Leviticus: Outline
Leviticus is summed up in the final verses of its last two chapters: “These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the LORD established between Himself and the sons of Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai” (Leviticus 26:46) and “These are the commandments which the LORD commanded Moses for the sons of Israel at Mount Sinai” (Leviticus 27:34). Instructions from God, spoken through Moses, are interspersed with the recounting of actual events (the ordination of Aaron and his sons, the death of two of Aaron’s son, and the death of a man for cursing God’s name). Chapter 26 outlines the blessings of obedience and and penalties for disobedience, predicting the entire history of the nation of Israel.
In addition to this outline, What I Learned, Wrestling with hard stuff, and a summary of Leviticus that focuses on what it teaches us about a Holy God and our relationship with Him are all available.
Leviticus 1-7: explains the six offerings that are continually referenced in the reading: burnt, grain, sin, guilt, peace, and ordination.
Leviticus 8-10: recounts the seven days of ordination for Aaron and his sons, followed, on the eighth day, by their sacrifice to atone for their sins and then the sacrifice of the people to atone for their sins, which ended with the appearance of the glory of the Lord. Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire after this and they were instantly killed be fire from the Lord.
Leviticus 11-15: explains laws distinguishing the clean from the unclean.
Leviticus 16: explains the annual Day of Atonement.
Leviticus 17: outlines the appropriate sacrifice of animals and handling of their blood.
Leviticus 18: outlines abominable practices which should not be done. I wrote about wrestling with hard stuff about this chapter in particular.
Leviticus 19: enumerates various statutes and ordinances of God. Some involve ceremony, sacrifice, cleanliness, and ritual under the Old Covenant. Some must be prayerfully considered as still applicable in order to please God.
Leviticus 20: explains the consequences for violating certain statutes and ordinances of God.
Leviticus 21: gives directions for Aaron and his descendants, the priests.
Leviticus 22: explains the rules for the priests’ handling of the holy gifts given for their benefit by the sons of Israel, as well as the requirement that all sacrifices be without defect.
Leviticus 23: explains the appointed times for Lord’s holy convocations:
weekly sabbath
Passover (14th day of first month)
Feast of Unleavened Bread (the 7 days after Passover)
First Fruits (first fruits of harvest presented to Lord before any of it is eaten)
Feast of the Ingathering (7 Sabbaths, 50 days after First Fruits, to celebrate final harvest)
Blowing of Trumpets (1st day of seventh month)
Day of Atonement (10th day of seventh month)
Feast of Booths (15th day of seventh month, live in booths and celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days)
Leviticus 24: explains the oil for the golden lampstand to be burned continually before the Lord, the bread of the Presence, and the consequences for blasphemy, murder, and injury to a neighbor, and recounts the story of a man put to death for blasphemy of the Name.
Leviticus 25: explains the year of Sabbath rest for the land every seven years and the year of jubilee every fiftieth year.
Leviticus 26: explains the blessings of obedience and the consequences of disobedience for the sons of Israel. This foreshadows the entire history of the nation of Israel.
Leviticus 27: explains how to value persons, animals, and property dedicated, or offered, to the Lord.
Leviticus 1-7 (Day 44 & Day 45): six offerings are described: “This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering and the ordination offering and the sacrifice of peace offerings, which the LORD commanded Moses at Mount Sinai in the day that He commanded the sons of Israel to present their offerings to the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai” (Leviticus 7:37-38).
