The Book of Leviticus ( from Greek Λευιτικός, Leuitikos, meaning " relating to the Levites ";, Vayiqra, " And He called ") is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ( or Pentateuch ).

The subject of homosexuality in Judaism dates back to the Torah, in the books of Bereshit and Vayiqra.

The list of dietary laws in the book of Leviticus forbids all flying insects that walk, but makes an exception for the locust.

Islam forbids lending with interest even today, while the Catholic Church allowed it from 1822 onwards, and the Torah states that all debts should be erased every 7 years and every 50 years ( in the Jubilee year, as described in the Book of Leviticus ).

Although some Christian and Jewish groups believe that it forbids divination in general, Leviticus strictly forbids nahash and onan.

The ancient Law of Moses ( the Torah ) forbids men lying with men ( intercourse ) in Leviticus 18 and gives a story of attempted homosexual rape in Genesis in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities being soon destroyed after that.

:* Acharei Mot, on Leviticus 16 – 18: Yom Kippur, centralized offerings, sexual practices

An early law against sexual intercourse between men is recorded in Leviticus, prescribing the death penalty.

In Leviticus, the Torah prohibits sexual intercourse with a niddah and the prohibition has been maintained in traditional Jewish religious law.

The Leviticus description of niddah is essentially composed of two parts: the ritual purity ( tumah and taharah ) aspect and the prohibition of sexual intercourse aspect.

Leviticus further prohibits sexual intercourse with a woman who is in her niddah state.

* The order to make trespass offerings after sexual involvement with an engaged slavewoman ( Leviticus 19: 20-22 )

In particular, the two segments containing the sexual prohibitions, Leviticus 17: 2-18: 26 and Leviticus 20: 1-22: 33, are seen as being based on essentially the same law code, with Leviticus 20: 1-22: 33 regarded as the later version of the two.

Leviticus 18 is generally regarded as part of the holiness code of Leviticus 11 – 26, and its sexual prohibitions are largely paralleled by Leviticus 20 ( except that chapter has more emphasis on punishment ).

The prohibition of Leviticus 18: 22, against " man lying with man as with a woman ", pertains solely to anal penetration, not to other male-male sexual practices, and rests on concern about ancient Jewish ritual taboos (" purity "), not hygiene, idolatrous rituals, opposition to Gentile practices, or ethical beliefs about the nature of sex or the complementarity of the sexes.

A man who had normal intercourse with his wife was also considered ceremonially unclean, and he too was required to bathe in a mikveh and he became pure after the sun had set ( Leviticus 15: 18 ).

Leviticus rests in two crucial beliefs: the first, that the world was created " very good " and retains the capacity to achieve that state although it is vulnerable to sin and defilement ; the second, that the faithful enactment of ritual makes God's presence available, while ignoring or breaching it compromises the harmony between God and the world.

Thus, Lester Grabbe points to a number of parallels between the Azazel narrative in 1 Enoch and the wording of Leviticus 16, including “ the similarity of the names Asael and Azazel ; the punishment in the desert ; the placing of sin on Asael / Azazel ; the resultant healing of the land .” Daniel Stökl also observes that “ the punishment of the demon resembles the treatment of the goat in aspects of geography, action, time and purpose .” Thus, the place of Asael ’ s punishment designated in 1 Enoch as Dudael is reminiscent of the rabbinic terminology used for the designation of the ravine of the scapegoat in later rabbinic interpretations of the Yom Kippur ritual.

North found this comparison between Leviticus 23 ( Feast of Weeks ) and Leviticus 25 ( Jubilees ) to be " the strongest possible support for the forty-ninth year " as the Jubilee year.

* That certain Laws, including the " dietary laws " mentioned in Leviticus 11 and in Deuteronomy 14: 3-21 concerning the distinguishing between the unclean and the clean animals, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten, should be adhered to by Christians today.

Particular emphasis was laid on the relationship between the rites under the Jewish law as laid down in Leviticus and the liturgy of the church.

Leviticus 1-16 sees the world as divided between the profane ( i. e., not holy ) masses and the holy priests.

The Leviticus Holiness code, for example, specifically excludes eunuchs or any males with defective genitals from the priesthood, just as castrated animals are excluded from sacrifice.

Jochebed's name is given various allegorical interpretations ; the Leviticus Rabbah identifies her as the person named in the Book of Chronicles as Jehudijah, by arguing that the name should be interpreted as meaning the Jewess, in reference to her founding the Jewish nation by disobeying the Pharaoh's order to dispose of the firstborn males.

