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64 Bible Verses about Bad Offering
When you choose to live without God, it's easy to lose that awareness of Him and start making choices that aren't aligned with His ways. Maybe you haven't truly encountered Him yet. Our hearts can be so deceitful, always looking for ways to satisfy our own twisted desires, driven by that inner restlessness.
The only way to live a righteous life is to keep God's word close to your heart and follow His will. That's how genuine goodness grows from deep within.
God isn't pleased when offerings are misused. They should be used to grow His work and spread the Gospel to everyone, fulfilling the command He gave us. Prayer is key to making sure your offerings are used the right way and that you're following God's leading.
And you say: 'Whoever will have sworn by the altar, it is nothing. But whoever will have sworn by the gift that is on the altar is obligated.'
How blind you are! For which is greater: the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
Do not be willing to walk by the ordinances of the nations, which I will expel before you. For they have done all these things, and so I abominate them.
But I say to you: Possess their land, which I will give to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the other peoples.
Therefore, you must also separate the clean animals from the unclean, and the clean birds from the unclean. Do not pollute your souls with cattle, or birds, or anything that moves upon the earth, and which I have shown you to be unclean.
"You shall not immolate to the Lord your God a sheep or an ox, in which there is a blemish or any defect at all; for this is an abomination to the Lord your God.
each one giving, just as he has determined in his heart, neither out of sadness, nor out of obligation. For God loves a cheerful giver.
If a man will afflict God, then you greatly afflict me. And you have said, "In what way, do we afflict you?" In tithes and in first-fruits.
Therefore, if you offer your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your gift there, before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to your brother, and then you may approach and offer your gift.
For all these, out of their abundance, have added to the gifts for God. But she, out of what she needed, has put in all that she had to live on."
Abel likewise offered from the firstborn of his flock, and from their fat. And the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his gifts.
Yet in truth, he did not look with favor on Cain and his gifts. And Cain was vehemently angry, and his countenance fell.
The son honors the father, and the servant his master. If, therefore, I am Father, where is my honor? And if I am Master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. And you have said, "In what way, have we despised your name?"
You offer polluted bread upon my altar, and you say, "In what way, have we polluted you?" In that you say, "The table of the Lord has been despised."
If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is this not evil? And if you offer the lame and the sick, is this not evil? Offer it to your leader, if he will be pleased with it, or if he will accept your face, says the Lord of hosts.
in order to be offered through you, shall offer an immaculate male from the oxen, or from the sheep, or from the goats.
Speak to Aaron and to his sons, so that they may be careful of those things which have been consecrated for the sons of Israel, and so that they may not contaminate the name of the things sanctified to me, which they offer. I am the Lord.
If it has a blemish, you shall not offer it, and it shall not be acceptable.
Then it happened, after many days, that Cain offered gifts to the Lord, from the fruits of the earth.
Abel likewise offered from the firstborn of his flock, and from their fat. And the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his gifts.
Yet in truth, he did not look with favor on Cain and his gifts. And Cain was vehemently angry, and his countenance fell.
But if it has a blemish, or is lame, or is blind, or if it is in any part deformed or debilitated, it shall not be immolated to the Lord your God.
If it has a blemish, you shall not offer it, and it shall not be acceptable.
The man who will have offered a victim of peace offerings to the Lord, either fulfilling his vows or offering spontaneously, whether of oxen, or of sheep, shall offer what is immaculate, so that it may be acceptable. There shall be no blemish in it.
If it is blind, or if it is broken, or if it has a scar, or if it is has a boil, or a skin disease or infection, you shall not offer these to the Lord, nor shall you burn any of these upon the altar of the Lord.
If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is this not evil? And if you offer the lame and the sick, is this not evil? Offer it to your leader, if he will be pleased with it, or if he will accept your face, says the Lord of hosts.
You offer polluted bread upon my altar, and you say, "In what way, have we polluted you?" In that you say, "The table of the Lord has been despised."
And you have said, "Behold our labor," and you have exhaled it away, says the Lord of hosts. And you brought in by plunder the lame, and the sick, and brought it in as a gift. How can I receive this from your hand, says the Lord?
Cursed is the deceitful, who holds in his flock a male, and, when making a vow, offers in sacrifice that which is feeble to the Lord. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the Gentiles.
And Samuel said: "Does the Lord want holocausts and victims, and not instead that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifice. And to heed is greater than to offer the fat of rams.
The sacrifices of the impious are abominable, because they are offered out of wickedness.
And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a one year old male. According to this rite, you shall also take a young goat.
