Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—(A)
    but my ears you have opened[a](B)
    burnt offerings(C) and sin offerings[b] you did not require.
Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
    it is written about me in the scroll.[c](D)
I desire to do your will,(E) my God;(F)
    your law is within my heart.”(G)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 40:6 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts but a body you have prepared for me
  2. Psalm 40:6 Or purification offerings
  3. Psalm 40:7 Or come / with the scroll written for me

16 You do not delight in sacrifice,(A) or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

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To do what is right and just
    is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.(A)

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11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—
    what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
    of rams and the fat of fattened animals;(A)
I have no pleasure(B)
    in the blood of bulls(C) and lambs and goats.(D)
12 When you come to appear before me,
    who has asked this of you,(E)
    this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!(F)
    Your incense(G) is detestable(H) to me.
New Moons,(I) Sabbaths and convocations(J)
    I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
14 Your New Moon(K) feasts and your appointed festivals(L)
    I hate with all my being.(M)
They have become a burden to me;(N)
    I am weary(O) of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands(P) in prayer,
    I hide(Q) my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
    I am not listening.(R)

Your hands(S) are full of blood!(T)

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22 For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands(A) about burnt offerings and sacrifices,(B)

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For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,(A)
    and acknowledgment(B) of God rather than burnt offerings.(C)

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25 “Did you bring me sacrifices(A) and offerings
    forty years(B) in the wilderness, people of Israel?

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With what shall I come before(A) the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?(B)
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,(C)
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?(D)
Shall I offer my firstborn(E) for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?(F)
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly(G) and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly[a](H) with your God.(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Micah 6:8 Or prudently

33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”(A)

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