Tattooing

The umbrella collects a single ruling from the Holiness Code: tattooing is forbidden to Israel, paired with two other body-marking constraints and sealed by Yahweh's self-identification.

The Holiness-Code Prohibition

The directive comes inside a string of rulings addressed to the assembly. The verses run together as a body-marking unit: "You⁺ will not round the corners of your⁺ heads, neither will you mar the corners of your beard. You⁺ will not make on your⁺ flesh any cuttings for a soul, nor make on you⁺ any tattoo marks: I am Yahweh" (Le 19:27-28). The plural-you forms address the people corporately; the prohibition pairs flesh-cuttings made "for a soul" with tattoo marks on the body in a single sentence, and the closing self-identification "I am Yahweh" anchors the pair on the same authority that closes other rulings in the chapter.