Old Testament

The Book of Leviticus

The Book of Leviticus is the third of the 46 books of the Old Testament: 27 chapters and 858 verses.

About Leviticus · Ritual and moral law

Leviticus is the priests' book: instructions for sacrifice, purity, and worship in Israel's sanctuary, traditionally credited to Moses and preserved by the priestly families who used it. It was written for a people learning to live close to a holy God without being destroyed by the difference, and its constant refrain is that holiness must reach every corner of life. Modern readers find it forbidding, but its logic — that sin costs something, that blood is life, that God dwells among his people — is the grammar the New Testament uses to explain the Cross.

Leviticus in Bless
Testament	Old Testament — book 3 of 46, 3 of 73 in the Bible
Canon	Protocanonical (in every Christian canon)
Chapters	27
Verses	858, as Bless numbers them
Latin	Clementine Vulgate, every chapter
Bp. Challoner	Summaries of all 27 chapters · 28 notes
Catechism	13 paragraphs cite it

Chapter by chapter

All 27 chapters, in brief.

Bishop Richard Challoner’s summary of each chapter, from his revision of the Douay-Rheims (1749–52). Open a chapter for the full text.

Leviticus 1
17 verses
Of holocausts or burnt offerings.
Leviticus 2
16 verses
Of offerings of flour, and firstfruits.
Leviticus 3
17 verses
Of peace offerings.
Leviticus 4
35 verses
Of offerings for sins of ignorance.
Leviticus 5
19 verses
Of other sacrifices for sins.
Leviticus 6
30 verses
Oblation for sins of injustice: ordinances concerning the holocausts and the perpetual fire: the sacrifices of the priests, and the sin offerings.
Leviticus 7
38 verses
Of sacrifices for trespasses and thanks offerings. No fat nor blood is to be eaten.
Leviticus 8
36 verses
Moses consecrateth Aaron and his sons.
Leviticus 9
24 verses
Aaron offereth sacrifice for himself and the people. Fire cometh from the Lord upon the altar.
Leviticus 10
20 verses
Nadab and Abiu for offering strange fire, are burnt by fire. Priests are forbidden to drink wine, when they enter into the tabernacle. The law of eating the holy things.
Leviticus 11
47 verses
The distinction of clean and unclean animals.
Leviticus 12
8 verses
The purification of women after childbirth.
Leviticus 13
59 verses
The law concerning leprosy in men, and in garments.
Leviticus 14
57 verses
The rites of sacrifices in cleansing the leprosy. Leprosy in houses.
Leviticus 15
33 verses
Other legal uncleannesses.
Leviticus 16
34 verses
When and how the high priest must enter into the sanctuary. The feast of expiation.
Leviticus 17
16 verses
No sacrifices to be offered but at the door of the tabernacle: a prohibition of blood.
Leviticus 18
30 verses
Marriage is prohibited in certain degrees of kindred: Anda all unnatural lusts.
Leviticus 19
37 verses
Divers ordinances, partly moral, partly ceremonial or judicial.
Leviticus 20
27 verses
Divers crimes to be punished with death.
Leviticus 21
24 verses
Ordinances relating to the priests.
Leviticus 22
33 verses
Who may eat the holy things: and what things may be offered.
Leviticus 23
44 verses
Holy days to be kept.
Leviticus 24
23 verses
The oil for the lamps. The loaves of proposition. The punishment of blasphemy.
Leviticus 25
55 verses
The law of the seventh and of the fiftieth year of jubilee.
Leviticus 26
45 verses
God's promises to them that keep his commandments. And the many punishments with which he threatens transgressors.
Leviticus 27
34 verses
Of vows and tithes.

Bp. Richard Challoner · chapter summaries

Coming up

Read at Mass.

From October 29, 2026 to October 28, 2027, Leviticus is read at the principal Mass on 3 days in the US calendar. The next 4 readings:

Date	Celebration	Reading	Citation
Mon, Feb 15, 2027	Monday of the First Week of Lent	First Reading	Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18
Fri, Jul 30, 2027 computed	Friday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time	First Reading	Leviticus 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37
Sat, Jul 31, 2027 computed	St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest	First Reading	Leviticus 25:1, 8-17
Mon, Mar 6, 2028 computed	Monday of the First Week of Lent	First Reading	Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18

Citations as published in the USCCB liturgical calendar (principal Mass, first option). Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.