Leviticus
Almost nobody reads Leviticus straight through, but it's where 'Love your neighbor as yourself' comes from, the command Jesus ranked second only to loving God.
Read this if you…
- want the part of the Bible everyone gives up on during their read-it-through attempts
- like the strangeness of the ritual code: which animals to sacrifice for which sins, what fabrics you can't mix, the scapegoat ceremony on the Day of Atonement
- care about anthropological reading — Mary Douglas's 'Purity and Danger' built a career out of the dietary laws in here
Skip this if you…
- don't want to read explicitly religious/Christian texts
Why It Matters
Almost nobody reads Leviticus straight through, but it's where 'Love your neighbor as yourself' comes from, the command Jesus ranked second only to loving God. Its ideas about holiness, atonement, and sacrifice sit under both Christian theology and Jewish practice.
Depicted in Art
Smaller variant: a dark-haired goat on the same desolate salt shore beneath a rainbow arching across a stormy sky; the red atonement cloth still binds its horns.
William Holman Hunt, 1854
Moses and Joshua kneel face-down in deep prostration on the floor of the tabernacle's inner sanctum, the gold-curtained Ark of the Covenant rising above them.
James Tissot, 1900
The red-marked goat is driven into a barren wilderness by a robed Israelite, while behind them the high priest and ranks of the people watch the animal carry their sins away from the camp.
James Tissot, 1894
A lone goat with red wool wrapped around its horns stands stranded in the salt-encrusted desolation of the Dead Sea shore at sunset.
William Holman Hunt, 1855
Moses gestures broadly while a vested Aaron stands beside him; ranks of Israelites in striped robes listen in the wilderness before the tabernacle precinct.
James Tissot, 1900
Recommended Editions
King James Version
Cambridge University Press · 1611
The most influential and commonly quoted translation in English. The prose rhythm everyone else is responding to, even modern translations.
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Deep Dive
What It's About
This summary gives away plot details.
Notable Quotes
“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.”
“Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.”
More by Moses
- Deuteronomy
c. 621 BCE · Scripture — Law
- Exodus
c. 550 BCE · Scripture — Narrative
- Genesis
c. 550 BCE · Scripture — Narrative
- Numbers
c. 550 BCE · Scripture — Narrative