burnt offering (Leviticus 1)
summary: burn all on altar, after blood offered and sprinkled on altar (or poured out beside altar for birds), except skin may be given to priest (Leviticus 7:8)
why: makes atonement for the offerer
what: bull, male sheep or goat, turtle dove or young pigeon; all without defect
where: bull-doorway of tent of meeting; sheep or goat-northward side of altar; bird-bring it to priest at altar
how: offerer lays hands on head and then slays animal; priests offer up blood and sprinkles it on altar; offerer skins animal, cuts it into its pieces, and washes entrails and legs; priests arrange all pieces over the wood that is on the fire on the altar; all of it offered up in smoke OR priest wrings head off bird and offers it up in smoke on the altar; blood drained out on the side of the altar; crop with feathers taken off and cast east of altar, to the place of the ashes; wings torn but not severed; offered up in smoke on the altar on the wood that is on the fire
law for priests (Leviticus 6:8-13)
“Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out” (Leviticus 6:13); new wood added every morning
in morning, priest is to put on linen robe and undergarments next to his flesh, and take up the ashes from the burnt offering, placing them beside the altar; then he shall change his garments and take the ashes outside the camp to a clean place
grain offering (Leviticus 2)
summary: burn handful as a memorial portion, remainder to priests (Leviticus 6:14-18 & Leviticus 7:9-10)
no leaven, no honey
fresh heads of roasted grain, fine flour, or wafers or cakes of fine flour, baked or cooked on griddle; either cooked with oil or with oil on top; with incense on top
always salted “so that the salt of the covenant of your God shall not be lacking from your grain offering” (Leviticus 2:13)
first fruits of grain do not have to be burned
peace offering (Leviticus 3)
what: cow, sheep, or goat; male or female; without defect
how: offerer lays hands on head of animal and then slays it
priest sprinkles blood around on the altar
all fat is offered up in smoke on the altar (fat that covers and is on the entrails, two kidneys with the fat on them, lobe of the liver, even the fat tail of the sheep)
“all fat is the LORD’S. It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall not eat any fat or any blood” (Leviticus 3:17); anyone who does shall be cut off from his people (Leviticus 7:22-27)
breast is waved before the Lord; right thigh is given to the priest; both are given to the priests, and their families, as their portion (Leviticus 7:28-36, 10:14-15)
if offered as thanksgiving, also offer unleavened cake mixed with oil, unleavened wafer spread with oil, cakes of well stirred fine flour mixed with oil, cakes of leavened bread—all belong to the priest who sprinkles blood of peace offering (Leviticus 7:11-14)
flesh of offering eaten by offerer on day of offering and not left over until morning (Leviticus 7:15)
if offered as votive or free will offering, flesh can be eaten by offerer until morning of third day, when it must be burned (Leviticus 7:16-18)
if flesh touches anything unclean, it shall be burned with fire; if anyone eats the flesh while unclean, they should be cut off from their people (Leviticus 7:19-21)
sin offering (Leviticus 4): for unintentional sin, “in any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done,” once sin becomes known
anointed priest or whole congregation:
bull without defect
blood sprinkled seven times before the Lord before the veil in the sanctuary and some placed on horns of incense altar, remainder poured out at base of altar of burnt offering
all fat burned (see peace offering for description)
“all the rest of the bull, he is to bring out to a clean place outside the camp where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire” (Leviticus 4:12)—none eaten
leader:
male goat without defect
blood on horns of altar of burnt offering and remainder poured out at base of altar
all fat burned
remainder burned outside camp
common person:
female goat or lamb without defect
same procedure as above for leader, except can be eaten by priests in a holy place (Leviticus 6:25-30)
guilt offering (Leviticus 5 - Leviticus 6:1-7)
very similar to sin offering, except that sometimes a ram without defect is required
“The guilt offering is like the sin offering, there is one law for them; the priest who makes atonement with it shall have it” (Leviticus 7:7).
emphasis is that a person can sin unknowingly but once they become aware, they are guilty and must confess, make restitution if applicable (adding one-fifth more), and offer a sacrifice (see above)
provision is made for is someone’s means are insufficient to offer a goat or lamb:
two turtle doves or pigeons (one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering)
OR tenth of ephah of fine flour NOT mixed with oil and incense
priest burns a handful as a memorial portion but is entitled to the rest
the offering is different if the sin is “against the LORD’S holy things”
ram without defect
sinner must also make restitutuion, adding a fifth part to it and giving it to the priest
“Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. He is then to bring to the priest a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his error in which he sinned unintentionally and did not know it, and it will be forgiven him. It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the LORD” (Leviticus 5:17-19).
blood sprinkled around on the altar; fat burned; priest may eat remainder (Leviticus 7:1-7)
ordination offering for priests
1/10 ephah fine flour cooked on griddle with oil; not eaten: 1/2 burned in morning and 1/2 in evening (Leviticus 6:19-23)
ram of ordination (first done for Aaron and his sons by Moses): priests lay hands on head; slaughtered by Moses and blood placed on lobe of right ear, thumb of right hand, and big toe of right foot of priests; rest of blood sprinkled around on altar; fat, right thigh waved in the hands of priests before the Lord with one unleavened cake, one cake of bread mixed with oil, and one wafer, and then burned as an offering; breast waved before Lord and it became Moses’ portion (Leviticus 8:22-29)
Leviticus 8-10 (Day 46)
Recounting of seven days of ordination for Aaron and his sons; Moses offered the sacrifices on behalf of Aaron and his sons to atone for them (notice Moses does not need to be atoned for [a foreshadowing of Christ?])
