Levi's work was well known in Christian circles his Dissertation on the Prophecies was accepted as authoritative by many scholars, both Jewish and Christian, well into the nineteenth century. It was republished in London in 1817 in two volumes. This led to his three-volume Dissertation on the Prophecies of the Old Testament (1793–1800), which he printed and published himself. Levi published a lengthy answer, which led to many arguments with Christian divines. In 1786, Joseph Priestley published his Letter to the Jews (1786), urging them to convert. He supervised a translation of the Old Testament into English and published a Hebrew grammar and dictionary, and a guide to the Hebrew language.

Next, he translated the prayer books of both the Ashkenazi and Spanish and Portuguese Jews.

His first published work, A Succinct Account of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Jews (1782), tried to explain Judaism to Jews and to correct Christian misconceptions about Judaism. Self-educated, he realised how little both Jews and Christians in England knew about Judaism and resolved to explain and defend his faith. He read voraciously in Jewish literature from ancient times to the present, as well as in Christian writings about Judaism and about the Bible. He worked as a shoemaker, then as a hatter, then as a printer. Levi was born to poor immigrant parents who could not afford to educate him. David Levi (1742 in London – 1801) was an English-Jewish writer, Hebraist, Jewish apologist, translator, and poet.

Levi hatter