- But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.
- Take with you words
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
“Take away all iniquity;
accept what is good,
and we will pay with bulls
the vows of our lips.” - But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord! - Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord! - Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
- 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.
- And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
- I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
- I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. - To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. - Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.”
- So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
- How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
- Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
- For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
- I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
- But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.
- To you, O God of my fathers,
I give thanks and praise,
for you have given me wisdom and might,
and have now made known to me what we asked of you,
for you have made known to us the king's matter. - You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
- Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.