Moses first washed Aaron and his sons with water, and then dressed them in the priests’ garments
Then Moses anointed the tabernacle and its associated things with oil, and anointed Aaron with oil
Moses offered bull of sin offering, ram of burnt offering, ram of ordination (see procedures above)—repeated daily over the seven days (priests’ portion of ram of ordination and grain offering eaten by them at the doorway to the tent of meeting)
Moses mixed blood from altar with anointing oil and sprinkled them on Aaron and his sons and their garments, consecrating them
On eighth day: sin and burnt offerings for Aaron, followed by sin, burnt, peace, and grain offerings for the people
“Moses then said to Aaron, ‘Come near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, that you may make atonement for yourself and for the people; then make the offering for the people, that you may make atonement for them, just as the LORD has commanded’” (Leviticus 9:7)
“Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he stepped down after making the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out and blessed the people, the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. Then fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces” (Leviticus 9:22-24).
“Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective fire pans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘It is what the LORD spoke, saying, “By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.”’ So Aaron, therefore, kept silent” (Leviticus 10:1-3).
Aaron and his two remaining sons can’t mourn but the people can (further explained in Leviticus 21:10-12); Aaron is then even more careful than required with the sin offering of the people (he burns it instead of eating his rightful portion)
“‘When things like these happened to me, if I had eaten a sin offering today, would it have been good in the sight of the LORD?’ When Moses heard that, it seemed good in his sight” (Leviticus 10:19b-20).
insight into the Lord’s distinction between the holy and profane, and the clean and unclean
“The LORD then spoke to Aaron, saying, ‘Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die—it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations— and so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the LORD has spoken to them through Moses’” (Leviticus 10:8-11).
Leviticus 11-15 (Day 47 & Day 48): God gave insight into these laws that determine what is clean and unclean: “Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, so that they will not die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them” (Leviticus 15:31). This laws can be cumbersome to read. I did go to the effort to summarize them, so if you want more detail, you can find them at the end of this document.
God explains the distinctions between clean and unclean animals (Leviticus 11)
“This is the law regarding the animal and the bird, and every living thing that moves in the waters and everything that swarms on the earth, to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the edible creature and the creature which is not to be eaten” (Leviticus 11:46-47).
“For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy….For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44a, 45).
God explains the laws for women during and after menstruation, and after they give birth (Leviticus 12)
Mary complied with these laws when she presented Jesus at the temple after He was born
God explains how the priest is to evaluate and deal with potentially leprous infections on humans and garments, and the laws for cleansing lepers and leprous houses (Leviticus 13-14)
“This is the law for any mark of leprosy—even for a scale, and for the leprous garment or house, and for a swelling, and for a scab, and for a bright spot— to teach when they are unclean and when they are clean. This is the law of leprosy” (Leviticus 14:54-57)
God explains the laws for men and women with a bodily discharge (Leviticus 15)
“This is the law for the one with a discharge, and for the man who has a seminal emission so that he is unclean by it, and for the woman who is ill because of menstrual impurity, and for the one who has a discharge, whether a male or a female, or a man who lies with an unclean woman” (Leviticus 15:32-33).
Leviticus 16-18 (Day 49) Annual day of atonement, handling of blood, and forbidden sexual practices. If you want more detailed summaries of chapters 16 & 17, they can be found at the end of this document.
God explains the annual day of atonement for sins: on the tenth day of the seventh month; bull for a sin offering and ram for burnt offering for priest, and two male goats and ram for burnt offering for congregation (one goat lives and is sent into wilderness carrying sins as a scapegoat); this is the one day the priest enters the holy of holies, with fire from the altar of burnt offerings burning incense so that smoke covers the mercy seat or otherwise the priest will die (Leviticus 16)
“Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat” (Leviticus 16:2).
“This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD. It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute. So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments, and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. Now you shall have this as a permanent statute, to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year” (Leviticus 16:29-34).
God explains that slaughter of ox, lamb, or goat must be done as peace offering at tent of meeting (blood sprinkled and fat portion burned) so that no more sacrifices occur to the goat demons (those who make such sacrifices should be cut off from their people) (Leviticus 17:1-9)
God explains anyone who eats blood should be cut off from their people because blood is used for atonement (Leviticus 17:10-16)
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement” (Leviticus 17:11).
“when any man from the sons of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life” (Leviticus 17:13-14a).
God forbids lewd and abominable sexual, and other, practices: the sons of Israel are not to act abominably as those in Egypt did or as the nations who are being driven out of the Promised Land do (Leviticus 18) (see wrestling with hard stuff that a wrote about this chapter in particular)
“I am the LORD your God. You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God. So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD” (v2b-6).
do not uncover nakedness of: blood relative, father, mother, father’s wife, sister, son’s daughter or daughter’s daughter, father’s wife’s daughter, father’s sister, mother’s sister, father’s brother, father’s brother’s wife, daughter-in-law, brother’s wife, woman and her daughter or her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter (it is lewdness); you shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive (v6-18)
do not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity (v19)
no intercourse with your neighbor’s wife to be defiled with her (v20)
you shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God (v21)
man should not lie with a man as he lies with a female; it is an abomination (v22)
do not mate with animals; it is a perversion (v23)
“Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants. But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you (for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled); so that the land will not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you. For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people. Thus you are to keep My charge, that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them; I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 18:24-30).
