“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
    as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,^(A)
    and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

⁹ I have no need of a bull^(A) from your stall
    or of goats^(B) from your pens,^(C)
10 for every animal of the forest^(D) is mine,
    and the cattle on a thousand hills.^(E)
11 I know every bird^(F) in the mountains,
    and the insects in the fields^(G) are mine.
¹² If I were hungry I would not tell you,
    for the world^(H) is mine, and all that is in it.^(I)
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
    or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴ “Sacrifice thank offerings^(J) to God,
    fulfill your vows^(K) to the Most High,^(L)
15 and call^(M) on me in the day of trouble;^(N)
    I will deliver^(O) you, and you will honor^(P) me.”

¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice,^(A) or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

¹⁷ My sacrifice,^(A) O God, is^[a] a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart^(B)
    you, God, will not despise.

³⁰ I will praise God’s name in song^(A)
    and glorify him^(B) with thanksgiving.

³¹ This will please the Lord more than an ox,
    more than a bull with its horns and hooves.^(A)