Bible Strands
Isaiah 43:23
You have not brought Me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Jacob and Israel, responding to their spiritual fatigue and failure to call upon Him. The speaker identifies Himself as Yahweh, confronting a people who have neglected both relational devotion and ritual duty.
The words — The Hebrew לֹא (lo') negates the verbs הֵבֵאתָ (hebeitâ, "you have brought") and כִבַּדְתָּ (kibbadta, "you have honored"), emphasizing the complete absence of expected ritual acts. These terms frame worship not as a divine burden but as a missed opportunity for the people.
The thread — The accusation of neglected ritual appears in Amos 5:25, which questions wilderness sacrifices, and Zechariah 7:5, which recalls fasting and mourning. Leviticus 2:1 outlines the baseline grain offering requirements that Israel failed to consistently present.
Why it lands — The text demands honest acknowledgment that ritual observance cannot replace genuine devotion or excuse moral failure. It requires the reader to examine whether their religious practices reflect actual reverence or merely habitual performance.
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
Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
Cross-references
- Amos 5:25 Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
- Zechariah 7:5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?
- Leviticus 2:1 “When anyone brings a grain offering to the LORD, his offering must consist of fine flour. He is to pour olive oil on it, put frankincense on it,
- Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
- Proverbs 21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable—how much more so when brought with ill intent!
- 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.
- Jeremiah 7:22 For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices,
- Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.
- Malachi 1:6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the LORD of Hosts to you priests who despise My name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’
- Malachi 1:13 You also say: ‘Oh, what a nuisance!’ And you turn up your nose at it,” says the LORD of Hosts. “You bring offerings that are stolen, lame, or sick! Should I accept these from your hands?” asks the LORD.