Leviticus 19-23 (Day 50 & Day 51): specific ordinances, severe consequences for specific transgressions, rules for priests, requirement for flawless sacrifices, holy days of convocation
God gives very specific ordinances, similar to the ones He enumerated in Exodus (Leviticus 19). Some involve ceremony, sacrifice, cleanliness, and ritual under the Old Covenant. Some must be prayerfully considered as still applicable if we desire to please God.
“You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am the LORD your God. Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:2b-4).
sacrifice of peace offerings can be eaten on first or second day; if eaten on third day, it is offense and will not be accepted; the person who eats it has profaned the holy thing of the Lord and shall be cut off from his people (v5-8)
leave corners of field, gleanings of harvest or vineyard, fallen fruit for the needy and stranger (v9-10)
do not steal, deal falsely , or lie; do not swear falsely by God’s name to profane the name of God (v11-12)
no oppressing or robbing your neighbor; do not hold a hired man’s wages until morning (v13)
do not curse a deaf man or place a stumbling block before the blind (v14)
no injustice, impartiality, or unfairness in judgment (v15)
do not slander and do not act against the life of your neighbor (v16)
do not hate your fellow countryman; you may reprove but do not incur sin because of your neighbor (v17)
do not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself (v18)
keep the Lord’s statutes; do not breed two kinds of cattle together, sow field with two kinds of seed, or wear garment with two kinds of fabric (v19)
if a man lies carnally with a woman who is the slave of another man, he shall bring his guilt offering before the Lord (v21-22)
fruit from new fruit trees should not be eaten for three years; the fourth year, the fruit shall be holy, a praise offering to the Lord; the fifth year it can be eaten, so that its yield may increase (v23-25)
do not eat anything with blood or practice divination for soothsaying (v26)
do not round the side-growth of your heads or harm the edges of your beard (v27)
no cuts in your body for the dead; no tattoo marks (v28)
do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot (v29)
keep the Sabbath and revere the sanctuary (v30)
do not turn to mediums or spiritist; do not seek them out to be defiled by them (v31)
rise up before the gray headed and honor the aged, and revere your God (v32)
do no wrong to a stranger residing with you in your land; they shall live as native among you and you shall love them as yourself (v33-34)
you shall have just measurements of weight and capacity (v35-36)
“You shall thus observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:37).
God explains the consequences, for the nation of Israel, for breaking some of His specific ordinances (Leviticus 20)
anyone who sacrifices their child to Molech should be put to death; if people fail to put them to death, God Himself will set His face against that man and his family, cutting him off from their people, both him and all who play the harlot after him Molech after him (v1-5)
God will also cut off from His people anyone who turns to mediums or spiritists (v6-8)
anyone who curses his father or mother shall be put to death (v9)
put to death the sexually immoral (v10-16):
two adulterers, man & father’s wife, man & daughter-in-law, man & man, man who marries woman and her mother, man & animal, woman & animal (kill the animal also)
uncover sister’s nakedness—>cut off from people (v17)
men who lies with menstrous woman—>both of them cut off from their people (v18)
do not uncover nakedness of mother or father’s sister (v19)
man lies with uncle’s wife—>they will die childless (v20)
man who takes his brother’s wife—>they will die childless (v21)
“You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out. Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them. Hence I have said to you, ‘You are to possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.' I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples. You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything that creeps on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean. Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine” (Leviticus 20:22-26)
medium or spiritist should be put to death (v27)
God explains rules for priests (Leviticus 21-22:16):
rules of mourning: shall not defile themselves with baldness on head, shaving beard, or making cuts in flesh for any other than nearest relatives: mother, father, son, brother, virgin sister; otherwise they profane the name of their God; because they present the offerings by fire to the Lord, the food of the Lord, they shall be holy (Leviticus 21:1-6)
shall not marry harlot or divorced woman (Leviticus 21:7)
“You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the LORD, who sanctifies you, am holy” (Leviticus 21:8)
a daughter of a priest who profanes herself by harlotry shall be burned (Leviticus 21:9)
highest priest on whom anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear garments shall not defile himself for mourning even for his father or mother; can’t even go out of the sanctuary [like Aaron when his sons died] (Leviticus 21:10-12)
priest’s wife shall be a virgin; shall not be a widow (Leviticus 21:13-15)
no man who has a defect shall approach to offer the food of his God, but he may eat the food; he shall not go into the veil or come near the altar (Leviticus 21:16-24)
“Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the LORD” (Leviticus 22:1-16):
priests cannot approach the holy gifts that the sons of Israel dedicate to the Lord while unclean (rules already enumerated earlier in Leviticus) or while having a physical defect; if temporarily unclean, he must bathe his body in water and wait until after sun sets to be clean and then he may eat of the holy gifts
family, slaves bought as property, and those born in his house may eat of the holy gifts; if priest’s daughter is married to a layman, she may not eat of it, but if she becomes widowed or divorced and has no child and returns to her father’s house, she may eat of it
God explains that sacrificed animals must be without defect (Leviticus 22:17-33)
animals must be flawless, without physical defect, for sacrifice; an ox or lamb which has an overgrown or stunted member may be presented for a freewill offering but not for a vow (v17-25)
when an ox or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain 7 days with its mother, but accepted as a sacrifice of offering by fire to the Lord on the 8th day; do not kill an animal and its young on the same day; sacrifices of thanksgiving must be eaten on the same day; leave none until morning (votive or free will offerings can be eaten for 2 days) (v26-30)
“So you shall keep My commandments, and do them; I am the LORD. You shall not profane My holy name, but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel; I am the LORD who sanctifies you, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, to be your God; I am the LORD” (Leviticus 22:31-32 ).
