So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.

And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.

And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of Jehovah! I have carried out the Word of Jehovah.

Then he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah. So they made him ride in his chariot.

And when you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you. Even though you multiply prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in drawing near to God.

They say, Why have we fasted, and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice? Behold, in the day of your fast you devise pleasures, and oppress all your laborers.

Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months, even those seventy years, did you truly fast to Me, even to Me?

And when you ate, and when you drank, did you not eat and drink for yourselves?

Take heed that you do not do your deeds of mercy before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in Heaven.

And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

Then the disciples of John came to 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 revere Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

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

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is for them to be saved.

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

that no flesh should boast in His presence.

And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

not of works, that no one should boast.

For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all kinds of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting those.

And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is Jehovah's. It is holy unto Jehovah.

And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy unto Jehovah.

For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering unto Jehovah, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, They shall have no inheritance among the children of Israel.

Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me. But you say, How have we robbed You? In the tithe and the offering.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. It is necessary to do these, and not to leave the others undone.

Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!