Psalms 119:139

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying Yahweh’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you wouldn’t have condemned the guiltless.

For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”

To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!”

When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life!”

Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst.

Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says Yahweh.

“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,

Therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily.

He is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’

The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength, because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.

But he said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him;

For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

But about the dead, that they are raised; haven’t you read in the book of Moses, about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?

The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office. Their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.”

for when Jezebel cut off Yahweh’s prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

It isn’t good to have zeal without knowledge, nor being hasty with one’s feet and missing the way.

I will bring these to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

“For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”

Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!

“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.

testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus.

They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated—

Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left as a prophet of Yahweh; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred fifty men.

Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me!”; and all the people came near to him. He repaired Yahweh’s altar that had been thrown down.

He said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for Yahweh.” So they made him ride in his chariot.

Now for a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law.

I am small and despised. I don’t forget your precepts.

Consider my affliction, and deliver me, for I don’t forget your law.

I look at the faithless with loathing, because they don’t observe your word.

I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I don’t forget your commandments.

The lips of the righteous feed many, but the foolish die for lack of understanding.

The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know. My people don’t consider.”

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.

For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire on his cities, and it will devour its fortresses.”

At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.

and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

“Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

God exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.

even as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense; and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.”

For even Christ didn’t please himself. But, as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

On the next day, Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.”

When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow, that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected Yahweh’s word, and Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

“Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, cast your law behind their back, killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies.

For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle.

The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that do not profit.

Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the Yahweh’s way, nor the law of their God.

The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but Yahweh hid them.

They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

Hear Yahweh’s word, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God’s law, I will also forget your children.

According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me.

You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones;

From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

Jesus, answering them, said, “Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry, he, and those who were with him;

He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”

saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”

and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will eat me up.”

Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers.

but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong.

Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,

He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”

You shall say before Yahweh your God, “I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them.

He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on God?

But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

he shall not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition.

He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!”

and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Did you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing babies you have perfected praise?’ ”

Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes?’

But Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.

For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn’t know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

For behold, this same thing, that you were grieved in a godly way, what earnest care it worked in you. Yes, what defense, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and vengeance! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be pure in the matter.

But it is always good to be zealous in a good cause, and not only when I am present with you.

(for that righteous man dwelling among them was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds):