1 Samuel 16:2

16:2 Samuel replied, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you ¹  and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’

Proverbs 21:27

21:27 The wicked person’s sacrifice ²  is an abomination;

how much more ³  when he brings it with evil intent! ⁴ 

Isaiah 58:4

58:4 Look, your fasting is accompanied by ⁵  arguments, brawls,

and fistfights. ⁶ 

Do not fast as you do today,

trying to make your voice heard in heaven.

Matthew 2:8

2:8 He ⁷  sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and look carefully for the child. When you find him, inform me so that I can go and worship him as well.”

Matthew 23:14

23:14 [[EMPTY]] ⁸ 

[16:2]  ¹ tn Heb “in your hand.”

[21:27]  ² tn Heb “the sacrifice of the wicked” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This is a subjective genitive. The foundational clause states that ritual acts of worship brought by the wicked (thus a subjective genitive) are detestable to God. The “wicked” refers here to people who are not members of the covenant (no faith) and are not following after righteousness (no acceptable works). But often they participate in sanctuary ritual, which amounts to hypocrisy.

[21:27]  ³ sn This rhetorical device shows that if the act is abomination, the wicked heart is an even greater sin. It argues from the lesser to the greater.

[21:27]  ⁴ tn The noun זִמָּה (zimmah) means “plan; device; wickedness”; here it indicates that the person is coming to the ritual with “sinful purpose.” Some commentators suggest that this would mean he comes with the sacrifice as a bribe to pacify his conscience for a crime committed, over which he has little remorse or intent to cease (cf. NLT “with ulterior motives”). In this view, people in ancient Israel came to think that sacrifices could be given for any reason without genuine submission to God.

[58:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “you fast for” (so NASB); NRSV “you fast only to quarrel.”

[58:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “and for striking with a sinful fist.”

[2:8]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[23:14]  ⁸ tc The most important mss (א B D L Z Θ Ë¹ 33 892* pc and several versional witnesses) do not have 23:14 “Woe to you experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows’ property, and as a show you pray long prayers! Therefore you will receive a more severe punishment.” Part or all of the verse is contained (either after v. 12 or after v. 13) in W 0102 0107 ˹³ Ï and several versions, but it is almost certainly not original. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number as well, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations. Note also that Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 are very similar in wording and are not disputed textually.