Bible Strands
Isaiah 1:11
“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses Israel's rulers and people (compared to Sodom and Gomorrah in v. 10), rejecting their ritual activity as something he neither needs nor desires.
The words — שָׂבַעְתִּי (sa'avatti, H7646) is the verb that carries the verse: "I have been surfeited," from a root meaning to be sated to the brim. It reframes the relationship—God is not a creditor awaiting payment but a party who has had too much.
The thread — The same logic recurs in 1 Samuel 15:22 (obedience outweighs sacrifice), Amos 5:21 (God hates the feasts), and Jeremiah 6:20 (foreign incense is useless to Him).
Why it lands — It removes the premise that God is a beneficiary of human religious labor, forcing the reader to ask what their own worship actually accomplishes if the recipient has no need.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full 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.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 15:22 But 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.
- Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.
- Jeremiah 6:20 What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.”
- Isaiah 66:3 Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who slays a man; whoever sacrifices a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever presents a grain offering is like one who offers pig’s blood; whoever offers frankincense is like one who blesses an idol. Indeed, they have chosen their own ways and delighted in their abominations.
- Micah 6:7 Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
- Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
- Malachi 1:10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! I take no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.
- Matthew 9:13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
- Psalms 50:8 I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are ever before Me.
- Proverbs 21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable—how much more so when brought with ill intent!