To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice.
Parallel translations
- KJV To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
- BSB To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice.
- NKJV To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
- NASB To do righteousness and justice Is preferred by the Lord more than sacrifice.
- NLT The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Doing what is right and just pleases God more than sacrifice. It matters because God desires obedience and integrity over mere ritual.
Overview
Religious offerings cannot substitute for righteous living and justice (1 Samuel 15:22; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8). God looks for a heart that loves justice, not empty ceremony. Jesus affirmed this priority (Matthew 9:13), and true worship issues in lives marked by righteousness toward God and neighbor.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Sam 15:22Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying Yahweh’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
- Hos 6:6For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
- Prov 15:8The sacrifice made by the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
- Mic 6:6–8How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
- Mark 12:33and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
- Jer 7:21–23Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat meat.
- Isa 1:11–17“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says Yahweh. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats.
- Ps 50:8I don’t rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 21:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.