Obedience over Sacrifice

²¹ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,^{(A) 22} for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them^(B) or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice. ²³ However, I did give them this command: ‘Obey me, and then I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.’^{(C) 24} Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention^(D) but followed their own advice and their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.^{(E) 25} Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets^(F) to you time and time again.^{[a](G) 26} However, my people wouldn’t listen to me or pay attention but became obstinate;^(H) they did more evil than their ancestors.^(I)