On Leviticus and the Original Torah

In this translation the Torah of AO is presented as four books: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Leviticus is kept available here for study, but not placed among them. A brief word on why.

The testimony of the prophet

Speaking through Jeremiah, AO testifies directly to the content of what was given at the exodus:

"For I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices."Jeremiah 7:22

Leviticus, however, is largely a book of burnt offerings and sacrifices — prescribed as though they had been central to what was commanded at Sinai. The plain testimony of Jeremiah appears to stand against this: the sacrificial code is not the thing that AO commanded on the day of the exodus.

Why this matters for translation

Many English Torahs place Leviticus in the center of the Pentateuch as equal in authority to the other four books. We have instead chosen to present it as a disputed text — preserved in full, faithfully translated, and available for the reader's own study, but set apart from the four books of the Torah proper.

The reader is invited to weigh the matter for themselves. We do not wish to hide the text, but we do wish to be honest about why it does not sit among the other four books in our rendering.

What you'll see when reading

Every chapter of Leviticus in this site carries a small banner at the top reminding the reader of this position and linking back to this page. Highlights and notes work the same way they do in the other books — study is encouraged, not discouraged.