Leviticus study section

Leviticus chapter summaries

A one-line summary of every chapter, with the period it covers. Open any chapter for the full study.

Chapter list

Chapters 1–7

The five sacrifices by which a sinful people may draw near to a holy God.

Chapter 1 (c. 1445 BC): The LORD gives the law of the burnt offering, wholly consumed on the altar as a pleasing aroma.
Chapter 2 (c. 1445 BC): The grain offering of fine flour, oil, and frankincense, without leaven or honey but seasoned with salt.
Chapter 3 (c. 1445 BC): The peace offering, shared between God, priest, and worshiper as a meal of fellowship.
Chapter 4 (c. 1445 BC): The sin offering for unintentional sins of priest, congregation, leader, and common person.
Chapter 5 (c. 1445 BC): Sins requiring confession, offerings graded to the giver’s means, and the guilt offering begun.
Chapter 6 (c. 1445 BC): Restitution for wronging a neighbor, and instructions to the priests for the daily offerings and the perpetual fire.
Chapter 7 (c. 1445 BC): The law of the guilt and peace offerings, and the lasting ban on eating fat or blood.

Chapters 8–10

The ordination of Aaron and his sons, and the deadly cost of unholy worship.

Chapter 8 (c. 1445 BC): Moses ordains Aaron and his sons, washing, clothing, and anointing them over seven days.
Chapter 9 (c. 1445 BC): Aaron offers the first sacrifices, and fire from the LORD consumes them as His glory appears to all the people.
Chapter 10 (c. 1445 BC): Nadab and Abihu offer unauthorized fire and are struck dead; the priests are warned to distinguish holy from common.

Chapters 11–15

Laws of purity governing food, childbirth, disease, and daily life.

Chapter 11 (c. 1445 BC): The laws of clean and unclean animals, and the call to be holy as God is holy.
Chapter 12 (c. 1445 BC): Purification for a woman after childbirth, with an offering, or two birds for the poor.
Chapter 13 (c. 1445 BC): The priest’s diagnosis of leprous diseases in skin and garments, and the isolation of the unclean.
Chapter 14 (c. 1445 BC): The cleansing of a healed leper with two birds, blood, and oil, and the cleansing of leprous houses.
Chapter 15 (c. 1445 BC): Laws concerning bodily discharges that make a person unclean, and their cleansing.

Chapter 16

The great annual cleansing of the people and the sanctuary.

Chapter 16 (c. 1445 BC): The Day of Atonement: the high priest enters the Most Holy Place with blood, and the scapegoat carries sin away.

Chapters 17–27

“Be holy, for I am holy” — holy living, the feasts, and the covenant’s blessings and curses.

Chapter 17 (c. 1445 BC): All sacrifice is centralized at the tabernacle, and the eating of blood is forbidden, for the life is in the blood.
Chapter 18 (c. 1445 BC): Laws forbidding the sexual practices of Egypt and Canaan, by which the land itself was defiled.
Chapter 19 (c. 1445 BC): The Holiness Code: love your neighbor as yourself, care for the poor and the stranger, and honor God in daily life.
Chapter 20 (c. 1445 BC): Penalties for idolatry, Molech worship, and sexual sin; “You shall be holy, for I have separated you.”
Chapter 21 (c. 1445 BC): Rules guarding the holiness of the priests, who must be without defect to serve at the altar.
Chapter 22 (c. 1445 BC): The holiness of the offerings and the requirement that sacrifices be without blemish.
Chapter 23 (c. 1445 BC): The calendar of appointed feasts: Sabbath, Passover, Firstfruits, Weeks, Trumpets, Atonement, and Booths.
Chapter 24 (c. 1445 BC): The lampstand and the bread of the Presence, and the stoning of the blasphemer.
Chapter 25 (c. 1445 BC): The Sabbath year and the Year of Jubilee, when debts are released, land returns, and liberty is proclaimed.
Chapter 26 (c. 1445 BC): The blessings for covenant obedience and the escalating curses for disobedience, with a promise of restoration.
Chapter 27 (c. 1445 BC): Laws for vows, the valuation of persons and property dedicated to the LORD, and the tithe.

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