Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.
This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor. Don’t exploit or brutalise the resident foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.
Then Samuel said: Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.
My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will look favourably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.
‘But woe to you Pharisees! You give a tenth , of mint, rue, and every kind of herb, and you bypass justice and love for God. , These things you should have done without neglecting the others.
For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfil to Abraham what he promised him.’
For the High and Exalted One, who lives for ever, whose name is holy, says this: ‘I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the oppressed.
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who carry out what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be concealed on the day of the Lord’s anger.
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of the heavens, because all his works are true and his ways are just. He is able to humble those who walk in pride.
You came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke to them from heaven. You gave them impartial ordinances, reliable instructions, and good statutes and commands.
because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before me, and you tore your clothes and wept before me, I myself have heard” #– #this is the Lord’s declaration.
Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart #– #he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem #– #so the Lord’s wrath didn’t come on them during Hezekiah’s lifetime.
so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth again because of your disgrace. This is the declaration of the Lord God.” ’
and I acted with hostility towards them and brought them into the land of their enemies #– #and when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they make amends for their iniquity,
His prayer and how God was receptive to his prayer, and all his sin and unfaithfulness and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself, they are written in the Events of Hozai.
‘Therefore, fear the Lord and worship him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshipped beyond the River Euphrates and in Egypt, and worship the Lord.
‘ “This is what the Lord says: The wise person should not boast in his wisdom; the strong should not boast in his strength; the wealthy should not boast in his wealth.