In addition to the below, see a post here about Tophet.
Jeremiah 6:20
20 Of what use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.
Jeremiah 7
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. 22 For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. NRSV
Hosea 6:6
4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early. 5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have killed them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. NRSV
See the insert below from ChatGPT with Jesus’ quote of this scripture in Matthew.
1 Samuel 15:22
ESV – And Samuel said, “Has 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 listen than the fat of rams.
Isaiah 1:10-12
ASV – Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. What unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith Jehovah: I have had enough of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts?
Psalm 51:16-17
ESV – For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psalm 40:6
NSRV – 6 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
ESV – In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
Proverbs 21:1-23:35
ESV – The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin. The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. …
Mark 12:33
ESV – And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
How/Why
The italicized text below is from Richard Friedman’s book Who Wrote the Bible?
In addition to the Temple, there had been various local places where people could go to sacrifice to God. These places of worship in the local communities were called “high places.” Hezekiah eliminated them. He promoted the centralization of the religion at the Temple in Jerusalem. In order to understand why this made such a big difference, one must know something about sacrifice in the biblical world. The function of sacrifice is one of the most misunderstood matters in the Bible. Modern readers often take it to mean the unnecessary taking of animal life, or they believe that the person who offered the sacrifice was giving up something of his or her own in order to compensate for some sin or perhaps to win God’s favor. In the biblical world, however, the most common type of sacrifice was for meals. The apparent rationale was that if humans wanted to eat meat they had to recognize that they were taking life. They could not regard this as an ordinary act of daily secular life. It was a sacred act, to be performed in a prescribed manner, by an appointed person (a priest), at an altar. A portion of the sacrifice (a tithe) was given to the priest. This applied to all meat meals (but not fish or fowl). Pg. 91.
The centralization of religion meant that if you wanted to eat lamb you could not sacrifice your sheep at home or at a local sanctuary. You had to bring the sheep to the priest at the Temple altar in Jerusalem. This also would mean a sizable gathering of Levite priests at Jerusalem, which was now the only sanctioned location where they could conduct the sacrifices and receive their tithes. It also meant considerable distinction and power for the High Priest in Jerusalem and for the priestly family from which he came. This idea of centralizing religion around one temple and one altar was an important step in the development of Judah’s religion, and over two thousand years later it became an important clue in unraveling who wrote the Bible. Pg. 92.
Deuteronomy 12–26. Its first law is the law of centralization of worship. It tells the worshiper that if he wants to eat meat he is not free simply to slaughter his sheep or cow himself. Rather, he must take the animal to the one approved place of worship, the “place where Yahweh sets his name,” and there a consecrated priest will perform the slaughter at the altar. The only exception to this rule, according to Deuteronomy, is when someone lives too far from the official place to bring the animal there. Then he may slaughter the animal at home as long as he spills the blood onto the ground. [Deut 12:20] Pg. 117.
Deuteronomy 12:20-27, ASV
20 When Jehovah thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul desireth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, after all the desire of thy soul. 21 If the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose, to put his name there, be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which Jehovah hath given thee, as I have commanded thee; and thou mayest eat within thy gates, after all the desire of thy soul. 22 Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat thereof: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof alike. 23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh. 24 Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water. 25 Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah. 26 Only thy holy things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou shalt take, and go unto the place which Jehovah shall choose; 27 and thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of Jehovah thy God; and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of Jehovah thy God; and thou shalt eat the flesh.
From ChatGPT
Here is a side-by-side comparison of Hosea 6:6 in the original Hebrew, the Septuagint Greek, and English translations, including how Jesus quotes it in Matthew. This gives a full picture of the language and meaning across the traditions.
Hosea 6:6
| Language | Text |
|---|---|
| Hebrew (MT) | כִּי חֶסֶד חָפַצְתִּי וְלֹא זָבַח, וְדַעַת אֱלֹהִים מֵעֹלוֹת |
| Ki ḥé·sed ḥā·faṣ·tî wə·lō zā·vaḥ, wə·da·‘at ’ĕ·lō·hîm mē·‘ō·lōṯ | |
| Greek (LXX) | Ὅτι ἔλεος θέλω καὶ οὐ θυσίαν, καὶ ἐπίγνωσιν θεοῦ ἢ ὁλοκαυτώματα |
| Hoti éleos thélō kai ou thusían, kai epígnōsin theoû ē holokautṓmata | |
| ASV (Old Testament) | “For I desire goodness and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.” |
| NRSV (OT & NT) | “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” |
Matthew 9:13 (Jesus quoting Hosea 6:6)
| Language | Text |
|---|---|
| Greek (NT) | πορευθέντες δὲ μάθετε τί ἐστιν, Ἔλεος θέλω καὶ οὐ θυσίαν· |
| Poreuthéntes de máthete tí estin, Éleos thélō kai ou thusían | |
| NRSV (Matthew 9:13) | “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” |
Matthew 12:7 (Jesus quoting Hosea 6:6 again)
| Greek (NT) | Εἰ δὲ ἐγνώκειτε τί ἐστιν, Ἔλεος θέλω καὶ οὐ θυσίαν, οὐκ ἂν κατεδικάσατε τοὺς ἀναιτίους. | | | Ei de egnṓkeite tí estin, Éleos thélō kai ou thusían, ouk an katedikásate tous anaitíous | | NRSV (Matthew 12:7) | “If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.” |
Key Word Comparison
| Hebrew | Greek (LXX/NT) | Common English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| חֶסֶד (ḥé·sed) | ἔλεος (éleos) | Steadfast love / Mercy | ḥé·sed is rich: mercy, loyalty, lovingkindness |
| זָבַח (zā·vaḥ) | θυσία (thusía) | Sacrifice | General word for ritual sacrifice |
| דַּעַת (‘da‘at) | ἐπίγνωσις (epígnōsis) | Knowledge (of God) | Suggests relational, experiential knowledge |
| עֹלוֹת (‘ō·lōṯ) | ὁλοκαυτώματα (holokautṓmata) | Burnt offerings | Whole burnt offerings—complete sacrificial act |
