Matthew 9:13
New International Version
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

New Living Translation
Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

English Standard Version
Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Berean Standard Bible
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Berean Literal Bible
But having gone, learn what is, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

King James Bible
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

New King James Version
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

New American Standard Bible
Now go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, RATHER THAN SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

NASB 1995
“But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

NASB 1977
“But go and learn what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Legacy Standard Bible
But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Amplified Bible
Go and learn what this [Scripture] means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION [for those in distress], AND NOT [animal] SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call [to repentance] the [self-proclaimed] righteous [who see no need to change], but sinners [those who recognize their sin and actively seek forgiveness].”

Christian Standard Bible
Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

American Standard Version
But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice: for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“Go learn what this says, 'I require mercy and not a sacrifice', for I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Contemporary English Version
Go and learn what the Scriptures mean when they say, 'Instead of offering sacrifices to me, I want you to be merciful to others.' I didn't come to invite good people to be my followers. I came to invite sinners."

Douay-Rheims Bible
Go then and learn what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the just, but sinners.

English Revised Version
But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice: for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Learn what this means: 'I want mercy, not sacrifices.' I've come to call sinners, not people who think they have God's approval."

Good News Translation
Go and find out what is meant by the scripture that says: 'It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.' I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts."

International Standard Version
Go and learn what this means: 'I want mercy and not sacrifice,' because I did not come to call righteous people, but sinners."

Literal Standard Version
but having gone, learn what [this] is: Kindness I will, and not sacrifice; for I did not come to call righteous men, but sinners.”

Majority Standard Bible
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

New American Bible
Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

NET Bible
Go and learn what this saying means: 'I want mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

New Revised Standard Version
Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

New Heart English Bible
But you go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

Webster's Bible Translation
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Weymouth New Testament
But go and learn what this means, 'It is mercy that I desire, not sacrifice'; for I did not come to appeal to the righteous, but to sinners."

World English Bible
But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Young's Literal Translation
but having gone, learn ye what is, Kindness I will, and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call righteous men, but sinners, to reformation.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Calling of Matthew
12On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” 14At that time John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast so often, but Your disciples do not fast?”…

Cross References
Hosea 6:6
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Matthew 12:7
If only you had known the meaning of 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent.

Mark 2:17
On hearing this, Jesus told them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Mark 12:33
and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Luke 5:31
Jesus answered, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

Luke 5:32
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

1 Timothy 1:15
This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.


Treasury of Scripture

But go you and learn what that means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

go.

Matthew 12:3,5,7
But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; …

Matthew 19:4
And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

Matthew 21:42
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?

I will.

Proverbs 21:3
To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Hosea 6:6
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Micah 6:6-8
Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? …

to call.

Matthew 18:11-13
For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost…

Mark 2:17
When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Luke 5:32
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

but.

Matthew 3:2,8
And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand…

Matthew 4:17
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Matthew 11:20,21
Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: …

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Appeal Compassion Desire Heart Kindness Learn Meaneth Means Mercy Offerings Reformation Repentance Righteous Sacrifice Sense Sinners Words
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Appeal Compassion Desire Heart Kindness Learn Meaneth Means Mercy Offerings Reformation Repentance Righteous Sacrifice Sense Sinners Words
Matthew 9
1. Jesus heals a paralytic
9. calls Matthew from the receipt of custom;
10. eats with tax collectors and sinners;
14. defends his disciples for not fasting;
20. cures the sick woman;
23. raises Jairus' daughter from death;
27. gives sight to two blind men;
32. heals a mute man possessed of a demon;
36. and has compassion on the multitude.














