“Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘You shall be holy; for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.
⛓ Read Leviticus 19 forward — the whole chapter and its afterlife →Where this passage surfaces again, sorted by the strength of the link. Each kind of reuse — formal quotation, deliberate allusion, faint echo, figural pattern — carries its own mark. Follow any reference to read it in place.
Quotation1
A formal citation — high verbal volume, often introduced by a saying-formula.
'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy' is the most verbally exact source of 1:16 and heads the Holiness Code chapter Peter draws on repeatedly (love of neighbor, impartiality). Co-primary with Leviticus 11:44-45.
High confidenceAllusion4
A deliberate verbal borrowing without a citation formula.
'God called us... in sanctification' and the refrain of holiness echo the Holiness Code's foundational imperative, 'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.' The grounding of ethical holiness in the holy character of the God who calls is Levitical.
High confidence'Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful' is a deliberate reworking of the Holiness Code's imitatio Dei formula 'be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.' The imitation-of-God structure is unmistakable; Luke substitutes mercy for holiness. High Volume.
High confidence'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy' — the Holiness Code's call to imitate God, reframed as perfection in v.48.
High confidenceThe call to 'be imitators of God' reworks the imitatio Dei formula 'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy,' the foundational ground of Israelite ethics. Volume is moderate (conceptual not verbal), but coherence is high since the surrounding paraenesis on sexual purity and conduct 'as becomes saints' tracks Leviticus 19's holiness code.
Medium confidenceEcho2
A fainter, low-volume reuse, carried by recurrence or thematic coherence.
'Holy and without defect before him' draws on the Holiness Code's 'You shall be holy, for I... am holy,' and the sacrificial demand that an offering be 'without blemish' (Lev 1:3; 22:21). Thematic coherence (Israel/offering presented blameless to God) is strong; the volume is diffuse because two strands of Levitical holiness merge.
Medium confidencePaul's warrant 'for God's temple is holy' draws on the Levitical holiness principle ('You shall be holy, for I the LORD am holy') as applied to sanctuary space. The holiness predicate grounding the warning against defilement coheres with the temple's sanctity, though the link is conceptual and faint.
Low confidence