Psalms 50:8-9

50:8 I am not condemning you because of your sacrifices,

or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me.

50:9 I do not need to take a bull from your household

or goats from your sheepfolds.

Psalms 51:16-17

51:16 Certainly you do not want a sacrifice, or else I would offer it;

you do not desire a burnt sacrifice.

51:17 The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit –

O God, a humble and repentant heart you will not reject.

Proverbs 21:3

21:3 To do righteousness and justice

is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

Isaiah 1:11-17

1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?”

says the Lord.

“I am stuffed with burnt sacrifices

of rams and the fat from steers.

The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats

I do not want.

1:12 When you enter my presence,

do you actually think I want this –

animals trampling on my courtyards?

1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless offerings;

I consider your incense detestable!

You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,

but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations!

1:14 I hate your new moon festivals and assemblies;

they are a burden

that I am tired of carrying.

1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I look the other way;

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood.

1:16 Wash! Cleanse yourselves!

Remove your sinful deeds

from my sight.

Stop sinning!

1:17 Learn to do what is right!

Promote justice!

Give the oppressed reason to celebrate!

Take up the cause of the orphan!

Defend the rights of the widow!

Jeremiah 7:22-23

7:22 Consider this: When I spoke to your ancestors after I brought them out of Egypt, I did not merely give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices. 7:23 I also explicitly commanded them: “Obey me. If you do, I will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you and things will go well with you.”

Hosea 6:6

6:6 For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice;

I delight in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings.

Amos 5:21-24

5:21 “I absolutely despise your festivals!

I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies!

5:22 Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, I will not be satisfied;

I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves.

5:23 Take away from me your noisy songs;

I don’t want to hear the music of your stringed instruments.

5:24 Justice must flow like torrents of water,

righteous actions like a stream that never dries up.

Micah 6:6-8

6:6 With what should I enter the Lord’s presence?

With what should I bow before the sovereign God?

Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings,

with year-old calves?

6:7 Will the Lord accept a thousand rams,

or ten thousand streams of olive oil?

Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion,

my offspring – my own flesh and blood – for my sin?

6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good,

and what the Lord really wants from you:

He wants you to promote justice, to be faithful,

and to live obediently before your God.

Matthew 9:13

9:13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 12:7

12:7 If you had known what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

Matthew 23:23

23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others.

Hebrews 10:4-10

10:4 For the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. 10:5 So when he came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.

10:6 “Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in.

10:7 “Then I said, ‘Here I am: I have come – it is written of me in the scroll of the book – to do your will, O God.’”

10:8 When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them” (which are offered according to the law), 10:9 then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first to establish the second. 10:10 By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.