33 And to love him with all the heart and with all (A)the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, (B)is much more than all (C)whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

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For (A)I desire steadfast love[a] and not sacrifice,
    (B)the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 6:6 Septuagint mercy

What Does the Lord Require?

(A)“With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before (B)God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
(C)Will the Lord be pleased with[a] thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
(D)Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and (E)what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,[b]
    and to (F)walk humbly with your God?

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Footnotes

  1. Micah 6:7 Or Will the Lord accept
  2. Micah 6:8 Or steadfast love

22 And Samuel said,

(A)“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
    as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, (B)to obey is better than sacrifice,
    and to listen than the fat of rams.

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And if you had known (A)what this means, (B)‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

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13 Go and learn (A)what this means: (B)‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For (C)I came not to call the righteous, (D)but sinners.”

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The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have (A)prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, (B)so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (C)If I give away all I have, and (D)if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 13:3 Some manuscripts deliver up my body [to death] that I may boast

21 (A)“I hate, I despise your feasts,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 (B)Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
    I will not look upon them.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    to (C)the melody of your harps I will not listen.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

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11 (A)“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 well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
    or of lambs, or of goats.

12 “When you come to (B)appear before me,
    who has required of you
    this trampling of my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
    incense is an abomination to me.
(C)New moon and Sabbath and the (D)calling of convocations—
    I cannot endure (E)iniquity and (F)solemn assembly.
14 Your (G)new moons and your appointed feasts
    my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you (H)spread out your hands,
    I will hide my eyes from you;
(I)even though you make many prayers,
    I will not listen;
    (J)your hands are full of blood.
16 (K)Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
    remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
(L)cease to do evil,
17     learn to do good;
(M)seek justice,
    correct oppression;
(N)bring justice to the fatherless,
    plead the widow's cause.

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23 The one who (A)offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
    to one who (B)orders his way rightly
    I will show the (C)salvation of God!”

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Not for your sacrifices (A)do I rebuke you;
    your burnt offerings are continually before me.
I will not accept a bull from your house
    or goats from your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine,
    the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 (B)I know all the birds of the hills,
    and all that moves in the field is mine.

12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
    (C)for the world and its fullness are mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
    or drink the blood of goats?
14 (D)Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,[a]
    and (E)perform your vows to the Most High,
15 and (F)call upon me in the day of trouble;
    I will (G)deliver you, and you shall (H)glorify me.”

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 50:14 Or Make thanksgiving your sacrifice to God

When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in (A)sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law),

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21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: (A)“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. 22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them (B)concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them: (C)‘Obey my voice, and (D)I will be your God, and you shall be my people. (E)And walk in all the way that I command you, (F)that it may be well with you.’

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(A)Is such the fast that I choose,
    (B)a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
    and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
    and a day acceptable to the Lord?

“Is not this the fast that I choose:
    (C)to loose the bonds of wickedness,
    to undo the straps (D)of the yoke,
to let the oppressed[a] go free,
    and to break every yoke?
Is it not (E)to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
    (F)and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 58:6 Or bruised

(A)To do righteousness and justice
    is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

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