Proverbs 21 · Verse 3

Proverbs 21:3

To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Proverbs 21:3, King James Version

Proverbs 21:3 in other translations

BSBTo do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice.
WEBTo do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
ASVTo do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice.
YLTTo do righteousness and judgment, Is chosen of Jehovah rather than sacrifice.
DARBYTo exercise justice and judgment is more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice.
BBETo do what is right and true is more pleasing to the Lord than an offering.
WebsterTo do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

What does Proverbs 21:3 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
3. (Compare Psa 50:7-15; Is 1:11, 17).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 3 To do justice and judgment - The words of Samuel to Saul. See note on 1Sam 15:23.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
Many deceive themselves with a conceit that outward devotions will excuse unrighteousness.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Proverbs 21:3 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

עֲ֭שֹׂה'A.sohto doH6213
צְדָקָ֣הtze.da.KahrighteousnessH6666
וּמִשְׁפָּ֑טu.mish.Patand justiceH4941
נִבְחָ֖רniv.Char[is] chosenH977
לַיהוָ֣הla.Yah.wehby YahwehH3068
מִזָּֽבַח\׃mi.Za.vachmore than sacrificeH2077

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Proverbs 21:3

  • 1 Samuel 15:22

    And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

  • Hosea 6:6

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

  • Proverbs 15:8

    The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

  • Micah 6:6-8

    Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

  • Mark 12:33

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

  • Jeremiah 7:21-23

    Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

  • Isaiah 1:11-17

    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. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. …

  • Psalms 50:8

    I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
15:8; 1Sa 15:22; Ps 50:8; Isa 1:11-17; Jer 7:21-23; Ho 6:6
Mic 6:6-8; Mr 12:33

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Proverbs 21:2

    Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.

  • Proverbs 21:3

    To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

  • Proverbs 21:4

    An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.

Read all of Proverbs 21

Proverbs 21:3 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Hacer justicia y juicio es á Jehová más agradable que sacrificio.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Pratiquer ce qui est juste et droit, est une chose plus agréable à l’ Éternel qu’un sacrifice.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Gerechtigkeit und Recht üben ist Jehova angenehmer als Opfer.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Facere misericordiam et judicium magis placet Domino quam victimæ.