Book introduction
The book of Leviticus
Leviticus is God’s instruction for how a holy God can live among an unholy people. It covers offerings, priests, clean and unclean, the Day of Atonement, and how to love your neighbor. Most of it is spoken at Mount Sinai.
Read Leviticus 19Start at chapter 1
Who wrote Leviticus?
Jewish and Christian tradition names Moses as the author of the first five books, and the books themselves say Moses wrote down laws and songs. Many scholars think the five books were gathered from older written and spoken sources and reached their final form later, around the time of the exile in Babylon or after it. Some Christians hold to Mosaic authorship; others accept a longer process of writing and editing.
When was it written?
Set at Sinai in the year after the exodus. Many scholars date the priestly material in its final form to the exile or after; traditional views place it in Moses’ time.
Main themes
- Holiness
- “Be holy, for I am holy” runs through the whole book.
- Atonement
- Sacrifice and the Day of Atonement show how sin is covered and the people made clean.
- Holiness in daily life
- Chapter 19 turns holiness into fair wages, honest scales, and love for neighbor and stranger.
Outline of Leviticus
Key verses
For I am Yahweh your God. Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy. You must not make yourselves unclean by any swarming creature that creeps on the ground.
For the life of the body is in the blood. I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, because it is by the life that the blood makes atonement.
Do not take revenge on your own people or nurse a grudge against them; love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.
Quoted from the Lumin Translation.
Where to start
Chapter 19 shows what holiness looks like in ordinary life. Then read chapter 16.
Ask about this book
Questions about Leviticus?
Lumin answers in a few sentences and shows each verse it cites in full.
Keep going
Keep asking in the Lumin app.Keep this conversation going on the web.
The same short answers with the verse beside each one, plus your saved questions, prayer, and the whole Bible to read in.
Make a free Lumin account and this conversation opens in Ask, ready for your next question. Your saved questions, prayer, and the whole Bible come with it.
All 66 books· Bible map· Search the Bible· Ask
Each introduction gives the traditional view and the main views scholars hold today. Where Christians disagree, it says so.
Report an error in this introduction. If we agree, we fix it and add a dated note.
This inbox is for corrections. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find your country’s line at findahelpline.com.