⁶ With what shall I come before^(A) the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?^(B)
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,^(C)
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?^(D)
Shall I offer my firstborn^(E) for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?^(F)
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly^(G) and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly^[a](H) with your God.^(I)

⁶ For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,^(A)
    and acknowledgment^(B) of God rather than burnt offerings.^(C)

“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.

⁸ I bring no charges^(A) against you concerning your sacrifices
    or concerning your burnt offerings,^(B) which are ever before me.
⁹ I have no need of a bull^(C) from your stall
    or of goats^(D) from your pens,^(E)
10 for every animal of the forest^(F) is mine,
    and the cattle on a thousand hills.^(G)
11 I know every bird^(H) in the mountains,
    and the insects in the fields^(I) are mine.
¹² If I were hungry I would not tell you,
    for the world^(J) is mine, and all that is in it.^(K)
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
    or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴ “Sacrifice thank offerings^(L) to God,
    fulfill your vows^(M) to the Most High,^(N)
15 and call^(O) on me in the day of trouble;^(P)
    I will deliver^(Q) you, and you will honor^(R) me.”