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)
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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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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Proverbs 21:3
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3 To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.(A)
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)
Amos 5:21
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21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.(A)
Isaiah 1:11
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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)
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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Jeremiah 22:16
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16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
says the Lord.(A)
Matthew 5:7
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7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
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Daniel 4:27
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27 Therefore, O king, may my counsel be acceptable to you: atone for[a] your sins with righteousness and your iniquities with mercy to the oppressed, so that your prosperity may be prolonged.”(A)
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- 4.27 Aram break off
Hosea 4:1
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God Accuses Israel
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel,
for the Lord has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or loyalty
and no knowledge of God in the land.(A)
1 Chronicles 28:9
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9 “And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with single mind and willing heart, for the Lord searches every mind and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will abandon you forever.(A)
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1 John 2:3
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3 Now by this we know that we have come to know him, if we obey his commandments.
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1 John 3:6
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6 No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.
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Micah 6:6
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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?
Jeremiah 7:22
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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)
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Psalm 50:8
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8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.(A)
Hosea 2:20
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20 I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.(A)
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Isaiah 58:6
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6 Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.