Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard.
But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.…
Isaiah 1:11-15“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. / When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts? / Bring your worthless offerings no more; your incense is detestable to Me. New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations—I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly. ...
Micah 6:6-8With what shall I come before the LORD when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? / Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? / He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Hosea 6:6For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Jeremiah 6:20What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.”
Psalm 51:16-17For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings. / The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Isaiah 66:3-4Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who slays a man; whoever sacrifices a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever presents a grain offering is like one who offers pig’s blood; whoever offers frankincense is like one who blesses an idol. Indeed, they have chosen their own ways and delighted in their abominations. / So I will choose their punishment and I will bring terror upon them, because I called and no one answered, I spoke and no one listened. But they did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight.”
Matthew 9:13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Matthew 12:7If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.
Mark 7:6-7Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. / They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’
Luke 11:42Woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.
1 Samuel 15:22But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.
Proverbs 21:3To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice.
Isaiah 58:1-7“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. / For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.” / “Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers. ...
Matthew 23:23Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Hebrews 10:5-8Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me. / In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight. / Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll: I have come to do Your will, O God.’” ...
