10 Bible Verses about Leaven

Most Relevant Verses

Mark 8:15

Jesus repeatedly ordered them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

Matthew 13:33

He told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and worked into three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

Matthew 16:6

Jesus said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Galatians 5:9

A little leaven [a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers] leavens the whole batch [it perverts the concept of faith and misleads the church].

Exodus 12:19-20

Seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be cut off and excluded from [the atonement made for] the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”

Leviticus 2:11

‘No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall not offer up in smoke any leaven [which symbolizes the spread of sin] or any honey [which, like leaven, is subject to fermentation] in any offering by fire to the Lord.

Leviticus 7:13

With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving, he shall present his offering with cakes of leavened bread.

Leviticus 23:17

You shall bring in from your places two loaves of bread as a wave offering, made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord.

Numbers 15:20-21

You shall lift up a cake made of the first of your [ground grain which has been made into] dough as an offering [to the Lord]; as an offering from the threshing floor, so shall you lift it up. From the first of your dough (ground grain) you shall give to the Lord an offering throughout your generations.

1 Corinthians 5:5-7

you are to hand over this man to Satan for the destruction of his body, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting [over the supposed spirituality of your church] is not good [indeed, it is vulgar and inappropriate]. Do you not know that [just] a little leaven ferments the whole batch [of dough, just as a little sin corrupts a person or an entire church]? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new batch, just as you are, still unleavened. For Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.

From Thematic Bible


Feast of the passover » Leaven » Not to be in any of their quarters

Exodus 13:7

Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, nor shall there be leaven within the borders of your territory.

Deuteronomy 16:4

For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and none of the meat which you sacrificed the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning.

Feast of the passover » Leaven » Punishment for eating

Exodus 12:15

[In the celebration of the Passover in future years,] seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove the leaven from your houses [because it represents the spread of sin]; for whoever eats leavened bread on the first day through the seventh day, that person shall be cut off and excluded from [the atonement made for] Israel.

Exodus 12:19

Seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be cut off and excluded from [the atonement made for] the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born.

Feast of the passover » Leaven » Not to be in their houses during

Exodus 12:19

Seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be cut off and excluded from [the atonement made for] the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born.

Feast of the passover » Leaven » Nothing with, to be eaten

Exodus 12:20

You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”

Leaven » Forbidden » Burnt offering » Meat offering

Leviticus 10:12

Then Moses said to Aaron, and to his surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering that is left over from the offerings by fire to the Lord, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy.

Leviticus 2:11

‘No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall not offer up in smoke any leaven [which symbolizes the spread of sin] or any honey [which, like leaven, is subject to fermentation] in any offering by fire to the Lord.

Leaven » Illustrative of » Doctrines of pharisees, &c

Matthew 16:12

Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the [false] teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Matthew 16:6

Jesus said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Leaven » Illustrative of » The rapid spread of the gospel

Matthew 13:33

He told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and worked into three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

Luke 13:21

It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three peck measures of flour until it was all leavened.”

Leaven » Used with thank offerings

Leviticus 7:13

With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving, he shall present his offering with cakes of leavened bread.

Amos 4:5


Offer [by burning] a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,
And [boastfully] proclaim freewill offerings, announce them.
For this you so love to do, O children of Israel!”
Says the Lord God.

Leaven » Illustrative of » UnGodly professors

1 Corinthians 5:6-7

[About the condition of your church] your boasting is not good [indeed, it is most unseemly and entirely out of place]. Do you not know that [just] a little leaven will ferment the whole lump [of dough]? Purge (clean out) the old leaven that you may be fresh (new) dough, still uncontaminated [as you are], for Christ, our Passover [Lamb], has been sacrificed.

Leaven » Illustrative of » Malice and wickedness

1 Corinthians 5:8

Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of vice and malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and [untainted] truth.

Leaven » Diffusive properties of

1 Corinthians 5:6

Your boasting [over the supposed spirituality of your church] is not good [indeed, it is vulgar and inappropriate]. Do you not know that [just] a little leaven ferments the whole batch [of dough, just as a little sin corrupts a person or an entire church]?

Leaven » Illustrative of » False teachers

Galatians 5:8-9

This [evil] persuasion is not from Him Who called you [Who invited you to freedom in Christ]. A little leaven (a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers) leavens the whole lump [it perverts the whole conception of faith or misleads the whole church].

Leaven » Forbidden » During the feast of passover

Exodus 12:15-20

[In celebration of the Passover in future years] seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven [symbolic of corruption] out of your houses; for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a solemn and holy assembly, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn and holy assembly; no kind of work shall be done in them, save [preparation of] that which every person must eat -- "that only may be done by you. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore shall you observe this day throughout your generations as an ordinance forever. read more.
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread [and continue] until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. Seven days no leaven [symbolic of corruption] shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be excluded from the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread [during that week].

Leaven » First fruits of wheat offered with

Leviticus 23:17

You shall bring in from your places two loaves of bread as a wave offering, made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord.

Leaven » Forbidden » To be offered with blood

Exodus 34:25

“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover (Unleavened Bread) be left over until morning.

Leaven » Used in making bread

Hosea 7:4


They are all adulterers;
Like the heat of an oven
When the baker ceases to stir the fire, [their passion smolders]
From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

Parables » Parables of Christ » Leaven

Matthew 13:33

He told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and worked into three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

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Theasaurus: Leaven