Isaiah 66:3

The Message

“Your acts of worship are acts of sin: Your sacrificial slaughter of the ox is no different from murdering the neighbor; Your offerings for worship, no different from dumping pig’s blood on the altar; Your presentation of memorial gifts, no different from honoring a no-god idol. You choose self-serving worship, you delight in self-centered worship—disgusting! Well, I choose to expose your nonsense and let you realize your worst fears, Because when I invited you, you ignored me; when I spoke to you, you brushed me off. You did the very things I exposed as evil, you chose what I hate.”

Cross References

Proverbs 15:8

God can’t stand pious poses, but he delights in genuine prayers.

Proverbs 21:27

Religious performance by the wicked stinks; it’s even worse when they use it to get ahead.

Isaiah 66:17

“All who enter the sacred groves for initiation in those unholy rituals that climaxed in that foul and obscene meal of pigs and mice will eat together and then die together.” God’s Decree.

Haggai 2:14

Then Haggai said, “‘So, this people is contaminated. Their nation is contaminated. Everything they do is contaminated. Whatever they do for me is contaminated.’ God says so.

Judges 21:25

At that time there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing.