Discovery BoxProverbs 15:8
Context15:8 The Lord abhors 1 the sacrifices 2 of the wicked, 3
but the prayer 4 of the upright pleases him. 5
Proverbs 15:1
Context15:1 A gentle response 6 turns away anger,
but a harsh word 7 stirs up wrath. 8
Proverbs 15:22
Context15:22 Plans fail 9 when there is no counsel,
but with abundant advisers they are established. 10
Psalms 50:8
Context50:8 I am not condemning 11 you because of your sacrifices,
or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me. 12
Isaiah 1:11-17
Context1:11 “Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?” 13
says the Lord.
“I am stuffed with 14 burnt sacrifices
of rams and the fat from steers.
The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats
I do not want. 15
1:12 When you enter my presence,
do you actually think I want this –
animals trampling on my courtyards? 16
1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless 17 offerings;
I consider your incense detestable! 18
You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,
but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! 19
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; 20
when you offer your many prayers,
I do not listen,
because your hands are covered with blood. 21
1:16 22 Wash! Cleanse yourselves!
Remove your sinful deeds 23
from my sight.
Stop sinning!
1:17 Learn to do what is right!
Promote justice!
Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! 24
Take up the cause of the orphan!
Defend the rights of the widow! 25
Jeremiah 7:21-23
Context7:21 The Lord said to the people of Judah, 26 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all 27 says: ‘You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too! 28 7:22 Consider this: 29 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: 30 “Obey me. If you do, I 31 will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you 32 and things will go well with you.”
Hosea 6:6
Context6:6 For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice;
I delight 33 in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings. 34
Micah 6:6-8
Context6:6 With what should I 35 enter the Lord’s presence?
With what 36 should I bow before the sovereign God? 37
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? 38
6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good,
and what the Lord really wants from you: 39
He wants you to 40 promote 41 justice, to be faithful, 42
and to live obediently before 43 your God.
Mark 12:33
Context12:33 And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength 44 and to love your neighbor as yourself 45 is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
[15:8] 1 tn Heb “an abomination of the
[15:8] 2 tn Heb “sacrifice” (so many English versions).
[15:8] 3 sn The sacrifices of the wicked are hated by the
[15:8] 4 sn J. H. Greenstone notes that if God will accept the prayers of the upright, he will accept their sacrifices; for sacrifice is an outer ritual and easily performed even by the wicked, but prayer is a private and inward act and not usually fabricated by unbelievers (Proverbs, 162).
[15:8] 5 tn Heb “[is] his pleasure.” The 3rd person masculine singular suffix functions as a subjective genitive: “he is pleased.” God is pleased with the prayers of the upright.
[15:1] 6 tn Heb “soft answer.” The adjective רַּךְ (rakh, “soft; tender; gentle”; BDB 940 s.v.) is more than a mild response; it is conciliatory, an answer that restores good temper and reasonableness (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 477). Gideon illustrates this kind of answer (Judg 8:1-3) that brings peace.
[15:1] 7 tn Heb “word of harshness”; KJV “grievous words.” The noun עֶצֶב (’etsev, “pain, hurt”) functions as an attributive genitive. The term עֶצֶב refers to something that causes pain (BDB 780 s.v. I עֶצֶב). For example, Jephthah’s harsh answer led to war (Judg 12:1-6).
[15:1] 8 tn Heb “raises anger.” A common response to painful words is to let one’s temper flare up.
[15:22] 11 tn Heb “go wrong” (so NRSV, NLT). The verb is the Hiphil infinitive absolute from פָּרַר, parar, which means “to break; to frustrate; to go wrong” (HALOT 975 s.v. I פרר 2). The plans are made ineffectual or are frustrated when there is insufficient counsel.
[15:22] 12 sn The proverb says essentially the same thing as 11:14, but differently.
[50:8] 17 tn Heb “and your burnt sacrifices before me continually.”
[1:11] 21 tn Heb “Why to me the multitude of your sacrifices?” The sarcastic rhetorical question suggests that their many sacrifices are of no importance to the Lord. This phrase answers the possible objection that an Israelite could raise in response to God’s indictment: “But we are offering the sacrifices you commanded!”
[1:11] 22 tn The verb שָׂבַע (sava’, “be satisfied, full”) is often used of eating and/or drinking one’s fill. See BDB 959 s.v. שָׂבַע. Here sacrifices are viewed, in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion, as food for the deity. God here declares that he has eaten and drunk, as it were, his fill.
[1:11] 23 sn In the chiastic structure of the verse, the verbs at the beginning and end highlight God’s displeasure, while the heaping up of references to animals, fat, and blood in the middle lines hints at why God wants no more of their sacrifices. They have, as it were, piled the food on his table and he needs no more.
[1:12] 26 tn Heb “When you come to appear before me, who requires this from your hand, trampling of my courtyards?” The rhetorical question sarcastically makes the point that God does not require this parade of livestock. The verb “trample” probably refers to the eager worshipers and their sacrificial animals walking around in the temple area.
[1:13] 31 tn Or “worthless” (NASB, NCV, CEV); KJV, ASV “vain.”
[1:13] 32 sn Notice some of the other practices that Yahweh regards as “detestable”: homosexuality (Lev 18:22-30; 20:13), idolatry (Deut 7:25; 13:15), human sacrifice (Deut 12:31), eating ritually unclean animals (Deut 14:3-8), sacrificing defective animals (Deut 17:1), engaging in occult activities (Deut 18:9-14), and practicing ritual prostitution (1 Kgs 14:23).
