Leviticus 25

1 - The LORD said to Moses in Mount Sinai,

2 - "Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to The LORD.

3 - You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in its fruits;

4 - but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to The LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

5 - What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and you shall not gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.

6 - The Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for yourself, for your servant, for your maid, for your hired servant, and for your stranger, who lives as a foreigner with you.

7 - For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.

8 - "'You shall count off seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and there shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years.

9 - Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.

10 - You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you; and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.

11 - That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. In it you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the undressed vines.

12 - For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.

13 - "'In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property.

14 - "'If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.

15 - According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you.

16 - According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops to you.

17 - You shall not wrong one another; but you shall fear your God: for I am the LORD your God.

18 - "'Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety.

19 - The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.

20 - If you said, "What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase";

21 - then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bear fruit for the three years.

22 - You shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old store; until the ninth year, until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old store.

23 - "'The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.

24 - In all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.

25 - "'If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold.

26 - If a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it;

27 - then let him reckon the years since its sale, and restore the surplus to the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return to his property.

28 - But if he isn't able to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the Year of Jubilee: and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.

29 - "'If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it has been sold. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption.

"'If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it has been sold. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption.

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30 - If it isn't redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.

31 - But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be accounted for with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.

But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be accounted for with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.

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32 - "'Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time.

33 - The Levites may redeem the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, and it shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.

34 - But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

35 - "'If your brother has become poor, and his hand can't support himself among you; then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident.

36 - Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God; that your brother may live among you.

37 - You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.

38 - 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.

39 - "'If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you; you shall not make him to serve as a slave.

40 - As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee:

41 - then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers.

42 - For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves.

43 - You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.

44 - "'As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have; of the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves.

45 - Moreover of the children of the aliens who live among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property.

46 - You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them may you take your slaves forever; but over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness.

47 - "'If an alien or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger's family;

48 - after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him;

49 - or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself.

50 - He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale shall be according to the number of years; he shall be with him according to the time of a hired servant.

51 - If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.

52 - If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption.

53 - As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him. He shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight.

54 - If he isn't redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee, he, and his children with him.

55 - For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

The Book of Leviticus

Leviticus 16:30 - For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.

The Old Testament - A Brief Overview

Photo of the Sinai Wilderness

Bible Survery - Leviticus
Hebrew Name - Vayyiqra "and He called"
Greek Name - Leviticus "from Levi"
Author - Moses
Date - 1490 BC Approximately
Theme - God's Laws for the Hebrew Nation
Types and Shadows - In Leviticus Jesus is the High Priest

In the Septuagint (The Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament), the third book of the Pentateuch is called "Levitikon" ("pertaining to the Levites"), which is an adjective that modifies the word "book." The Levites were the tribe in Israel from which the priests and others prominent in the worship services were chosen, in place of the firstborn sons of all the tribes (Num. 3:45). Leviticus plays a very important and essential role in the Pentateuch. In the same way that it is important to understand the book of Exodus before reading Leviticus, it seems just as important to read the book of Leviticus before reading the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy and the rest of the Old Testament for that matter. The purpose of the book of Leviticus is to make a clear focus on the holiness of God, and a clear distinction on the sinfulness of man in the light of God's holiness. God provides the necessary steps that man needs to take to restore the great fellowship which was lost between God and man as a result of the terrible defilement of sin. God explains the laws that make this restoration possible, in a general sense and also a very specific sense. These laws are intended to govern the whole life of the people chosen to serve God. Because of the focus on God's holiness and how to approach Him the book of Leviticus is clearly the most legalistic book in the entire Old Testament. The core message of God's laws is seen in the absolute statement "Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." Yet the great climax of this book can be clearly seen in Leviticus 16 where God gives the instructions for making atonement for sin on the Great Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). When the high priest entered into the holy of holies and sprinkled the blood upon the Mercy Seat the sins of the entire nation for the previous year were forgiven by God. The mercy which God showed forth on the day of atonement so foreshadows the work of Christ that the Leviticus 16 has been called "the most beautiful flower of all Messianic symbolism."

In addition to the moral, ceremonial, and civil laws set forth in the book of Leviticus, there are also some historical sections, but these too are centered around the priesthood. These historical portions include the consecration of the priests in Leviticus 8 and 9, the sin and punishment of Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10), and the stoning of the blasphemer (Leviticus 24:10 ff). it is interesting that the Levites are not mentioned except one time very briefly and incidental (Leviticus 25:32 ff). 

The Tabernacle of Moses

The ancient Tabernacle of Moses illustration with the curtain fence, the bronze laver, the bronze altar, the holy place, and the badger skin covering. (Click to Enlarge)

The book may be divided as follows :

Outline of the Book of Leviticus

1 ) Laws concerning Sacrifice (1-7). In this section five types of offerings are discussed: burnt offerings, meal offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings. This is filled out by a discussion of the sin offering as it is to be observed by various classes of individuals.

2 ) An historical section featuring the consecration of the priests (8-9) and the sin of Nadab and Abihu (ch. 10).

3 ) A section on laws of purification from ceremonial uncleanness (11-15). These furnish instructions as to the appropriate sacrifices and ordinances for ridding oneself of impurity.

4) The Day of Atonement (ch. 16).

5 ) Laws dealing with the conduct of God's people (17-20). These include various religious and ethical laws designed to accent the separation between Israel and the heathen nations.

6) Laws concerning the holiness of the priests (21-22).

7 ) A discussion of holy days and feasts (23-24). Included in this section are the Sabbath, Passover, the feasts of first fruits and harvest, Pentecost, the Day of Atonement and the feast of Tabernacles.

8 ) The Sabbatical and Jubilee Years (ch. 25).

9 ) Promises and threats connected with obedience to the laws (ch. 26).

10) An appendix containing the laws concerning vows (ch. 27).

Quick Reference Map

Map of the Possible Route of the Exodus (Click to Enlarge)

Quick Reference Maps - Leviticus

Israel During the Book of Exodus

The World During the Book of Exodus

The Exodus of the Hebrews From Egypt

Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai

The Red Sea at the Time of Moses

Canaan Before Joshua

Leviticus Resources

The Giving of the Law
The Tabernacle

More About the Book of Leviticus
Leviticus in the Picture Study Bible
The Old Testament
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