Hosea 6:6 (WEB)
For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Catechism · 3
The First Commandment
“Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice."” — Catechism footnote: Mt 9:13; 12:7; Cf. Hos 6:6.
"Our Father Who Art in Heaven"
“This new relationship is the purely gratuitous gift of belonging to each other: we are to respond to "grace and truth" given us in Jesus Christ with love and faithfulness.” — Catechism footnote: Jn 1:17; Cf. Hos 2:21-22; 6:1-6.
Jesus and Israel
“Jesus gave scandal above all when he identified his merciful conduct toward sinners with God's own attitude toward them.” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Mt 9:13; Hos 6:6.
Fathers and councils · 26
Irenaeus of Lyons
“As God, when teaching them His will in Hosea the prophet, said, “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.”” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6.
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Ambrose of Milan
“In order, then, that we may recognize that the God of mercy is rather prone to indulgence than to severity, it is said: “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice.”” — editor's note: Hosea vi. 6.
Read the whole comment“I pardon willingly, I quickly forgive, “I will have mercy rather than sacrifice,” because by sacrifice the just is rendered more acceptable, by mercy the sinner is redeemed.” — editor's note: Hosea vi. 6.
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Augustine of Hippo
“Come with gifts to Him that saith, “I will have mercy rather than sacrifice.”” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6; Matt. ix. 13.
Read the whole comment“For those things are sacrifices, God saying, “I will have mercy more than sacrifice.”” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6; Matt. ix. 13.
Read the whole comment“…is a sacrifice to God,” but also the saying, “Like as water quencheth fire, so alms sin;” and again, “I will have mercy,” saith He, “rather than sacrifice.”” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6
Read the whole comment“And with that counsel misery is avoided, by the assistance of Him who says, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.”” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6.
Read the whole comment“And so, when it is written, “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice,” nothing else is meant than that one sacrifice is preferred to another; for that which in common speech is called sacrifice is only the symbol of the true sacrifice.” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6.
Read the whole comment“…“over sacrifices” either refers to works of mercy, which are preferable to sacrifices in the judgment of God, who says, “I desire mercy more than sacrifices,” or if “over sacrifices” means in sacrifices, then these very works of mercy are the sacrifices with which God is pleased, as I remember to have stated in the…” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6.
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Athanasius of Alexandria
“Let a man ‘learn what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice,’ and I will not condemn the adversaries.” — editor's note: Ps. l. 23; Hosea vi. 6; Matt. ix. 13
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John Chrysostom
“But instead of these “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.” ( Hosea vi. 6.)” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment““I will have mercy,” He saith, “and not sacrifice.” ( Matt. xii. 7; Hos. vi. 6.)” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment“…the stress on their sacrifices; which thing He is also earnestly intimating unto them, when He sets down in brief what had been affirmed by all the prophets,saying, “Learn ye what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”” — editor's note: See Hosea vi. 6; Ps. l. 8–15; Prov. xxi. 3; Isa. i. 11–15; Micah vi. 6, 7, 8.
Read the whole comment“Before indeed He inferred the same from what is said of the priests, in the words, “they are guiltless;” but here He states it on His own authority; or rather, this too is out of the law, for He was quoting a prophetic saying.” — editor's note: Hosea vi. 6.
Read the whole comment““For I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”” — editor's note: Hosea vi. 6; Matt. ix. 18.
Read the whole comment“For indeed the prophets are everywhere saying this, “I will have mercy and not sacrifice,”and the lawgiver by all means urged them to this, both by words, and by works; and nature herself taught it.” — editor's note: Hosea vi. 6.
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Tertullian
““But,” say they, “God is ‘good,’ and ‘most good,’ and ‘pitiful-hearted,’ and ‘a pitier,’ and ‘abundant in pitiful-heartedness,’ which He holds ‘dearer than all sacrifice,’ ‘not thinking the sinner’s death of so much worth as his repentance’, ‘a Saviour of all men, most of all of believers.’” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6; Mic. vi. 8; Matt. ix. 13; xii. 7.
Read the whole comment“He it is, indeed, who “would have mercy rather than sacrifices.”” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6; Matt. ix. 13. The words in Hosea in the LXX. are, διότι ἕλεος θέλω ἤ θυσίαν (al. καὶ οὐ θυσίαν).
Read the whole comment“…master in its severity; a father who must be loved with dutiful affection, a master who must needs be feared; be loved, because He prefers mercy to sacrifice; be feared because He dislikes sin; be loved, because He prefers the sinner’s repentance to his death; be feared, because He dislikes the sinners who do not…” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6.
Read the whole comment“…tend to the condemnation of Marcion; that patience, (I mean,) which waits for the sinner’s repentance rather than his death, which prefers mercy to sacrifice, averting from the Ninevites the ruin which had been already denounced against them, and vouchsafing to Hezekiah’s tears an extension of his life, and restoring…” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6.
Read the whole comment“I recognise here that ancient doctrine of Him who “prefers mercy to sacrifice.”” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6.
Read the whole comment“…solid body, and that her repentance as a sinner deserved forgiveness according to the mind of the Creator, who is accustomed to prefer mercy to sacrifice.” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6.
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Gregory of Nazianzus
“But more terrible still are those which the treasures of God’s wrath contain, of which God forbid that you should make trial; nor will you, if you fly for refuge to the mercies of God, and win over by your tears Him Who will have mercy, and avert by your conversion what remains of His wrath.” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6.
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Clement of Alexandria
“For it is said, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6; Matt. ix. 13, xii. 7.
Read the whole comment“Wherefore also He cries, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6; Matt. ix. 13.
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Cyprian of Carthage
“Of this same thing in Hosea: “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than whole burnt-offerings.”” — editor's note: Hos. vi. 6.
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Cross-references · 42
Cited together in The Five Books Against Marcion II.17.
Cited together in The City of God X.4.
Cited together in The City of God X.4.
Cited together in The City of God X.4.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.12.
Cited together in On the Catechising of the Uninstructed Chapter 14.
Cited together in On the Catechising of the Uninstructed Chapter 14.
Cited together in On the Catechising of the Uninstructed Chapter 14.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.12.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.12.
Cited together in Catechism §2787 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.12.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.3.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.3.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.3.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.3.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.3.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.12.
Cited together in The City of God X.4.
Cited together in The Five Books Against Marcion II.17.
Cited together in The Five Books Against Marcion II.17.
Cited together in The Five Books Against Marcion II.17.
Cited together in The City of God X.4.
Cited together in The City of God X.4.
Cited together in The City of God X.4.
Cited together in The City of God X.4.
Cited together in The City of God X.4.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.3.
Cited together in The City of God X.4.
Cited together in The City of God X.4 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.12.
Cited together in On the Catechising of the Uninstructed Chapter 14.
Cited together in On the Sermon on the Mount I.23.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.3.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.3.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.12.
Cited together in The Five Books Against Marcion II.13.
Cited together in The Five Books Against Marcion II.17.
Cited together in Catechism §2787.
Cited together in Catechism §2787.
Cross-reference given by the World English Bible's translators.
Cross-reference given by the World English Bible's translators.