Emotional and even physical closeness of two males did not seem to concern the editors of the story, nor was such a relationship prohibited by Leviticus.

But he argues that one can understand the Hebrew conception of love only by looking at one of the core commandments of Judaism, Leviticus 19: 18, " Love your neighbor as yourself ", also called the second Great Commandment.

* Non-kosher animals and birds ( based on Leviticus 11: 3 – 8 and Deuteronomy 14: 3 – 21 ): mammals require certain identifying characteristics ( completely cloven hooves and being ruminants ), while birds require a tradition that they can be consumed.

The biblical reference to the four species in Sukkot can be found in Leviticus Chapter 23, verse 40.

In addition, communistic attitudes and implications can be found in Leviticus 25: 35 – 38: " If one [...] becomes poor [...] help him [...] so he can continue to live among you.

The practice of a nazirite vow is part of the ambiguity of the Greek term " Nazarene " that appears in the New Testament ; the sacrifice of a lamb and the offering of bread does suggest a relationship with Christian symbolism ( then again, these are the two most frequent offerings prescribed in Leviticus, so no definitive conclusions can be drawn ).

Hannah is mouthing her prayer silently in the sanctuary because of a Leviticus limitation on her vow as a woman: if her husband should hear about it, he can nullify her vow if he does so on the very day he hears of it.

Tzaraath can also afflict garments ( Leviticus 13: 47 ).

Because, according to the Hebrew Bible, hardship and calamitous circumstances can occur as a result of wrongdoing ( see, for example, Leviticus, 26: 14-41 ), fasting is often undertaken by the community or by individuals to achieve atonement and avert catastrophe ( see, for example, Esther, 4: 3, 16 ; Jonah, 3: 7 ).

() According to the book of Leviticus, blood from sacrificed animals may only be placed on the altar of the Great Temple in Jerusalem ( which no longer existed at the time of the Christian blood libels ).

Bernard Bamberger considers Leviticus 19, beginning with God's commandment in verse 3 —" You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God, am holy "— to be " the climactic chapter of the book, the one most often read and quoted " ( 1981: 889 ).

* There is reference to a jubilee which is to be held every hundred years ( Chapter 82 ), rather than every fifty years as described in Leviticus: 25.

The Church would not simply grant this favour, so Henry cited the passage in the Book of Leviticus where it said, " If a man taketh his brother's wife, he hath committed adultery ; they shall be childless.

* Fruit during the first three years ( orlah ): according to Leviticus 19: 23, fruit from a tree in the first three years after planting cannot be consumed ( both in the Land of Israel and the diaspora )

The ritual instructions in the Priestly code apparently grew from priests giving instruction and answering questions about ritual matters ; the Holiness code ( or H ) used to be regarded as a separate document later incorporated into Leviticus, but it seems better to think of the Holiness authors as editors who worked with the Priestly code and actually produced Leviticus as we now have it.

In Leviticus, sacrifice is to be offered only by priests.

A possible reason may be that, of all the books of the Torah, Leviticus is the closest to being purely devoted to mitzvot and its study thus is able to go hand-in-hand with their performance.

The earlier source is thought to be the one referring to the flesh being consumed by the priests, the latter part of Leviticus 6 falls into this source, while the later source, which Leviticus 4 falls within, reflects a development where the flesh from sin offerings was seen as insufficiently holy and thus needing to be disposed of elsewhere.

The passage in which this is explained as being about atonement for real sin, Leviticus 16: 16 rather than just breach of this taboo, being considered by textual scholars to be a later gloss added to the text.

The sin offering required when a priest had sinned, for which there is a similar sacrificial animal as the Yom Kippur offering, is considered by scholars to be a much later development, and only added to the text of Leviticus in the latest stages of its compilation, after sin offerings had begun to be seen as being about atonement for actual sin rather than relatively immediate breaches of taboos.

The first-born of unclean animals, however, was either to be redeemed or sold and the price given to the priest ( Leviticus 27: 11-13, 27 ).

Jesus is described as telling the parable in response to a question regarding the identity of the " neighbour " which Leviticus says should be loved.

In the Jewish religion, the latter, under certain conditions, defined in Leviticus 27, could permit it to be redeemed.

As far back as the Old Testament book of Leviticus, the Jews were instructed to show their leather gloves to priests if it appeared the mildew was growing on them, and if so, the gloves would be considered unclean.

During the annulment hearing, Henry VIII looked at the Hebrew version of Leviticus 20: 21, which states that it is unclean for a man to take his brother's wife and that, if a man did, the union would be childless.