To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

Proverbs 21:3

My eye is wasted from grief… My strength fails because of my iniquity…

Psalm 31:9-10

While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly.

Ezra 10:1

Were they right to divorce their pagan wives? They had to do something. Otherwise, there would be no strength in Israel. God didn’t want another sacrifice from them. God wanted righteousness from them. God doesn’t want us forever asking for forgiveness. He wants repentance, a change.