God explains the scheduled holy convocations to the Lord (Leviticus 23):
“The LORD’S appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these” (v1-2):
Sabbath: "For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings” (v3)
Passover: "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD’S Passover” (v4-5)
Feast of Unleavened Bread: "Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work” (v6-8)
First Fruits: "When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD. Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the LORD for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places” (v9-14)
Feast of the Ingathering: “You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD. Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD. You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the LORD; they are to be holy to the LORD for the priest. On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the LORD your God” (v15-22)
Blowing of Trumpets: "In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD" (v23-25)
Day of Atonement: “On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the LORD. You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the LORD your God. If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath” (v26-32)
Feast of Booths: "On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the LORD. On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work...On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God” (v33-44)
Leviticus 24-25 (Day 52): directions for oil for lampstand and bread of the Presence; stoning of man for cursing the Name; consequences for blasphemy, murder, and injury to a neighbor; Sabbath rest for land every seven years; jubilee every fiftieth year; redemption rights for land and people. If you want more detailed summary of chapter 25, it can be found at the end of this document.
God explains clear oil from beaten olives should be used to make the golden lampstand outside the veil of testimony in the tent of meeting burn continually from evening until morning (Leviticus 24:1-4)
God explains the Bread of the Presence: twelve cakes baked with 2/10 ephah of fine flour in each cake, set in two rows, six to a row, on pure gold table; put pure frankincense on each row; a memorial portion for the bread; set out every sabbath; Aaron and sons may eat it in a holy place (Leviticus 24:5-9)
recounting of the story of the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man who struggles with a man of Israel in the camp; the son of the Israelite woman blasphemes the Name and curses; they bring him to Moses and put him in custody so the command of the Lord would become clear (Leviticus 24:10-12)
“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then let all the congregation stone him. You shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, “If anyone curses his God, then he will bear his sin. Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death”’” (Leviticus 24:13-16).
“If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death. The one who takes the life of an animal shall make it good, life for life. If a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him. Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one who kills a man shall be put to death. There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 24:17-22).
“Then Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and they brought the one who had cursed outside the camp and stoned him with stones” (Leviticus 24:23).
Explanation of years of sabbath for the land every seventh year, as well as year of jubilee for the land every fiftieth year (Leviticus 25:1-22)
“So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 25:17).
Explanation of redemption rights for land and people (Leviticus 25:23-55)
Leviticus 26-27 (Day 53): blessings for obedience versus penalties for disobedience, and valuing gifts of people, possessions, animals, and land to the Lord.
God details His promised blessings for obedience to His law, as well as His promised penalties for disobedience—He promises mercy for repentance and He promises faithfulness to His covenant (Leviticus 26)
“You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God” (v1).
“You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary; I am the LORD” (v2).
“If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out” (v3-13):
“rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit….You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land”
“peace in the land”
“I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land”
“you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword”
“I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you.”
“I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.”
“But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, I, in turn, will do this to you” (v14-20):
“I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up. I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you.”
“If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.”
“I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.”
“If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins.”
“I will let loose among you the beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your number so that your roads lie deserted.”
“And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins.”
“I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands. When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread in rationed amounts, so that you will eat and not be satisfied.”
“Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins.”
