So likewise you, whenever you do all the things having been commanded to you, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what we ought to do.'"

And Balaam went to inquire of God; and he went straight forward, and God appeared to Balaam. And Balaam said to Him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered a calf and a ram on [every] altar.

And Samuel came to Saul. And Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord; I have performed all that the Lord said.

And he said to him, Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. And he caused him to sit in his chariot.

When you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away My eyes from you; and though you make many supplications, I will not hearken to you; for your hands are full of blood.

They seek Me day by day, and desire to know My ways, as a people that had done righteousness, and had not forsaken the judgment of their God; they now ask of Me righteous judgment, and desire to draw near to God,

saying, Why have we fasted, and You did not see? [Why] have we afflicted our souls, and You did not know it? Nay, in the days of your fasts you find your pleasures, and all them that are under your power you wound.

Speak to the whole people of the land, and to the priests, saying, Though you fasted or lamented in the fifth or seventh [months] (yea, behold, these seventy years) have you at all fasted to Me?

And if you eat or drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?

"Take care not to be doing your charitable giving before men, so as to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have not a reward from your Father in heaven.

"And whenever you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and on the streetcorners, so that they may be seen by men. Assuredly I say to you, that they receive their reward in full.

"Moreover, when you fast, do not become gloomy, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men [to be] fasting. Assuredly I say to you, that they receive their reward in full.

Then the disciples of John approached Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"

Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying,

And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. Through what law? Of works? No, but through the law of faith.

Brothers, the good pleasure of my heart and my supplication to God on behalf of Israel, is for [their] salvation.

For they, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

so that no flesh may boast before God.

And I was advancing in Judaism above many my own age, being far more zealous for the traditions of my forefathers.

not of works, lest anyone should boast.

For bodily exercise is profitable a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the present life and of the coming life.

But woe to you Pharisees! Because you pay a tithe of mint and rue and every vegetable, and you pass over justice and the love of God. These things you ought to have done, without leaving the others [undone].

Every tithe of the land, both of the seed of the land, and of the fruit of trees, is the Lord's, holy to the Lord.

And every tithe of oxen, and of sheep, and whatsoever may come in numbering under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to the Lord.

Because I have given as a distinct portion to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the children of Israel, whatsoever they shall offer to the Lord; therefore I said to them, In the midst of the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

Will a man insult God? For you insult Me. But you say, How have we insulted You? In that the tithes and firstfruits are with you [still].

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the more important [things] of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These things you should have done, and not have neglected the others.

Blind guides, you who strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel!