Leviticus study section
Leviticus word studies
A handful of Hebrew words carry the theology of Leviticus. Tap the speaker next to any word to hear it pronounced.
Key words
קָרְבָּן (qorban) — “Offering”
Usage: Leviticus 1:2; 2:1; 3:1; 7:38; and throughout
Meaning: An offering or gift, from the root qarav, “to bring near.” A qorban is that which is brought near to God, and by which the worshiper himself is brought near.
Theological Significance: The word captures the purpose of the whole sacrificial system: to bring a separated people into the presence of a holy God. Every offering bridges the distance sin creates. This drawing near is fulfilled in Christ, “for through him we... have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18), and believers now “draw near to the throne of grace” through His blood (Hebrews 4:16; 10:22).
עֹלָה (olah) — “Burnt Offering”
Usage: Leviticus 1:3-17; 6:9; 9:2; 16:24
Meaning: The whole burnt offering, from a root meaning “to go up” or “ascend”; the entire animal ascends to God in smoke, wholly consumed and nothing kept back.
Theological Significance: The burnt offering expresses total consecration and atonement, the worshiper’s whole self given to God through a substitute. It is fulfilled in Christ, who “gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2), and it shapes the believer’s calling to present the whole self “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1).
כִּפֶּר (kipper) — “To Make Atonement”
Usage: Leviticus 4:20; 16:30; 17:11; and throughout
Meaning: To atone, to cover, to purge, or to ransom. Atonement removes the guilt and defilement of sin so that the sinner may be accepted and the sanctuary cleansed, and it is accomplished by the blood of a substitute.
Theological Significance: Atonement is the central action of Leviticus, reaching its height on the Day of Atonement (chapter 16). The New Testament declares its fulfillment in Christ, whom God “put forward as a propitiation by his blood” (Romans 3:25), who “made purification for sins” (Hebrews 1:3), and who is “the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2).
דָּם (dam) — “Blood”
Usage: Leviticus 1:5; 4:6; 16:14-19; 17:11
Meaning: Blood, which in Leviticus represents life itself. Because “the life of the flesh is in the blood,” blood is set apart for atonement and forbidden as food.
Theological Significance: Blood is the currency of atonement: a life given in place of the sinner’s forfeited life. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22), and it is “the blood of Jesus his Son” that “cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7) and secures “an eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).
קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh) — “Holy”
Usage: Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:26; 21:8
Meaning: Holy, set apart, sacred; from a root meaning “to separate” or “to consecrate.” It describes God’s transcendent purity and majesty, and derivatively whatever is set apart to Him.
Theological Significance: Holiness is the great theme of Leviticus: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” God’s people are separated from the common and the unclean because they belong to Him. Peter applies the command directly to the church (1 Peter 1:15-16), and believers are “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1 Corinthians 1:2), being made holy by the God “who sanctifies you.”
טָמֵא (tame) — “Unclean”
Usage: Leviticus 5:2; 11:24; 13:3; 15:2
Meaning: Unclean, defiled, ritually impure; the opposite of tahor, “clean.” Uncleanness barred a person from the sanctuary and the community until cleansed.
Theological Significance: The clean/unclean distinction taught Israel that sin defiles and separates from God, and that cleansing is needed to draw near. In Christ the ceremonial distinction is fulfilled and lifted (Mark 7:19; Acts 10:15), and the deeper cleansing it pointed to is accomplished as His blood purifies the conscience “to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14).
יוֹבֵל (yovel) — “Jubilee”
Usage: Leviticus 25:10-13, 28, 40, 54
Meaning: The Jubilee, the fiftieth year, named for the yovel, the ram’s-horn trumpet that announced it. In it liberty was proclaimed, debts released, land restored, and slaves set free.
Theological Significance: The Jubilee embodies release, restoration, and grace, grounded in God’s ownership of the land and His people. Jesus announced its fulfillment in Himself, reading Isaiah’s promise of “the year of the Lord’s favor” and declaring, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-21) — the true liberty from sin’s debt and slavery.
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