1 Samuel 15:22
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
22 (A)But Samuel said:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obedience to the Lord’s command?
Obedience is better than sacrifice,
to listen, better than the fat of rams.[a]
Footnotes
- 15:22 Samuel’s reprimand echoes that of the prophets. Cultic practice is meaningless, even hypocritical, unless accompanied by an attentiveness to God’s will.
Amos 5:22-24
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
22 Even though you bring me your burnt offerings and grain offerings
I will not accept them;
Your stall-fed communion offerings,
I will not look upon them.
23 Take away from me
your noisy songs;
The melodies of your harps,
I will not listen to them.
24 Rather let justice surge like waters,
and righteousness like an unfailing stream.
Micah 6:6-8
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
6 [a]With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow before God most high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?(A)
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with myriad streams of oil?
[b] Shall I give my firstborn for my crime,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 [c]You have been told, O mortal, what is good,
and what the Lord requires of you:
Only to do justice and to love goodness,
and to walk humbly with your God.(B)
Footnotes
- 6:6–8 These verses continue the previous unit (6:1–5), the dialogue between the Lord and the people in the pattern of a trial. The Lord has initiated proceedings against them, and they ask how to re-establish the broken relationship with God (vv. 6–7), and are given an answer (v. 8). The form of the passage borrows from a priestly liturgical pattern. When worshipers came to the temple, they inquired of the priest concerning the appropriate offering or sacrifice, and the priest answered them (see Ps 15; 24; Is 1:10–17; Am 5:21–24).
- 6:7 The questions reach their climax with the possibility of child sacrifice, a practice known in antiquity (cf. 2 Kgs 16:3; 21:6).
- 6:8 To do justice refers to human behavior in relationship to others. To love goodness refers to the kind of love and concern which is at the heart of the covenant between the Lord and Israel; it is persistently faithful. To walk humbly with your God means to listen carefully to the revealed will of God.
Ecclesiastes 4:17
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Vanity of Many Words. 17 (A)Guard your step when you go to the house of God.[a] Draw near for obedience, rather than for the fools’ offering of sacrifice; for they know not how to keep from doing evil.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 4:17 The house of God: the Temple in Jerusalem. Obedience…sacrifice: the Temple was the place not only for sacrifice but also for instruction in the Law. Sacrifice without obedience was unacceptable; cf. 1 Sm 15:22; Hos 6:6.
Matthew 9:13
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
13 Go and learn the meaning of the words,(A) ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
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Matthew 12:7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
7 [a]If you knew what this meant, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’(A) you would not have condemned these innocent men.
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