(13) Go ye and learn.--The words of Hosea 6:6--cited once again by our Lord in reference to the Sabbath (Matthew 12:7)--asserted the superiority of ethical to ceremonial law. To have withdrawn from contact with sinners would have been a formal "sacrifice," such as Pharisees delighted to offer, and from which they took their very name; but the claims or "mercy" were higher, and bade Him mingle with them. It was the very purpose of His coming, not to call "righteous men" (again with studied reference to their own estimate of themselves), but "sinners," and to call them, not to continue as they were, but, as St. Luke adds (the words are wanting in the best MSS. here and also in St. Mark), "to repentance." We may, perhaps, infer further, that when the scribes were told to consider what the prophet's words meant, there was also some reference to the context of those words. They would find their own likeness in the words, "Your goodness is as a morning cloud; . . . they . . . have transgressed the covenant; there have they dealt treacherously against me" (Hosea 6:4; Hosea 6:7).

Verse 13. - The first half of the verse comes in Matthew only. But go ye and learn. A common rabbinic phrase based on the fact that the disputants would not always have the cumbrous rolls of Scripture actually with them. These Pharisees pro-reseed to be students of Scripture, but had not yet learned the principle taught in this passage. What that meaneth, I will have (I desire, Revised Version) mercy, and not sacrifice. Mercy (ἔλεος). In the original connexion of this quotation (Hosea 6:6) the words are without doubt (but cf. Dr. Taylor's 'Gospel in the Law,' p. 10) an expression of God's desire that his people should show mercy rather than only perform external sacrifices, and this meaning is probably intended by our Lord here also. The connexion will then be either

(1) "I wish you to show mercy rather than perform external actions, for only thus will you resemble me in my coming to call sinners;" or

(2) "I wish you to show this mercy, and therefore I practise it myself." The former seems the more natural. It is, however, possible that our Lord disregards the original context of the words, and uses them only as a summary of an important truth, that God prefers to show mercy rather than to insist on sacrifice. This would make excellent sense here, viz. "Learn the true principle by which God acts, free grace, for it is on this that I have acted in coming to call sinners." (So nearly Dr. Taylor, op. cit., p. 3.) The sentence is quoted again in Matthew 12:7, where the original thought of the words seems more certainly applicable. For I am not come; for I came not (Revised Version). Christ refers to his historic coming in the Incarnation rather than to his abiding presence (cf. also Matthew 5:17). To call the righteous, but sinners (καλέσαι δικαίους ἀλλ ἁμαρτωλούς). The English generic article in the first term spoils the anarthrous expression of the Greek by lessening the contrast between the two classes. Dr. Taylor suggests the rendering, "not saints, but sinners" (op. cit., p. 4). To repentance. Omitted by the Revised Version and Westcott and Herr. From the parallel passage in Luke.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
But
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

go
πορευθέντες (poreuthentes)
Verb - Aorist Participle Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4198: To travel, journey, go, die.

[and] learn
μάθετε (mathete)
Verb - Aorist Imperative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 3129: Prolongation from a primary verb, another form of which, matheo, is used as an alternate in certain tenses; to learn.

what
τί (ti)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 5101: Who, which, what, why. Probably emphatic of tis; an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what.

this means:
ἐστιν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

‘I desire
θέλω (thelō)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 2309: To will, wish, desire, be willing, intend, design.

mercy,
Ἔλεος (Eleos)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 1656: Pity, mercy, compassion. Of uncertain affinity; compassion.

not
οὐ (ou)
Adverb
Strong's 3756: No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.

sacrifice.’
θυσίαν (thysian)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2378: Abstr. and concr: sacrifice; a sacrifice, offering. From thuo; sacrifice.

For
γὰρ (gar)
Conjunction
Strong's 1063: For. A primary particle; properly, assigning a reason.

I have not come
ἦλθον (ēlthon)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 2064: To come, go.

to call
καλέσαι (kalesai)
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active
Strong's 2564: (a) I call, summon, invite, (b) I call, name. Akin to the base of keleuo; to 'call'.

[the] righteous,
δικαίους (dikaious)
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 1342: From dike; equitable; by implication, innocent, holy.

but
ἀλλὰ (alla)
Conjunction
Strong's 235: But, except, however. Neuter plural of allos; properly, other things, i.e. contrariwise.

sinners.”
ἁμαρτωλούς (hamartōlous)
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural
Strong's 268: Sinning, sinful, depraved, detestable. From hamartano; sinful, i.e. A sinner.


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