Isaiah 1:10-20

English Standard Version

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord,
    you rulers of ^(A)^(B)Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching^[a] of our God,
    you people of ^(C)Gomorrah!
¹¹^(D)“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 ^(E)appear before me,
    who has required of you
    this trampling of my courts?
¹³Bring no more vain offerings;
    incense is an abomination to me.
^(F)New moon and Sabbath and the ^(G)calling of convocations—
    I cannot endure ^(H)iniquity and ^(I)solemn assembly.
¹⁴Your ^(J)new moons and your appointed feasts
    my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵When you ^(K)spread out your hands,
    I will hide my eyes from you;
^(L)even though you make many prayers,
    I will not listen;
    ^(M)your hands are full of blood.
¹⁶^(N)Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
    remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
^(O)cease to do evil,
¹⁷    learn to do good;
^(P)seek justice,
    correct oppression;
^(Q)bring justice to the fatherless,
    plead the widow's cause.

¹⁸“Come now, ^(R)let us reason^[b] together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as ^(S)white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
    they shall become like wool.
¹⁹^(T)If you are willing and obedient,
    you shall eat the good of the land;
²⁰but if you refuse and rebel,
    you shall be eaten by the sword;
    ^(U)for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

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Footnotes

Isaiah 1:10 Or law
Isaiah 1:18 Or dispute

Isaiah 29:11-14

English Standard Version

¹¹And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is ^(A)sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” ¹²And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

¹³And the Lord said:
“Because ^(B)this people ^(C)draw near with their mouth
    and honor me with their lips,
    while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
¹⁴therefore, behold, ^(D)I will again
    do wonderful things with this people,
    with wonder upon wonder;
and ^(E)the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
    and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

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Hosea 6:6

English Standard Version

⁶For ^(A)I desire steadfast love^[a] and not sacrifice,
^(B)the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

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Footnotes

Hosea 6:6 Septuagint mercy

Hosea 6:6 in all English translations

Micah 6:6-8

English Standard Version

What Does the Lord Require?

⁶^(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?
⁷^(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?”
⁸He 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

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

Colossians 2:16-23

English Standard Version

Let No One Disqualify You

¹⁶Therefore let no one ^(A)pass judgment on you ^(B)in questions of food and drink, or with regard to ^(C)a festival or ^(D)a new moon or a Sabbath. ¹⁷^(E)These are a shadow of the things to come, but ^(F)the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸Let no one ^(G)disqualify you, ^(H)insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, ^(I)going on in detail about visions,^[a] ^(J)puffed up without reason by ^(K)his sensuous mind, ¹⁹and ^(L)not ^(M)holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

²⁰If with Christ ^(N)you died to the ^(O)elemental spirits of the world, ^(P)why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ²¹^(Q)“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ²²(^(R)referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to ^(S)human precepts and teachings? ²³These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in ^(T)promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are ^(U)of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.