“you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat. I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you. I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas. I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it. You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths….As for those of you who may be left, I will also bring weakness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies….But you will perish among the nations, and your enemies’ land will consume you. So those of you who may be left will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of your enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their forefathers they will rot away with them.”
“If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me— I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land” (v40-45).
“For the land will be abandoned by them, and will make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them.”
“They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes.”
“Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.”
"These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the LORD established between Himself and the sons of Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai” (v46).
God explains how to value things set aside to the Lord so that offerings may be made to Him; if things are offered that people then wish to redeem (implies paying the value and receiving the item back), they must add 1/5 to its value for their offering (Leviticus 27)
“anything which a man sets apart to the LORD out of all that he has, of man or animal or of the fields of his own property, shall not be sold or redeemed. Anything devoted to destruction is most holy to the LORD. No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death” (v28-29). [Something claimed to be set aside for the Lord can be used for other means of profit. These redemption rules cannot be used as a loophole to save someone who has been condemned to death.]
“Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’S; it is holy to the LORD. If, therefore, a man wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he shall add to it one-fifth of it. For every tenth part of herd or flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the LORD. He is not to be concerned whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; or if he does exchange it, then both it and its substitute shall become holy. It shall not be redeemed” (v30-33).
Summary of Leviticus: “These are the commandments which the LORD commanded Moses for the sons of Israel at Mount Sinai” (v34).
More detailed summaries of certain chapters:
Leviticus 11-15 (Day 47 & Day 48): Laws that determine what is clean versus unclean
Animals (Leviticus 11)
clean animals able to be eaten: divided hoof, chews cud (cannot eat camel, shaphan, rabbit, pig—they have divided hooves but do not chew cud); cannot eat flesh or touch carcasses of unclean animals (v1-8)
clean animals of the water: have fins and scales; other creatures are abhorrent, detestable, and may not be eaten (v9-12)
detestable, abhorrent birds not to be eaten: eagle, vulture, buzzard, kite, falcon, raven, ostrich, owl, sea gull, hawk little owl, cormorant, great owl, white owl, pelican, carrion vulture, stork, heron, hoopoe, bat (v13-19)
insects that may be eaten: have jointed legs for jumping: locusts, cricket, grasshopper; other winged insects that walk on all fours are detestable (v20-23)
touching the carcass of any unclean animal becomes unclean until evening; if carcass picked up, clothes must be washed and person is unclean until evening (v24-26)
creatures that walk on paws on all fours are unclean (v27)
unclean swarming creatures: mole, mouse, great lizard, gecko, crocodile, lizard, sand reptile, chameleon (any that crawl on its belly, walks on all fours, has many feet) (v28-31,v41-43)
becoming unclean until evening (v32-40):
touch carcass
pick up carcass—wash clothes
any object that unclean animal falls on when dead shall be put in water; if earthenware, break the vessel; oven or stove must be smashed; food and water in vessels touched by unclean become unclean; spring or cistern remains clean; seed remains clean, unless water has been put on it before carcass touches it
if animal which is raised for food dies, unclean—touch it and become unclean; pick it up or eat any of it, wash clothes
Women, following childbirth or menstruation (Leviticus 12)
after birth of male child:
woman unclean, like during menstruation, for seven days; child circumcised on the eighth day; woman in blood of her purification for 33 days, so she shall not touch any consecrated thing or enter the sanctuary
after birth of female child:
woman unclean, like during menstruation, for two weeks; woman in blood of her purification for 66 days, so she shall not touch any consecrated thing or enter the sanctuary
when days of purification complete:
bring to priest at doorway of tent of meeting animal for burnt offering and for sin offering; burnt offering: one year old lamb or, if she cannot afford that, two turtledoves or two young pigeons; sin offering young pigeon or turtledove
Law of leprosy (Leviticus 13 & 14): think of leprosy as an active infection that could spread to others and the priest is the clinician examining and determining infectiousness; pronouncement of uncleanness means person lives alone outside camp, protecting others from infection; note that a person can have chronic leprosy and be considered clean!