[1:13] 33 tn Heb “sin and assembly” (these two nouns probably represent a hendiadys). The point is that their attempts at worship are unacceptable to God because the people’s everyday actions in the socio-economic realm prove they have no genuine devotion to God (see vv. 16-17).
[1:15] 36 tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”
[1:15] 37 sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.
[1:16] 41 sn Having demonstrated the people’s guilt, the Lord calls them to repentance, which will involve concrete action in the socio-economic realm, not mere emotion.
[1:16] 42 sn This phrase refers to Israel’s covenant treachery (cf. Deut 28:10; Jer 4:4; 21:12; 23:2, 22; 25:5; 26:3; 44:22; Hos 9:15; Ps 28:4). In general, the noun ַמעַלְלֵיכֶם (ma’alleykhem) can simply be a reference to deeds, whether good or bad. However, Isaiah always uses it with a negative connotation (cf. 3:8, 10).
[1:17] 46 tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The translation assumes an emendation of חָמוֹץ (khamots, “oppressor [?]”) to חָמוּץ (khamuts, “oppressed”), a passive participle from II חָמַץ (khamats, “oppress”; HALOT 329 s.v. II חמץ) and takes the verb II אָשַׁר (’ashar) in the sense of “make happy” (the delocutive Piel, meaning “call/pronounce happy,” is metonymic here, referring to actually effecting happiness). The parallelism favors this interpretation, for the next two lines speak of positive actions on behalf of the destitute. The other option is to retain the MT pointing and translate, “set right the oppressor,” but the nuance “set right” is not clearly attested elsewhere for the verb I אשׁר. This verb does appear as a participle in Isa 3:12 and 9:16 with the meaning “to lead or guide.” If it can mean to “lead” or “rebuke/redirect” in this verse, the prophet could be contrasting this appeal for societal reformation (v. 17c) with a command to reorder their personal lives (v. 17a-b). J. A. Motyer (The Prophecy of Isaiah, 47) suggests that these three statements (v. 17a-c) provide “the contrast between the two ends of imperfect society, the oppressor and the needy, the one inflicting and the other suffering the hurt. Isaiah looks for a transformed society wherever it needs transforming.”
[1:17] 47 tn This word refers to a woman who has lost her husband, by death or divorce. The orphan and widow are often mentioned in the OT as epitomizing the helpless and impoverished who have been left without the necessities of life due to the loss of a family provider.
[7:21] 51 tn The words “The
[7:21] 52 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”
[7:21] 53 tn Heb “Add your burnt offerings to your [other] sacrifices and eat the meat!” See the following sn for explanation. This is an example of the rhetorical use of the imperative for a sarcastic challenge. Cf. GKC 324 §110.a; cf. Amos 4:4, “Go to Bethel and sin!”
[7:22] 56 tn Heb “For” but this introduces a long explanation about the relative importance of sacrifice and obedience.
[7:23] 61 tn Verses 22-23a read in Hebrew, “I did not speak with your ancestors and I did not command them when I brought them out of Egypt about words/matters concerning burnt offering and sacrifice, but I commanded them this word:” Some modern commentators have explained this passage as an evidence for the lateness of the Pentateuchal instruction regarding sacrifice or a denial that sacrifice was practiced during the period of the wilderness wandering. However, it is better explained as an example of what R. de Vaux calls a dialectical negative, i.e., “not so much this as that” or “not this without that” (Ancient Israel, 454-56). For other examples of this same argument see Isa 1:10-17; Hos 6:4-6; Amos 5:21-25.
[7:23] 62 tn Heb “Obey me and I will be.” The translation is equivalent syntactically but brings out the emphasis in the command.
[7:23] 63 tn Heb “Walk in all the way that I command you.”
[6:6] 66 tn The phrase “I delight” does not appear in the Hebrew text a second time in this verse, but is implied from the parallelism in the preceding line.
[6:6] 67 sn Contrary to popular misunderstanding, Hosea does not reject animal sacrifice nor cultic ritual, and advocate instead obedience only. Rather, God does not delight in ritual sacrifice without the accompanying prerequisite moral obedience (1 Sam 15:22; Pss 40:6-8; 51:16-17; Prov 21:3; Isa 1:11-17; Jer 7:21-23; Hos 6:6; Mic 6:6-8). However, if prerequisite moral obedience is present, he delights in sacrificial worship as an outward expression (Ps 51:19). Presented by a repentant obedient worshiper, whole burnt offerings were “an aroma pleasing” to the
[6:6] 71 sn With what should I enter the
[6:6] 72 tn The words “with what” do double duty in the parallelism and are supplied in the second line of the translation for clarification.
[6:6] 73 tn Or “the exalted God.”
[6:7] 76 tn Heb “the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is often translated “soul,” but the word usually refers to the whole person; here “the sin of my soul” = “my sin.”
[6:8] 81 sn What the
[6:8] 82 tn Heb “except.” This statement is actually linked with what precedes, “What does he want from you except….”
[6:8] 83 tn Heb “to do,” in the sense of “promote.”
[6:8] 84 tn Heb “to love faithfulness.”
[6:8] 85 tn Heb “to walk humbly [or perhaps, “carefully”] with.”
