Guide
What Is the Book of Leviticus?
ca. 1200–332 BCE
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Priesthood and Sacrifice in the Torah
Leviticus is the third book of the Torah, the first section of the Jewish Bible. Within the narrative framework of the Torah, the entire book takes place while the Israelites are encamped at Mount Sinai, and it consists mainly of laws relating to sacrifice, purity, and the Tabernacle. The final chapters of the book (17–26) comprise a collection of laws that modern scholars call the Holiness Collection, because it extends the concept of holiness from the Tabernacle and the priests to the people of Israel as a whole. This section includes social and ethical laws, regulations of sexual behavior, and instructions on holy days and times. It concludes with blessings for obeying God’s laws and curses for disobeying.
Related Primary Sources
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Sacrifice
Leviticus 1–7 (selections)
The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying: Speak to the Israelite people, and say to them:
When any of you presents an offering of cattle to the Lord, he…
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Dietary Laws: Animals and and Impurity
Leviticus 11 (selections)
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them: Speak to the Israelite people thus:
These are the creatures that you may eat from among all the land animals: any animal that has true hoofs, with…
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Bodily Discharges and Impurity
Leviticus 15 (selections)
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:
When any man has a discharge issuing from his member, he is unclean. [ . . . ]
When one with a discharge…
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Yom ha-kippurim, the Day of Purification and Atonement
Leviticus 16 (selections)
The Lord said to Moses:
Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come at will into the Shrine behind the curtain, in front of the cover that is upon the ark, lest he die; for I appear in the cloud…
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Prohibition of Eating Blood
Leviticus 17:10–14
And if anyone of the house of Israel or of the strangers who reside among them partakes of any blood, I will set My face against the person who partakes of the blood, and I will cut him off from…
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Sexual Morality
Leviticus 18
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:
I the Lord am your God. You shall not copy the practices of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, or of the land of…
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Holiness of the People
Leviticus 19:1–20:8, 24–26
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them:
You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.
You shall each revere his mother and his…
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Holy Days
Leviticus 23:1–10, 14–43
This list of holy days from the Holiness Collection in the Torah includes the Sabbath, three pilgrimage festivals, and several additional holidays.
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Sabbatical Years and the Jubilee
Leviticus 25 (selections)
The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:
When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of the Lord. Six years you may…
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A Ruling about Blasphemy and Talion
Leviticus 24:10–23
There came out among the Israelites one whose mother was Israelite and whose father was Egyptian. And a fight broke out in the camp between that half-Israelite and a certain Israelite. The son of…