The Third Book of Moses, called Leviticus
Leviticus 6
Chapter VI · Vol. I, pp. 370–372
1 The trespass-offering for sins done wittingly. 8 The law of the burnt-offering, 14 and of the meat-offering. 19 The offering at the consecration of a priest. 24 The law of the sin-offering.
1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 If a soul a sin, and commit a b trespass against the LORD, and c lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship,1 or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;
a Wittingly, not as in ch. 5.2, 3, 15, 17; or presumptuously, Nu. 15.30, 31.
b Nu. 5.6. Ac. 5.4. Ge. 20.6. 2 Sa. 12.9.
c ch. 19.11. Ju. 9.25. Lu. 10.8.
1 Or, in dealing; Heb. putting of the hand.
3 Or have found that which was d lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein;
4 Thene it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,
e ch. 5.16; 22.14. Ex. 22.1-9. Nu. 5.7, 8. Lu. 19.8. Eze. 18.7, 12, 16, 18.
5 Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even f restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his 2 trespass-offering.3
f ch. 5.16. Nu. 5.7, 8. Mat. 5.23. Lu. 19.8. See Ex. 22.1-9.
2 Or, in the day of his being found guilty; Heb. in the day of his trespass.
3 That is, fraud was punished with repayment of the principal and twenty per cent. additional fine. Would that Christian legislators would carefully study the principles of the divine jurisprudence! How many enactments of insufficient or undue severity—how many fruitless expedients and experiments of human wisdom—would be superseded by those simple and efficacious laws which were revealed and enacted by the wisdom and authority of God!—C.
6 And he shall bring his g trespass-offering unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass-offering, unto the priest.
g ch. 5.15, 18. Jn. 1.29. Is. 53.4, 5, 7, 8, 10-12.
7 Andh the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD; and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
h See ch. 4.20, 26, 31, 35; 5.6, 10, 13, 18; 12.8; 14.18; 1.4; 9.7; xvi. He. 1.3; 9.14, 15; 10.10-18. Ro. 8.1, 3, 4, 32-34.
8 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
9 Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the i burnt-offering: It is the burnt-offering, k because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.4
i ch. i. Ex. 29.38-42. Nu. xxviii. xxix.
k ver. 12, 13.
4 In this passage more specific instructions are given to the priests regarding the daily sacrifice and oblation offered up for the people. In Ex. 29.38-42 general directions are given about the two lambs, and the amount of the meat and drink offerings; here the priests are minutely instructed how to present them. The sacrifices were to be so cut up, arranged, and tended, that the evening sacrifice should burn all night, and the morning sacrifice all day.—P.
10 And the priest shall put on his l linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath m consumed with the burnt-offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.
l Ex. 28.40, 41, 43. ch. 16.4. Eze. 44.17, 18. Ro. 8.3. Re. 19.8.
m ch. i. Ps. 22.13, 14. Is. 53.10. Mat. 26.38. Jn. 12.27.
11 And he shall n put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place.5
n Eze. 44.19. ch. 4.12, 21; 14.40, 41; 16.27. He. 13.11-13. Lu. 24.53.
5 The ashes, the remnants of the accepted sacrifice, were carried by the priest having put off his sacred garments, and deposited in a clean place. This direction pointed to Christ, who having put off his garment of flesh, was laid in a new tomb, wherein was never man laid, Jn. 19.41.—C.
12 And the o fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and p lay the burnt-offering in order upon it; and he q shall burn thereon the fat of the peace-offerings.
13 The r fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.6
r ver. 9, 12. Is. 33.14. 1 Th. 1.10. Re. 14.10, 11. Mar. 9.43-49.
6 This fire represents love, zeal, devotedness, which the believer should never permit to fall low or expire, Re. 2.4, 5; 3.2.—C.
14 Ands this is the law of the meat-offering: The sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD before the altar.
s ch. 2.1-11. Nu. 15.4, 9. Jn. 6.32-58. Ga. 2.20.
15 And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat-offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat-offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour, even the memorial of it, unto the LORD.
16 And the t remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with u unleavened bread shall it be eaten x in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it.
t ch. 2.3. Nu. 18.9, 10. Jn. 6.33, 35. Ga. 2.20. Ep. 3.19. 1 Co. 9.13, 14.
x ch. 2.3, 10; 10.12, 13; 7.6; 24.9; ver. 21.
17 It shall not be y baken with leaven: z I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is a most holy, as is the sin-offering, and as the trespass-offering.
y ch. 2.11. 1 Pe. 2.22.
z Nu. 18.9, 10.
a Ex. 29.37. ch. 2.3, 10; ver. 29; ch. 7.1, 6, 7; 21.22. He. 7.26. Lu. 1.35. 1 Pe. 2.22. 2 Co. 5.21.
