What Does Proverbs 21:3 Mean in the King James?
To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The word rendered “more acceptable” also carries the sense “chosen,” making enacted justice something the LORD selects above sacrifice.
THE MEANING
This verse sets a present measure: the LORD chooses enacted alignment and fair judgment above sacrifice. A sacred act can be offered, but it cannot substitute for the justice and judgment named here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a religious offering can make injustice acceptable to the LORD.
THE ROOT
צְדָקָה
tzedakah
GROWS FROM
צדק
To be right or just; alignment.
Tzedakah is alignment made visible in action. Its root also grows into words for rightness and for a person characterized by it, keeping justice from being merely a ceremonial label.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Justice, rightness.
צֶדֶק
It shares the root and shows that the justice being done expresses alignment.
tsaddiq: A just or righteous person.
צַדִּיק
It shows the same root describing a person whose character is marked by rightness.
מִשְׁפָּט
mishpat
GROWS FROM
שפט
To judge or govern; to make a judgment.
Mishpat grows from the verb for judging, so judgment is an act of discernment and ordering. Beside tzedakah, it shows alignment expressed through decisions, not only through ceremony.
ALSO GROWS
shaphat: To judge or govern.
שָׁפַט
The verb makes judgment an action carried out in the present.
shofet: A judge.
שֹׁפֵט
This branch names the person who exercises the judgment the verse pairs with justice.
נִבְחָר
nivchar
GROWS FROM
בחר
To choose or select; in this form, chosen or preferred.
“more acceptable” in this verse is nivchar. The wording carries the image of selection: justice and judgment are what the LORD chooses. The root ties preference to deliberate choosing, giving the comparison with sacrifice a sense of chosen priority.
ALSO GROWS
bachar: To choose or select.
בָּחַר
This verb makes explicit the act of choosing contained in the verse’s wording.
mivchar: Choice; the choicest thing.
מִבְחָר
This related word carries selection into the sense of what is preferred.
THE PATTERN
Religious acts have their place, but they cannot substitute for enacted justice, mercy, and obedience.
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.THE THREAD
That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.The word translated “just” comes from the same צדק root as tzedakah in Proverbs 21:3. Here that root is doubled and made a path to follow, opening “doing justice” as a way of life.
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