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Isaiah 1:11-15
“ What are all your sacrifices to me?” asks the LORD.“ I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I have no desire for the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats.When you come to appear before me, who requires this from you— this trampling of my courts?Stop bringing useless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons and Sabbaths, and the calling of solemn assemblies— I cannot stand iniquity with a festival.I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals. They have become a burden to me; I am tired of putting up with them.When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
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Micah 3:2-4
You hate good and love evil. You tear off people’s skin and strip their flesh from their bones.You eat the flesh of my people after you strip their skin from them and break their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.”Then they will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer them. He will hide his face from them at that time because of the crimes they have committed.
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Isaiah 58:2-6
They seek me day after day and delight to know my ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not abandon the justice of their God. They ask me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”“ Why have we fasted, but you have not seen? We have denied ourselves, but you haven’t noticed!”“ Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast, and oppress all your workers.You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today, hoping to make your voice heard on high.Will the fast I choose be like this: A day for a person to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?Isn’t this the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke?
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Matthew 23:13
“ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you don’t go in, and you don’t allow those entering to go in.
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Jeremiah 7:4-11
Do not trust deceitful words, chanting,“ This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.”Instead, if you really correct your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves,I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors long ago and forever.But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.“‘ Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?Then do you come and stand before me in this house that bears my name and say,“ We are rescued, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts”?Has this house, which bears my name, become a den of robbers in your view? Yes, I too have seen it. This is the LORD’s declaration.
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Matthew 23:5
They do everything to be seen by others: They enlarge their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
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Isaiah 64:5
You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right; they remember you in your ways. But we have sinned, and you were angry. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?
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Isaiah 29:15
Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the LORD. They do their works in the dark, and say,“ Who sees us? Who knows us?”
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Isaiah 59:6-8
Their webs cannot become clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their works are sinful works, and violent acts are in their hands.Their feet run after evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and wretchedness are in their paths.They have not known the path of peace, and there is no justice in their ways. They have made their roads crooked; no one who walks on them will know peace.
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Romans 3:10-20
as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers’ venom is under their lips.Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.Their feet are swift to shed blood;ruin and wretchedness are in their paths,and the path of peace they have not known.There is no fear of God before their eyes.Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are subject to the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment.For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.
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Isaiah 66:3-4
One person slaughters an ox, another kills a person; one person sacrifices a lamb, another breaks a dog’s neck; one person offers a grain offering, another offers pig’s blood; one person offers incense, another praises an idol— all these have chosen their ways and delight in their abhorrent practices.So I will choose their punishment, and I will bring on them what they dread because I called and no one answered; I spoke and they did not listen; they did what was evil in my sight and chose what I did not delight in.
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Romans 10:2-3
I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.Since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.
