Holiness code

The Holiness Code is a term used in biblical criticism to refer to Leviticus chapters 17–26, and is so called due to its highly repeated use of the word Holy. It has no special traditional religious significance, and traditional Jews and Christians do not regard it as having any distinction from any other part of the Book of Leviticus. Critical biblical scholars have regarded it as a distinct unit and have noted that the style is noticeably different from the main body of Leviticus: unlike the remainder of Leviticus, the many laws of the Holiness Code are expressed very closely packed together, and very briefly. According to most versions the documentary hypothesis, the Holiness Code represents an earlier text that was edited and incorporated into the Priestly source and the Torah as a whole, although some scholars, such as Israel Knohl, believe the Holiness Code to be a later addition to the Priestly source.

This source is often abbreviated as "H". A generally accepted date is sometime in the seventh century BC and presumably originated among the priests in the Temple in Jerusalem.