, but will not stand instead of obedience to His moral precepts. The law provided no sacrifice for willful sin (Numbers 15:30-31; Hebrews 10:26-29). "Fools" think to compound for obedience by sacrifice.