1 Samuel 15:22

WEB

²²Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the LORD’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

KJV

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.

BSB

²²But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.

FBV

²²“Does the Lord prefer burnt offerings and sacrifices, or obedience to what he says?” Samuel asked. “Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice. Paying attention is more important than offering the fat of rams.

Related Resources

Elements of a Living Sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2) - Grace to You

Extra References

Hosea 6:6

⁶For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Psalms 51:16-17

¹⁶For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering. ¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.

Proverbs 21:3

³To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Amos 5:21-24

²¹I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies. ²²Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals. ²³Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. ²⁴But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Mark 12:33

³³and to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Matthew 9:13

¹³But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Micah 6:6-8

⁶How shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? ⁷Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? ⁸He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Jeremiah 7:22-23

²²For I didn’t speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices; ²³but this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. Walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

Psalms 40:6-8

⁶Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering. ⁷Then I said, “Behold, I have come. It is written about me in the book in the scroll. ⁸I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart.”

Ecclesiastes 5:1

¹Guard your steps when you go to God’s house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don’t know that they do evil.