The multitude of your sacrifices, what is that to me, says the Lord? I am full. I do not desire holocausts of rams, nor the fat of fatlings, nor the blood of calves and of lambs and of he-goats.
When you approach before my sight, who is it that requires these things from your hands, so that you would walk in my courts?
You should no longer offer sacrifice vain. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons and the Sabbaths and the other feast days, I will not receive. Your gatherings are iniquitous.
And looking around, he saw the wealthy putting their donations into the offertory.
Then he said to them: "People will rise up against people, and kingdom against kingdom.
And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from heaven; and there will be great signs.
But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, handing you over to synagogues and into custody, dragging you before kings and governors, because of my name.
And this will be an opportunity for you to give testimony.
Therefore, set this in your hearts: that you should not consider in advance how you might respond.
For I will give to you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to resist or contradict.
And you will be handed over by your parents, and brothers, and relatives, and friends. And they will bring about the death of some of you.
And you will be hated by all because of my name.
And yet, not a hair of your head will perish.
By your patience, you shall possess your souls.
Then he also saw a certain widow, a pauper, putting in two small brass coins.
Then, when you will have seen Jerusalem encircled by an army, know then that its desolation has drawn near.
Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and those who are in its midst withdraw, and those who are in the countryside not enter into it.
For these are the days of retribution, so that all things may be fulfilled, which have been written.
Then woe to those who are pregnant or nursing in those days. For there will be great distress upon the land and great wrath upon this people.
And they will fall by the edge of the sword. And they will be led away as captives into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles, until the times of the nations are fulfilled.
And there will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars. And there will be, on earth, distress among the Gentiles, out of confusion at the roaring of the sea and of the waves:
men withering away out of fear and out of apprehension over the things that will overwhelm the whole world. For the powers of the heavens will be moved.
And then they will see the Son of man coming on a cloud, with great power and majesty.
But when these things begin to happen, lift up your heads and look around you, because your redemption draws near."
And he told them a comparison: "Take notice of the fig tree and of all the trees.
And he said: "Truly, I say to you, that this poor widow has put in more than all the others.
When presently they produce fruit from themselves, you know that summer is near.
So you also, when you will have seen these things happen, know that the kingdom of God is near.
Amen I say to you, this lineage shall not pass away, until all these things happen.
Heaven and earth shall pass away. But my words shall not pass away.
But be attentive to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts may be weighed down by self-indulgence and inebriation and the cares of this life. And then that day may overwhelm you suddenly.
For like a snare it will overwhelm all those who sit upon the face of the entire earth.
And so, be vigilant, praying at all times, so that you may be held worthy to escape from all these things, which are in the future, and to stand before the Son of man."
Now in the daytime, he was teaching in the temple. But truly, departing in the evening, he lodged on the mount that is called Olivet.
And all the people arrived in the morning to listen to him in the temple.
For all these, out of their abundance, have added to the gifts for God. But she, out of what she needed, has put in all that she had to live on."
And the Lord said: Since this people have drawn near to me only with their mouth, and their lips glorify me while their heart is far from me, and their fear of me is based on the commandments and doctrines of men,
For what reason are you bringing me frankincense from Sheba, and sweet smelling reeds from a far away land? Your holocausts are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me."
'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
For in vain do they worship me, teaching the doctrines and commandments of men.' "
But do not be willing to forget good works and fellowship. For God is deserving of such sacrifices.
I hate and have rejected your feasts; and I will not accept the odor from your gatherings.
For if you offer me holocausts and your gifts, I will not receive them; and I will not look upon the vows of your fatness.
Take away from me the tumult of your songs, and I will not listen to the canticles of your lyre.
The sacrifices of the impious are abominable to the Lord. The vows of the just are appeasing.
What worthy thing might I offer to the Lord, as I bend the knee before God on high? How could I offer holocausts to him, and one year-old calves?
Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he-goats? How could I give up my firstborn because of my evil deed, the fruit of my womb because of the sin of my soul?
I will reveal to you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires from you, and how to act with judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk carefully with your God.
"Pay attention, lest you perform your justice before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise you shall not have a reward with your Father, who is in heaven.
May your kingdom come. May your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.
Give us this day our life-sustaining bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation. But free us from evil. Amen.
For if you will forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father also will forgive you your offenses.
But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your sins.
And when you fast, do not choose to become gloomy, like the hypocrites. For they alter their faces, so that their fasting may be apparent to men. Amen I say to you, that they have received their reward.
But as for you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
so that your fasting will not be apparent to men, but to your Father, who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.
Do not choose to store up for yourselves treasures on earth: where rust and moth consume, and where thieves break in and steal.
