Proverbs 21:3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
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)
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)
Micah 6:6-8
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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?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”(A)
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God?(B)
Proverbs 15:8
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8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
but the prayer of the upright is his delight.(A)
Mark 12:33
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33 and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”(A)
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Jeremiah 7:21-23
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21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.(A) 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.(B) 23 But this command I gave them, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.”(C)
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Isaiah 1:11-17
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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)
12 When you come to appear before me,[a]
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more!(B)
13 Bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation—
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.(C)
14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.(D)
15 When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.(E)
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove your evil deeds
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil;(F)
17 learn to do good;
seek justice;
rescue the oppressed;
defend the orphan;
plead for the widow.(G)
Footnotes
- 1.12 Or see my face
Psalm 50:8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.(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.