swelling or scab or bright spot on skin (Leviticus 13:1-8):
brought to priest; if hair has turned white and infection looks deeper than skin—>unclean
if no white hair and not deeper than skin, person isolated for 7 days and priest looks again; if no change and no spread, isolate 7 more days; if by then the infection has faded and not spread—>pronounced clean, wash clothes; but if spread farther—>unclean
if white swelling in skin, hair is white, and there is raw flesh (Leviticus 13:9-17):
—>unclean
but if it has all turned white, even if all over the body—>clean
in chronic leprosy, differentiation between clean and unclean is dependent on whether there is raw flesh
if in place of healed boil, there is white swelling or reddish-white bright spot, show to priest (Leviticus 13:18-23):
if it appears to be lower than the skin and hair on it has turned white—>unclean
if no white hairs, not lower than skin, faded—>isolate for 7 days; if spread->unclean; if no spread—>clean
if burned and raw flesh becomes a bright spot, reddish-white, or white, take to priest (Leviticus 13:24-28):
if hair white and deeper than skin—>unclean
if no white hair and not deeper than skin—>isolate for 7 days
if spread—>unclean; not spread—>clean
infection on head or beard (Leviticus 13:29-37):
if deeper than skin and thin yellowish hair—>unclean
no deeper than skin and no black hair—>isolate for 7 days; if no worsening or spread—>shave everything but scale and isolate another 7 days; if no worsening or no spread or scale has healed—>clean, wash clothes; if spread—>unclean
if person has bright spots on skin, priest shall look to determine if eczema—>clean (Leviticus 13:38-29)
male pattern baldness—>clean (Leviticus 13:40-44):
if reddish-white infection breaks out on baldness—>unclean
this likely inspired the verbal smear of the prophet Elisha, “Go up, you baldhead!” in 2 Kings 2:23
if unclean, tear clothes, uncover hair of head, cover mustache, and cry, “Unclean! Unclean!” and live alone outside of camp during days of infection (Leviticus 13:45-46)
greenish or reddish mark in wool or linen or leather (Leviticus 13:47-59):
quarantine article for 7 days:
if spread—>unclean—>burn
if not spread—>wash and then quarantine another 7 days & if unchanged—>burn; if mark has faded, tear it out and if it reappears—>burn; if mark is gone, wash it a second time—>clean
procedure to cleanse one healed from leprosy (Leviticus 14:1-32):
priest shall go out to outside camp to examine whether the infection has been healed
priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet string, and hyssop
slay one bird in earthenware vessel over running water; dip the live bird and cedar wood, scarlet string, and hyssop in the blood of the bird that was slain and then sprinkle the one to be cleansed seven times and let the live bird go free; one to be cleansed shall wash clothes, shave off all hair, bathe in water, be clean; can enter camp but stay outside tent for seven days; again shave all water, wash clothes, and be clean
on 8th day: male lamb without defect for guilt offering, with one log of oil presented as wave offering; blood on lobe of right ear, right thumb, and right big toe of one to be cleansed; priest pours some of oil into left hand and then dips right-hand finger in oil and sprinkle some of oil seven times before Lord; puts oil on blood on lobe of right ear, right thumb, and right big toe of one to be cleansed and rest of oil on his head; one male lamb (or a turtle dove or a young pigeon, if poor) for sin offering to make atonement; one yearling ewe lamb without defect (or a turtle dove or a young pigeon, if poor) for a burnt offering;3/10 ephah fine flour mixed with oil for grain offering
if mark of leprosy on house, priest should be summoned and house should be emptied (Leviticus 14:33-53)
if mark has greenish or reddish depression and appears deeper than surface—>quarantine for 7 days
if spread—>tear out stones with mark and throw them away in unclean place outside city, scrape inside of house and dump plaster in unclean place outside city, replace stones and plaster
if mark breaks out again, priest inspects again and if it has spread, house is unclean and must be torn down and disposed of in unclean place outside city (anyone who enters house when quarantined is unclean until evening; whoever lies down or eats in house should wash clothes)
if mark does not reappear, priest shall pronounce house clean
kill one clean bird in earthenware vessel with running water; take live clean bird and dip it, cedar wood, scarlet string, and hyssop in blood of slain bird and running water; sprinkle house 7 times; let live bird go free outside city in open field
Person with discharge (Leviticus 15)
man with a discharge (v1-16):
everything he touches is unclean; anyone who touches him or something he touches or sits on is unclean; if man spits on someone, they are unclean; anyone the man touches without rinsing his hands is unclean
unclean shall wash clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening;
every earthenware vessel that man with discharge touches is broken and every wooden vessel is rinsed with water
7 days after healed, wash clothes, bathe body in running water and become clean
on 8th day, two turtle doves and two young pigeons, one for sin offering and one for burnt offering
seminal emission (v17-18):
bathe in water, be unclean until evening (if a woman is with him, she is unclean too); garment washed with water and unclean until evening
menstruating woman (v17-18):
seven days of menstrual impurity; anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening; everything on which she sits or lies is unclean—anyone who touches those things shall wash clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; a man who lies with her shall be unclean for 7 days and every bed on which he lies will be unclean
woman with any discharge or with menstruation longer than 7 days shall be treated as if in menstrual impurity (v25-30):
once healed, count off 7 days; on day 8, two turtle doves and two young pigeons, one for sin offering and one for burnt offering
Leviticus 16 (Day 49)
Procedure for annual day of atonement
Aaron prepares himself by bathing in water in the holy place and putting on his priestly garments
offerings required:
bull for sin offering and ram for burnt offering for Aaron (priest)
two male goats for a sin offering and ram for burnt offering for congregation
the two goats are presented before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting; Aaron casts lots for the goats, one for the Lord (sin offering) and the other for the scapegoat (presented alive, to make atonement upon it, to be sent into wilderness)
Aaron slaughters bull of sin offering for himself; he takes a firepan of coals of fire from upon the altar and two handfuls of sweet incense and brings them inside the veil; he places them before the Lord so that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, otherwise he will die; he takes some blood of the bull and sprinkles it on the mercy seat on the east side; he sprinkles blood with his finger in front of the mercy seat seven times
Aaron slaughters the goat of the sin offering for the people and does the same thing with its blood
“He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their impurities. When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel" (Leviticus 16:16-17).