Therefore, when you give alms, do not choose to sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the towns, so that they may be honored by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.
Instead, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither rust nor moth consumes, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there also is your heart.
The lamp of your body is your eye. If your eye is wholesome, your entire body will be filled with light.
But if your eye has been corrupted, your entire body will be darkened. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great will that darkness be!
No one is able to serve two masters. For either he will have hatred for the one, and love the other, or he will persevere with the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
And so I say to you, do not be anxious about your life, as to what you will eat, nor about your body, as to what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Consider the birds of the air, how they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of much greater value than they are?
And which of you, by thinking, is able to add one cubit to his stature?
And as for clothing, why are you anxious? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither work nor weave.
But I say to you, that not even Solomon, in all his glory, was arrayed like one of these.
But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
So if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and cast into the oven tomorrow, how much more will he care for you, O little in faith?
Therefore, do not choose to be anxious, saying: 'What shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and with what shall we be clothed?'
For the Gentiles seek all these things. Yet your Father knows that you need all these things.
Therefore, seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added to you as well.
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow; for the future day will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its evil."
so that your almsgiving may be in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you collect tithes on mint and dill and cumin, but you have abandoned the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, while not omitting the others.
Separate from among you the first-fruits to the Lord. Let all who are willing and have a ready soul offer these to the Lord: gold, and silver, and brass,
And Jesus, sitting opposite the offertory box, considered the way in which the crowd cast coins into the offertory, and that many of the wealthy cast in a great deal.
But when one poor widow had arrived, she put in two small coins, which is a quarter.
And calling together his disciples, he said to them: "Amen I say to you, that this poor widow has put in more than all those who contributed to the offertory.
For they all gave from their abundance, yet truly, she gave from her scarcity, even all that she had, her entire living."
be also yourselves like living stones, built upon him, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, so as to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
A Psalm of David, before he was sealed. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?
For my father and my mother have left me behind, but the Lord has taken me up.
O Lord, establish a law for me in your way, and direct me in the right path, because of my enemies.
Do not surrender me to the souls of those who trouble me. For unjust witnesses have risen up against me, and iniquity has lied to itself.
I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord, act manfully; and let your heart be strengthened, and remain with the Lord.
Meanwhile, the guilty draw near to me, so as to eat my flesh. Those who trouble me, my enemies, have themselves been weakened and have fallen.
And if I distribute all my goods in order to feed the poor, and if I hand over my body to be burned, yet not have charity, it offers me nothing.
And so, I beg you, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, with the subservience of your mind.
Cursed is the deceitful, who holds in his flock a male, and, when making a vow, offers in sacrifice that which is feeble to the Lord. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the Gentiles.
Do not choose to wander astray. God is not to be ridiculed.
For whatever a man will have sown, that also shall he reap. For whoever sows in his flesh, from the flesh he shall also reap corruption. But whoever sows in the Spirit, from the Spirit he shall reap eternal life.
You ask and you do not receive, because you ask badly, so that you may use it toward your own desires.
For desire is the root of all evils. Some persons, hungering in this way, have strayed from the faith and have entangled themselves in many sorrows.
For the flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And since these are against one another, you may not do whatever you want.
You should not speak anything rashly, nor should your heart be hasty to present a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you are on earth. For this reason, let your words be few.
Where there are many riches, there will also be many to consume these things. And how does it benefit the one who possesses, except that he discerns the wealth with his own eyes?
Sleep is sweet to one who works, whether he consumes little or much. But the satiation of a wealthy man will not permit him to sleep.
There is even another most burdensome infirmity, which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept to the harm of the owner.
For they are lost in a most grievous affliction. He has produced a son, who will be in the utmost destitution.
Just as he went forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall he return, and he shall take nothing with him from his labors.
It is an utterly miserable infirmity that, in the same manner as he has arrived, so shall he return. How then does it benefit him, since he has labored for the wind?
All the days of his life he consumes: in darkness, and with many worries, and in distress as well as sadness.
And so, this has seemed good to me: that a person should eat and drink, and should enjoy the fruits of his labor, in which he has toiled under the sun, for the number of the days of his life that God has given him. For this is his portion.
And this is a gift from God: that every man to whom God has given wealth and resources, and to whom he has granted the ability to consume these, may enjoy his portion, and may find joy in his labors.
And then he will not fully remember the days of his life, because God occupies his heart with delights.
Dreams follow many worries, and in many words foolishness will be found.
And do not let my enemies laugh at me. For all who remain with you will not be confounded.
