The Law · Chapter 6 of 27
Leviticus 6
The chapter deals first with sins against a neighbor, deceit and theft and false oaths, requiring restitution plus a fifth before the trespass offering is brought. Then God gives the priests handling instructions for the burnt, grain, and sin offerings. The fire on the altar must never go out. Priests eat their portions in the holy place, and whatever touches the most holy offerings becomes holy.
What happens in Leviticus 6
The section on the guilt offering extends to wrongs against people: lying about a deposit, robbery, extortion, or swearing falsely about lost property. The offender must restore the full value plus a fifth to the victim, then bring his ram to the LORD for atonement, so that repentance moves outward to the neighbor before it rises to God. Then God turns to the priests with the laws of the offerings from their side. The burnt offering stays on the altar all night, and its fire must be kept perpetually burning, never allowed to go out.
The priest removes the ashes in linen garments and carries them outside the camp. The grain offering is eaten unleavened in the holy place, except the priests' own, which is wholly burned. The sin offering is likewise eaten in a holy place, and its holiness is contagious: whatever touches it becomes holy.
Leviticus 6 in context
Chapters 6 and 7 revisit the same five offerings, but now as instructions for the priests who administer them, a kind of handbook for the altar. Placed after the worshippers' laws, they show the daily rhythm of the sanctuary: fire tended through the night, ashes carried out, portions eaten in holiness.
They reveal how Israel's atonement was not a single event but a continual, tended flame at the center of the camp.
Main themes of Leviticus 6
Leviticus 6 (KJV)
1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour; 3Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein: 4Then 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, 5Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even 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 trespass offering. 6And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: 7And 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. 8And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 9Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. 10And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. 11And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. 12And the 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 lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. 13The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out. 14And this is the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD, before the altar. 15And 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. 16And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it. 17It shall not be baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering. 18All the 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: every one that toucheth them shall be holy. 19And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 20This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer unto the LORD in the day when he is anointed; the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meat offering perpetual, half of it in the morning, and half thereof at night. 21In a pan it shall be made with oil; and when it is baken, thou shalt bring it in: and the baken pieces of the meat offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savour unto the LORD. 22And the priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it: it is a statute for ever unto the LORD; it shall be wholly burnt. 23For every meat offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt: it shall not be eaten. 24And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 25Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, 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: it is most holy. 26The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. 27Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy: and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place. 28But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brasen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water. 29All the males among the priests shall eat thereof: it is most holy. 30And no sin offering, 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.
Verses to carry from Leviticus 6
“Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even 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 trespass offering.”Leviticus 6:5
“The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.”Leviticus 6:13
“All the 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: every one that toucheth them shall be holy.”Leviticus 6:18
Christian typology
How Leviticus 6 points to Jesus
The command that the altar fire never go out pictures an atonement that is always available, never quenched, a mercy kept perpetually burning. Christian readers hear in it the never ceasing efficacy of Christ's sacrifice, offered once yet ever living to make intercession. The insistence that repentance repay the neighbor before approaching the altar is echoed in Jesus's teaching to first be reconciled with your brother, then come and offer your gift.
And the contagious holiness of the offerings, which sanctified all they touched, foreshadows the one whose holiness cleansed rather than being defiled: when He touched the leper, the leper became clean. These are thematic and typological links; the chapter itself does not prophesy. Yet its living flame and its ethic of repair point toward Him.
Questions about Leviticus 6
Why did the fire on the altar have to burn continually?
God commanded that the altar fire never go out, tended fresh each morning with wood and offerings. The perpetual flame kept the place of atonement always ready, so a worshipper could approach at any time. It also pictured Israel's unbroken devotion and God's continual provision for sin, a sign at the very center of the camp that the way to God stayed open.
What does Leviticus 6 teach about making things right with others?
The chapter opens the guilt offering to wrongs against people, such as theft, fraud, and false oaths. Before bringing his sacrifice, the offender had to restore the full value to the victim and add a fifth. Reconciliation with God could not skip over the person harmed. This shows that biblical repentance is practical, repairing real damage to others as part of returning to God.
Reflection
Two images from this chapter linger: a fire that must never die, and a debt that must be repaid before worship begins. Together they teach that devotion to God is continual, not occasional, and that it cannot bypass the people we have wronged. Real faith keeps the flame burning and also settles its accounts with the neighbor.
A prayer from Leviticus 6
Read the whole Bible with the family
Open it in the app, study it live with someone, and let it lead you to Christ.
Open the BibleRead it togetherSee what God is doing