Matthew 12:7
Good News Translation
The scripture says, 'It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.' If you really knew what this means, you would not condemn people who are not guilty;

New Revised Standard Version
But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

Contemporary English Version
Don't you know what the Scriptures mean when they say, "Instead of offering sacrifices to me, I want you to be merciful to others?" If you knew what this means, you would not condemn these innocent disciples of mine.

New American Bible
If you knew what this meant, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned these innocent men.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And if you knew what this meaneth: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: you would never have condemned the innocent.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

And if you knew what this meaneth: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: you would never have condemned the innocent.

if.

Matthew 9:13 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.

Matthew 22:29 And Jesus answering, said to them: You err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

Acts 13:27 For they that inhabited Jerusalem and the rulers thereof, not knowing him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath, judging him, have fulfilled them.

I will.

Isaiah 1:11-17 To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats. . . .

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

Micah 6:6-8 What shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? wherewith shall I kneel before the high God? shall I offer holocausts unto him, and calves of a year old? . . .

condemned.

Job 32:3 And he was angry with his friends, because they had not found a reasonable answer, but only had condemned Job.

Psalm 94:21 They will hunt after the soul of the just, and will condemn innocent blood.

Psalm 109:31 Because he hath stood at the right hand of the poor, to save my soul from persecutors.

Proverbs 17:15 He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, both are abominable before God.

James 5:6 You have condemned and put to death the Just One: and he resisted you not.

Context
The Lord of the Sabbath
6But I tell you that there is here a greater than the temple. 7And if you knew what this meaneth: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: you would never have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.…
Cross References
1 Samuel 15:22
And Samuel said: Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat or rams.

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

Matthew 9:13
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.

Mark 12:33
And that he should be loved with the whole heart and with the whole understanding and with the whole soul and with the whole strength. And to love one's neighbour as one's self is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices.

Matthew 12:6
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