Psalm 40:7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
7 [a]Sacrifice and offering you do not want;(A)
you opened my ears.
Holocaust and sin-offering you do not request;
Footnotes
- 40:7–9 Obedience is better than sacrifice (cf. 1 Sm 15:22; Is 1:10–20; Hos 6:6; Am 5:22–25; Mi 6:6–8; Acts 7:42–43 [quoting Am 5:25–26]). Hb 10:5–9 quotes the somewhat different Greek version and interprets it as Christ’s self-oblation.
Psalm 50:8
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
your burnt offerings are always before me.
Amos 5:21-22
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
21 [a](A)I hate, I despise your feasts,
I take no pleasure in your solemnities.
22 Even though you bring me your burnt offerings and grain offerings
I will not accept them;
Your stall-fed communion offerings,
I will not look upon them.
Footnotes
- 5:21–27 The prophet does not condemn cultic activity as such but rather the people’s attempt to offer worship with hands unclean from oppression of their fellow Israelites (cf. Ps 15:2–5; 24:3–4). But worship from those who disregard justice and righteousness (v. 24) is never acceptable to the God of Israel. Through the Sinai covenant the love of God and the love of neighbor are inextricably bound together.
Hosea 6:6
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
6 For it is loyalty that I desire, not sacrifice,
and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.(A)
Isaiah 1:11-15
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
11 What do I care for the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord.
I have had enough of whole-burnt rams
and fat of fatlings;
In the blood of calves, lambs, and goats
I find no pleasure.(A)
12 When you come to appear before me,
who asks these things of you?
13 Trample my courts no more!
To bring offerings is useless;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath, calling assemblies—
festive convocations with wickedness—
these I cannot bear.(B)
14 Your new moons and festivals I detest;(C)
they weigh me down, I tire of the load.
15 When you spread out your hands,
I will close my eyes to you;
Though you pray the more,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood![a](D)
Hebrews 10:5-7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
5 For this reason, when he came into the world, he said:[a]
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,(A)
but a body you prepared for me;
6 holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in.
7 Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,
Behold, I come to do your will, O God.’”
Footnotes
- 10:5–7 A passage from Ps 40:7–9 is placed in the mouth of the Son at his incarnation. As usual, the author follows the Septuagint text. There is a notable difference in Hb 10:5 (Ps 40:6), where the Masoretic text reads “ears you have dug for me” (“ears open to obedience you gave me,” NAB), but most Septuagint manuscripts have “a body you prepared for me,” a reading obviously more suited to the interpretation of Hebrews.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.