May all those who act unjustly over nothing be confounded. O Lord, demonstrate your ways to me, and teach me your paths.
he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, in simplicity; he who governs, in solicitude; he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness.
For when the will is prompted, it receives according to what that person has, not according to what that person does not have.
And it is not that others should be relieved, while you are troubled, but that there should be an equality.
In this present time, let your abundance supply their need, so that their abundance may also supply your need, in order that there may be an equality, just as it was written:
"He with more did not have too much; and he with less did not have too little."
But a certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a field,
Immediately, she fell down before his feet and expired. Then the young men entered and found her dead. And they carried her out and buried her next to her husband.
And a great fear came over the entire Church and over all who heard these things.
And through the hands of the Apostles many signs and wonders were accomplished among the people. And they all met with one accord at Solomon's portico.
And among the others, no one dared to join himself to them. But the people magnified them.
Now the multitude of men and women who believed in the Lord was ever increasing,
so much so that they laid the infirm in the streets, placing them on beds and stretchers, so that, as Peter arrived, at least his shadow might fall upon any one of them, and they would be freed from their infirmities.
But a multitude also hurried to Jerusalem from the neighboring cities, carrying the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits, who were all healed.
Then the high priest and all those who were with him, that is, the heretical sect of the Sadducees, rose up and were filled with jealousy.
And they laid hands on the Apostles, and they placed them in the common prison.
But in the night, an Angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison and led them out, saying,
and he was deceitful about the price of the field, with his wife's consent. And bringing only part of it, he placed it at the feet of the Apostles.
"Go and stand in the temple, speaking to the people all these words of life."
And when they had heard this, they entered the temple at first light, and they were teaching. Then the high priest, and those who were with him, approached, and they called together the council and all the elders of the sons of Israel. And they sent to the prison to have them brought.
But when the attendants had arrived, and, upon opening the prison, had not found them, they returned and reported to them,
saying: "We found the prison certainly locked up with all diligence, and the guards standing before the door. But upon opening it, we found no one within."
Then, when the magistrate of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were uncertain about them, as to what should happen.
But someone arrived and reported to them, "Behold, the men whom you placed in prison are in the temple, standing and teaching the people."
Then the magistrate, with the attendants, went and brought them without force. For they were afraid of the people, lest they be stoned.
And when they had brought them, they stood them before the council. And the high priest questioned them,
and said: "We strongly order you not to teach in this name. For behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and you wish to bring the blood of this man upon us."
But Peter and the Apostles responded by saying: "It is necessary to obey God, more so than men.
But Peter said: "Ananias, why has Satan tempted your heart, so that you would lie to the Holy Spirit and be deceitful about the price of the land?
The God of our fathers has raised up Jesus, whom you put to death by hanging him on a tree.
It is he whom God has exalted at his right hand as Ruler and Savior, so as to offer repentance and the remission of sins to Israel.
And we are witnesses of these things, with the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to all who are obedient to him."
When they had heard these things, they were deeply wounded, and they were planning to put them to death.
But someone in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law honored by all the people, rose up and ordered the men to be put outside briefly.
And he said to them: "Men of Israel, you should be careful in your intentions about these men.
For before these days, Theudas stepped forward, asserting himself to be someone, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined with him. But he was killed, and all who believed in him were scattered, and they were reduced to nothing.
After this one, Judas the Galilean stepped forward, in the days of the enrollment, and he turned the people toward himself. But he also perished, and all of them, as many as had joined with him, were dispersed.
And now therefore, I say to you, withdraw from these men and leave them alone. For if this counsel or work is of men, it will be broken.
Yet truly, if it is of God, you will not be able to break it, and perhaps you might be found to have fought against God." And they agreed with him.
Did it not belong to you while you retained it? And having sold it, was it not in your power? Why have you set this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God!"
Not all who say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does the will of my Father, who is in heaven, the same shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
So he said to them: "Be cautious and wary of all avarice. For a person's life is not found in the abundance of the things that he possesses."
By faith, Abel offered to God a much better sacrifice than that of Cain, through which he obtained testimony that he was just, in that God offered testimony to his gifts. And through that sacrifice, he still speaks to us, though he is dead.
On the first day of the week, the Sabbath, let each one of you take from himself, setting aside what will be well-pleasing to him, so that when I arrive, the collections will not have to be made then.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it has been written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things that have been written in the book of the Law, so as to do them."
Jesus said to him: "If you are willing to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and then you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me."
Instruct the wealthy of this age not to have a superior attitude, nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, who offers us everything in abundance to enjoy,
and to do good, to become rich in good works, to donate readily, to share,
to gather for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may obtain true life.