Old Testament
Leviticus
27 chapters
Start reading: Leviticus 1About this book
Leviticus is the handbook for how a holy God could live among his people. Israel has just built the tabernacle at Sinai, and God now speaks from it, explaining how to approach him. The book opens with the offerings, then describes the ordination of the priests and the tragic story of two of Aaron's sons who approached God carelessly. Long sections on clean and unclean, skin diseases and bodily matters follow, leading to the Day of Atonement, when the sins of the whole community are dealt with once a year. The second half turns to daily life: a call to be holy because the Lord is holy, with laws about honesty, justice, care for the poor and love of neighbor. Festivals, the sabbath year and the Jubilee close the book with promises and warnings. Christians read Leviticus as a foreshadowing of Christ's sacrifice and priesthood, though traditions differ on how the laws apply today.
- Author
- Tradition names Moses; many scholars see priestly material gathered and edited over time.
- Date
- The setting is Sinai, usually dated to the 15th or 13th century BC; scholars debate when it was written down.
- Audience
- Israel, and especially its priests and Levites, learning to live near a holy God.
Themes
God's holinessSacrifice and atonementPriesthood and mediationHoly living in daily lifeClean and unclean
Outline
- 1:1–7:38The offerings
- 8:1–10:20The priests begin their work
- 11:1–15:33Clean and unclean
- 16:1–17:16The Day of Atonement
- 18:1–22:33The call to be holy
- 23:1–25:55Festivals, sabbath year and Jubilee
- 26:1–27:34Blessings, warnings and vows
Key verses
Chapters of Leviticus
- 1Leviticus 1From the tabernacle the Lord calls to Moses and gives instructions for the burnt offering, the first of the sacrifices.
- 2Leviticus 2The Lord describes the grain offering, made of fine flour with olive oil and frankincense, offered baked, cooked on a griddle or in a pan, or as roasted new grain.
- 3Leviticus 3The fellowship offering, or peace offering, is an animal without defect from the herd or flock, presented at the entrance of the tent.
- 4Leviticus 4The Lord gives instructions for the sin offering, for unintentional sins that make a person or community guilty.
- 5Leviticus 5The chapter lists situations that require a sin offering or guilt offering: failing to speak up as a witness, touching something unclean without knowing it, and making a careless oath.
- 6Leviticus 6The Lord adds rules for the guilt offering when someone cheats a neighbor by deceit, theft or lying under oath.
- 7Leviticus 7Moses records further rules about the guilt offering and the portions that belong to the priests, who receive the meat of the sin and guilt offerings and the hide of the burnt offering.
- 8Leviticus 8Moses assembles the community at the entrance of the tent and consecrates Aaron and his sons as priests, as the Lord commanded.
- 9Leviticus 9On the eighth day Aaron begins his ministry, offering a sin offering and burnt offering for himself and then for the people, together with fellowship offerings, exactly as Moses commanded.
- 10Leviticus 10Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu offer unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command, and fire comes out from the Lord and consumes them.
- 11Leviticus 11God gives Moses and Aaron the rules of clean and unclean animals for food.
- 12Leviticus 12The Lord gives Moses instructions about a woman after childbirth.
- 13Leviticus 13The chapter gives detailed procedures for the priest to examine a person with a skin disease, often translated as leprosy, though it covers various conditions.
- 14Leviticus 14This chapter tells how a person healed of a skin disease is restored to the community.
- 15Leviticus 15The Lord gives rules about bodily discharges that make a person ceremonially unclean, covering both men and women.
- 16Leviticus 16The chapter describes the Day of Atonement, when the high priest may enter the Most Holy Place once a year.
- 17Leviticus 17The Lord commands that any animal sacrificed must be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting and not offered in open fields, so the Israelites will stop offering sacrifices to goat idols.
- 18Leviticus 18God tells Israel not to follow the practices of Egypt or Canaan, but to obey his decrees and live by them, since he is the Lord their God.
- 19Leviticus 19This chapter is at the heart of the Holiness Code, opening with the call to be holy because the Lord is holy.
- 20Leviticus 20The chapter sets penalties for the sins listed earlier.
- 21Leviticus 21The Lord gives special rules for priests, who must maintain a higher standard of holiness because they offer food to God.
- 22Leviticus 22The Lord instructs priests to treat the holy offerings with respect and not to eat them while ceremonially unclean, so they do not profane his name.
- 23Leviticus 23God lists the appointed festivals Israel is to celebrate as sacred assemblies.
- 24Leviticus 24The Lord instructs Moses on keeping the lamps burning continually with pure olive oil and on setting out twelve loaves of bread, one for each tribe, on the table before the Lord every Sabbath.
- 25Leviticus 25The Lord sets out the Sabbath year and the Year of Jubilee.
- 26Leviticus 26The chapter concludes the Holiness Code with blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.
- 27Leviticus 27The final chapter deals with vows and gifts dedicated to the Lord.