Purification of Women after Childbirth
12 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites, saying:
“If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean.(A)3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.(B)4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing or come into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed. 5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days.
6 “When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a turtledove for a purification offering.(C)7 He shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement on her behalf; then she shall be clean from her flow of blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, male or female. 8 If she cannot afford a sheep, she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a purification offering, and the priest shall make atonement on her behalf, and she shall be clean.”(D)
Cross references
- 12.2 : Lev 15.19; 18.19
- 12.3 : Gen 17.12
- 12.6 : Lk 2.22
- 12.8 : Lev 4.26; 5.7; Lk 2.22–24
