Hos 6:6, Amo 5:21-24, Mic 6:6-8, Mat 9:13, 12:7, 1Cor 13:1-3 | ESV | STEP | For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice , the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings .

Hosea 6:6

6 For ^aI desire steadfast love ^{▼▼Septuagint mercy} and not sacrifice,
^cthe knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Amos 5:21-24

21 ^d“I hate, I despise your feasts,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 ^eEven though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
I will not look upon them.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to ^fthe melody of your harps I will not listen.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Micah 6:6-8

What Does the Lord Require?

6 ^g“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before ^hGod on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 ⁱWill the Lord be pleased with ^{▼▼Or Will the Lord accept} thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
^kShall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
and ^lwhat does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, ^{▼▼Or steadfast love}
and to ⁿwalk humbly with your God?

Matthew 9:13

13 Go and learn ^owhat this means: ^p‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For ^qI came not to call the righteous, ^rbut sinners.”

Matthew 12:7

7 And if you had known ^swhat this means, ^t‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

The Way of Love

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have ^uprophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, ^vso as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 ^wIf I give away all I have, and ^xif I deliver up my body to be burned, ^{▼▼Some manuscripts deliver up my body [to death] that I may boast} but have not love, I gain nothing.