Leviticus 12

Lexham English Bible

Purification After Childbirth

12 Then^[a] Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the Israelites,^[b] saying, ‘When a woman becomes pregnant and she gives birth to a male,^[c] then^[d] 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^[e] if she gives birth to a female,^[f] then^[g] she shall be unclean for two weeks as in her menstruation, and for sixty-six days she shall stay through^[h] 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^[i] male lamb as a burnt offering and young dove^[j] or a turtledove as a sin offering. ⁷ And the priest shall present it before^[k] Yahweh, and he shall make atonement for her, so that^[l] she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the regulation of childbearing^[m] for the male^[n] or for the female.^{[o] 8} And if she cannot afford^[p] a sheep,^[q] then^[r] she shall take two turtledoves or two young doves^[s]—one as a burnt offering and one as a sin offering—and the priest shall make atonement for her, so that^[t] she shall be clean.’”