Leviticus

Leviticus is the priestly handbook at the heart of the Torah, largely a record of instructions given at Sinai. Its concern is holiness: how a sinful people can live in the presence of a holy God, through a system of sacrifices, a priesthood, and laws distinguishing clean from unclean.

At its centre stands the Day of Atonement (chapter 16) and the call, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.' Though its ritual detail can feel remote, the book's logic — that sin is costly and access to God requires atonement — underlies the New Testament's reading of the death of Christ, especially in the letter to the Hebrews.