Leviticus 12

Purification After Childbirth

1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "Speak to the {Israelites}, saying, 'When a woman becomes pregnant and she gives birth to a male, then she shall be unclean seven days--as [in] the time of her menstrual bleeding, she shall become unclean.

3 And on the eighth day his foreskin's flesh shall be circumcised.

4 And [for] thirty-three days she shall stay in the blood of [her] cleansing; she must not touch any holy [object], and she may not come to the sanctuary until the fulfilling of the days of her cleansing.

5 But if she gives birth to a female, then she shall be unclean [for] two weeks as [in] her menstruation, and [for] sixty-six days she shall stay {through} the blood of [her] cleansing.

6 And at the fulfilling of the days of her cleansing, [whether] for a son or for a daughter, she must bring to the priest at the tent of assembly's entrance a {yearling} male lamb as a burnt offering and {young dove} or a turtledove as a sin offering.

7 And [the priest] shall present it {before} Yahweh, and he shall make atonement for her, so that she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This [is] the regulation of childbearing for the male or for the female.

8 And if {she cannot afford} a sheep, then she shall take two turtledoves or two {young doves}--one as a burnt offering and one as a sin offering--and the priest shall make atonement for her, so that she shall be clean.'"

Leviticus 12 Commentary

Chapter 12

Ceremonial purification.

- After the laws concerning clean and unclean food, come the laws concerning clean and unclean persons. Man imparts his depraved nature to his offspring, so that, excepting as the atonement of Christ and the sanctification of the Spirit prevent, the original blessing, "Increase and multiply," Ge. 1:28 , is become to the fallen race a direful curse, and communicates sin and misery. Let those women who have received mercy from God in child-bearing, with all thankfulness own God's goodness to them; and this shall please the Lord better than sacrifices.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "And"
• [b]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [c]. Or "son"
• [d]. Or "and"
• [e]. Or "And"
• [f]. Or "daughter"
• [g]. Or "and"
• [h]. Or "at" or "on"
• [i]. Literally "a son of his year"
• [j]. Literally "son of a dove"
• [k]. Literally "to the faces of"
• [l]. Or "and"
• [m]. Literally "the childbearing"
• [n]. Or "son"
• [o]. Or "daughter"
• [p]. Literally "her hand does not find enough"
• [q]. Or "small livestock"
• [r]. Or "and"
• [s]. Literally "sons of a dove"
• [t]. Or "and"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 12

This chapter treats of the purification of a new mother, the time of whose purification for a man child was forty days, and for a maid child eighty, Le 12:1-5 at the close of which she was to bring her offerings to the priests, to make atonement for her, Le 12:6-8.