1 Samuel 15:22
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22 And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obedience to the voice of the Lord?
Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice
and to heed than the fat of rams.(A)
Hosea 6:6
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6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.(A)
Psalm 51:16-17
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16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.(A)
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God[a] is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.(B)
Footnotes
- 51.17 Or My sacrifice, O God,
Proverbs 21:3
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3 To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.(A)
Amos 5:21-24
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21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.(A)
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.(B)
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like water
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.(C)
Mark 12:33
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33 and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”(A)
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Matthew 9:13
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13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”(A)
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Micah 6:6-8
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What God Requires
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”(A)
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God?(B)
Jeremiah 7:22-23
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22 For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.(A) 23 But this command I gave them, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.”(B)
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Psalm 40:6-8
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6 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
but you have given me an open ear.[a]
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.(A)
7 Then I said, “Here I am;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me.[b]
8 I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”(B)
Ecclesiastes 5:1
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Reverence, Humility, and Contentment
5 [a]Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools, for they do not know how to keep from doing evil.[b](A)
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Isaiah 1:11-17
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11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls
or of lambs or of goats.(A)
12 When you come to appear before me,[a]
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more!(B)
13 Bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation—
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.(C)
14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.(D)
15 When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.(E)
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove your evil deeds
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil;(F)
17 learn to do good;
seek justice;
rescue the oppressed;
defend the orphan;
plead for the widow.(G)
Footnotes
- 1.12 Or see my face
Matthew 12:7
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7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.(A)
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Hebrews 10:4-10
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4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.(A) 5 Consequently, when Christ[a] came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body you have prepared for me;(B)
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘See, I have come to do your will, O God’
(in the scroll of the book[b] it is written of me).”(C)
8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “See, I have come to do your will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. 10 And it is by God’s will[c] that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.(D)
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Matthew 23:23
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23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.(A)
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Psalm 50:8-9
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8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.(A)
9 I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.(B)
Matthew 5:24
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24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.
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Jeremiah 26:13
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13 Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will change his mind about the disaster that he has pronounced against you.(A)
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Exodus 19:5
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5 Now, therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine,(A)
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Jeremiah 11:7
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7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, “Obey my voice.”(A)
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Jeremiah 11:4
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4 which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron smelter, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God,(A)
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