“To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.”
The rejected offerings: 'What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me.' This verse presents God's rejection of the people's sacrificial offerings: 'incense from Sheba' and 'sweet calamus from a distant land' (expensive, imported items) and 'burnt offerings' and 'sacrifices' (institutional religious practices). The phrase 'What do I care...your offerings are not acceptable' indicates that ritual without genuine repentance and covenant faithfulness is worthless. Theologically, this verse echoes the prophetic critique (found also in Isaiah and Amos) that external worship divorced from internal transformation is offensive to God.
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