18 All the b males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings of the LORD made by fire; c every one that toucheth them shall be holy.7
b Ex. 29.33. ver. 29. ch. 7.6; 24.9; 22.4-7; 10.12, 13. Jn. 6.53-56. Ca. 5.1. Ps. 65.4; 132.5.
c Ex. 29.37. ver. 27; ch. 22.4-6. Ezr. 2.63.
7 Every one who handles them, offers them upon the altar, or partakes of such portions of them as are permitted to be eaten, must be holy; i.e. he must be ceremonially clean, and officially set apart and sanctified to the priestly office.—P.
20 This is the offering of Aaron, and of his sons, which they shall offer unto the LORD e in the day when he is anointed; the f tenth part of an ephah[≈ 2.2 litres · 3.9 pints] of fine flour for g a meat-offering perpetual, half of it in the morning, and half thereof at night.
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
f Ex. 16.18,36. ch. 5.11, five pints
g Ex. 29.35,39. This was offered every day along with the daily meat-offering for the Jewish nation, He. 7.27.
21 In a h pan it shall be made with oil; and when it is baken, thou shalt bring it in: and the baken pieces7 of the meat-offering shalt thou offer i for a sweet savour unto the LORD.
h ch. 2.5,7.
7 Perhaps six cakes in the morning, and other six at night.
i See ch. 1.9; 2.3,9,12.
22 And the priest of his sons, that is k anointed in his stead, shall offer it: it is a statute for ever unto the LORD; it shall be l wholly burnt:
k ch. 4.3, to be his successor.
23 For every meat-offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt; it shall not be eaten.8
8 Priests never got the priests' share of their own offerings, at least of such as were offered for the high-priest.—[Of other meat-offerings, a memorial was burned, the rest was eaten by the priests, ch. 2.2; 10.16. The meat-offering for the priest was wholly burnt, wholly ascended to God, thus shadowing out the completeness of the offering of Christ, and his bodily resurrection and ascension into glory, Ac. 2.27,28.—C.]
24 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
25 Speak unto Aaron, and to his sons, saying, m This is the law of the sin-offering: In the place where the burnt-offering is killed shall the sin-offering be killed before the LORD: n it is most holy.
m ch. 1.3,5,11; 4.4,14,24,29,35. Mat. 16.21; 20.18; xxvi. xxvii.
n See ver. 17, 18, 29; ch. 7.1,6,7.
26 The o priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it; p in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation.
o ch. 21.22; 10.17. Eze. 44.29. Ex. 29.33. Nu. 18.9,10. Ho. 4.8. Ga. 2.20. Jn. 6.53,57.
p See ver. 16.
27 Whatsoeverq shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy; and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt washr that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place.
q ver. 18,26; ch. 22.3-7. Ex. 29.37.
r ch. 11.32,33. 2 Co. 7.1,11. Mat. 7.6. He. 10.29.
28 Buts the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken; and if it be sodden in a brazen pot, it shall be both scoured and rinsed in water.
s ch. 11.33; 15.12. Nu. 31.23. He. 9.10,11. 2 Co. 5.1-7.
30 And no u sin-offering,9 whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation, to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten; it shall be burnt in the fire.1
u ch. 4.3-21; 16.11-27. He. 9.9,15; 10.1-14; 13.11.
9 'But no sin-offering,' &c. As directed in ch. 4.3, sq., the whole of a sacrifice offered for sin was to be burned.—P.
1 That food which is not eaten, cannot remove hunger or sustain the body, and herein we see shadowed out the inefficacy of the blood of bulls and of goats 'to make him that does the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience,' and leads us to that 'blood of Christ' that alone can 'purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God,' He. 9.9,14.—C.
Notes
[Ver. 28. Jesus, who 'bare our sins in his own body on the tree,' said of himself, 'This is my body which is broken for you;' but while the body was broken, being 'crucified through weakness,' 2 Co. 13.4, the spirit, represented by the strength and durability of the brass, was 'made perfect through suffering,' He. 2.10, was 'declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead,' Ro. 1.4. C.]
Reflections.—Behold the criminal and odious nature of dishonesty in God's sight! No forgiveness thereof, even through the blood of Jesus, is to be expected but in the way of restoring that which hath been unjustly acquired. While, therefore, I take heed to put far away my corruptions, and to put due honour upon the ordinances of God, let love to him perpetually burn in my heart, as the effect of his everlasting love to me; nor let any human invention be ever mixed with my worship of him. The Lord's ministers should be always duly, though not nicely, supported. But let them never expect profit or subsistence by their sins, or attempt to pardon them; let the whole guilt thereof be pardoned by Jesus, who finished transgression and made an end of sin; and let them gratefully serve him as their great High-priest. While I perceive the insufficiency of these legal oblations, which even produced and transmitted uncleanness, I would reverence the blood of my Redeemer, and hope that, when my earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved, by the gracious application thereof, I shall be presented without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, in the presence of his heavenly Father.
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.