11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—
    what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
    of rams and the fat of fattened animals;(A)
I have no pleasure(B)
    in the blood of bulls(C) and lambs and goats.(D)

Read full chapter

21 “I hate,(A) I despise your religious festivals;(B)
    your assemblies(C) are a stench to me.

Read full chapter

22 But Samuel replied:

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
    as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,(A)
    and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

Read full chapter

20 What do I care about incense from Sheba(A)
    or sweet calamus(B) from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;(C)
    your sacrifices(D) do not please me.”(E)

Read full chapter

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,(A)
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?(B)
Shall I offer my firstborn(C) for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?(D)

Read full chapter

10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors,(A) so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased(B) with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept(C) no offering(D) from your hands.

Read full chapter

But whoever sacrifices a bull(A)
    is like one who kills a person,
and whoever offers a lamb
    is like one who breaks a dog’s neck;
whoever makes a grain offering
    is like one who presents pig’s(B) blood,
and whoever burns memorial incense(C)
    is like one who worships an idol.
They have chosen their own ways,(D)
    and they delight in their abominations;(E)

Read full chapter

The Lord detests the sacrifice(A) of the wicked,(B)
    but the prayer of the upright pleases him.(C)

Read full chapter

I bring no charges(A) against you concerning your sacrifices
    or concerning your burnt offerings,(B) which are ever before me.

Read full chapter

13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a](A) For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”(B)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Matthew 9:13 Hosea 6:6

27 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable(A)
    how much more so when brought with evil intent!(B)

Read full chapter

16 You do not delight in sacrifice,(A) or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

Read full chapter

21 “‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices(A) and eat(B) the meat yourselves!

Read full chapter

Bible Gateway Recommends