Aaron then makes atonement for the altar of burnt offerings: he takes blood from his bull and the goat for the people and puts it on the horns of the altar on all sides; with his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times to cleanse and consecrate it
scapegoat: Aaron lays hands on its head, confessing sins and iniquities of sons of Israel, and then sends it away into wilderness by man standing ready who releases it in the wilderness so that it bears all their iniquities to a solitary land
Aaron again bathes in the holy place and puts on his priestly garments again, and then comes out and offers his burnt offering and the burnt offering for the people to make atonement for himself and the people
then he offers up the fat of the sin offering
the one who released the goat washes his clothes and bathes his body in water before coming back into the camp
bull of sin offering and goat of sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in holy place, shall be burned with head, flesh, and refuse outside camp; one who burns them shall wash clothes and bathe in water before coming back to camp
Leviticus 17 (Day 49) sacrifice of peace offerings and handling of blood
“Any man from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or who slaughters it outside the camp, and has not brought it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD, bloodguiltiness is to be reckoned to that man. He has shed blood and that man shall be cut off from among his people. The reason is so that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they were sacrificing in the open field, that they may bring them in to the LORD, at the doorway of the tent of meeting to the priest, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD. The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and offer up the fat in smoke as a soothing aroma to the LORD. They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot” (Leviticus 17:3-7).
if a person eats an animal that dies or is torn by beasts (Leviticus 17:15-16):
wash clothes, bathe in water, be unclean until evening; if he fails to do this, he shall bear his guilt
Leviticus 25 (Day 52): Sabbath rest for land every seven years; jubilee every fiftieth year; redemption rights for land and people
Sabbath rest for the land: six years of sowing and harvesting, but not in seventh year; land is to rest, although the sabbath products of the land can be used for food (v1-7)
Year of Jubilee:
“You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field” (v8-12).
everyone returns to own property in year of jubilee, so all land/property sales are temporary and price should be determined by years left before the jubilee (v13-16)
“So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God. You shall thus observe My statutes and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that you may live securely on the land. Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it. But if you say, ‘What are we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our crops?’ then I will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the crop for three years. When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat old things from the crop, eating the old until the ninth year when its crop comes in” (v17-22).
“The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me. Thus for every piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land” (v23-24).
if someone has to sell their property because they are poor, his nearest relative can redeem it, or he can buy it back if he recovers the means, or it will return to him in the year of jubilee (v25-28)
different rule for a dwelling house in a walled city: only one year to redeem it back after sale; after that, sale is permanent; this does not apply for houses of villages that have no surrounding wall (considered as open fields) (v29-31)
different rules for the properties of the Levites: “As for cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession. What, therefore, belongs to the Levites may be redeemed and a house sale in the city of this possession reverts in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel. But pasture fields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their perpetual possession” (v32-34).
how to handle a poor countryman: “Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Do not take usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your countryman may live with you. You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God” (v35-38).
a countryman can sell himself but shall be treated like a hired man and not a slave; he and his family are released at the year of jubilee; “You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God” (v39-43)
rules for slaves:
“As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you. Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession. You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over one another” (v44-46)
anyone who becomes poor and sells himself, including stranger or sojourner, has right of redemption: “One of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or if he prospers, he may redeem himself. He then with his purchaser shall calculate from the year when he sold himself to him up to the year of jubilee; and the price of his sales hall correspond to the number of years. It is like the days of a hired man that he shall be with him. If there are still many years, he shall refund part of his purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption; and if few years remain until the year of jubilee, he shall so calculate with him. In proportion to his years he is to refund the amount for his redemption. Like a man hired year by year he shall be with him; he shall not rule over him with severity in your sight. Even if he is not redeemed by these means, he shall still go out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him. For the sons of Israel are My servants; they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God” (v47-55).