Hosea 6:6

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

Verse 5 Read Chapter 6 Verse 7

Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

God himself has said that he would rather have his commandments obeyed than sacrifice offered to him. God proclaims this, Moses declares it to the people of Israel, Paul preaches it to the nations. Do that which you see is better for the time. “I desire mercy more than sacrifice,” it says. Are not those who condemn their sin truer Christians than those who think to defend it? “The just accuses himself in the beginning of his words.” The one who accuses himself when he sins is just, not the one who praises himself.

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Clement Of Alexandria

AD 215

For to every one who has turned to God in truth and with a whole heart, the doors are open, and the thriceglad Father receives his truly repentant child. And true repentance is to be no longer bound in the same sins for which he denounced death against himself, but to eradicate them completely from the soul. For on their uprooting God takes up his abode again in you. For it is said there is great and exceeding joy and festivity in the heavens with the Father and the angels when one sinner turns and repents. This is why he cries, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”

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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444

Most of all, worship of God displays love…. For truly the compassion from beside the Father is Christ, as he takes away the sins, dismisses the charges and justifies by faith, and recovers the lost and makes [them] stronger than death. For what is good and he does not give? Therefore the knowledge of God is better than sacrifice and holocausts, as it is brought to perfection in Christ. For by him and in him we have known the Father, and we have become rich in the justification by faith.

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

Mercy: sincere piety, ver. 4. Sacrifice. They had offered many, chap. v. 6. (Calmet) "My victims are the salvation of the faithful, and the conversion of sinners. "(St. Jerome) Knowledge, of a practical nature, which was deficient, chap iv. 6., and vi. 4. (Calmet)

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

Great is the principle of mercy to God. Not only his to us, but also that issuing from us to our fellow servants. In the Old Testament and the New, God lays down innumerable laws pertaining to this matter. He orders us to be benevolent continually in all quarters, through words, money and deeds. And Moses throughout—up and down, here and there—scatters words about these matters in all his legislations. And in the person of God the prophets shout, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” And all the apostles act and speak in harmony with these prophetic words. Therefore let us not neglect the matter. By mercy we greatly benefit ourselves, not the poor only. We receive much more than we provide. .

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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220

But he would not threaten the impenitent if he failed to pardon the penitent. This would be doubtful only if he had not revealed elsewhere the profusion of his mercy. Has he not said, “He who is fallen shall rise, and he who was turned away shall return”? He it is, most assuredly, who “will have mercy rather than sacrifice.” The heavens and the angels who are there rejoice at human repentance. Look at you now, sinner, be of good heart! You see where it is that you are a cause of joy.

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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20