To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
Parallel translations
- WEB To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh 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 15:22And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
- Hos 6:6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
- Prov 15:8The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
- Mic 6:6–8Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
- Mark 12:33And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
- Jer 7:21–23Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
- Isa 1:11–17To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
- Ps 50:8I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
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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.
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Original language
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