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Atonement After Giving Birth

12 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying:

‘When a woman [a]gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, (A)as in the days of [b]her menstruation she shall be unclean. Now on (B)the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall remain in the blood of her cleansing for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing; and she shall not enter the sanctuary until the days of her cleansing are fulfilled. But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her [c]menstruation; and she shall remain in the blood of her cleansing for sixty-six days.

(C)When the days of her cleansing are fulfilled, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove (D)for a sin offering. Then he shall bring it near before Yahweh and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the [d]flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, whether a male or a female. But if [e]she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take (E)two turtledoves or two young pigeons, (F)the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the (G)priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’”

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 12:2 Lit produces seed
  2. Leviticus 12:2 Lit the impurity of her sickness
  3. Leviticus 12:5 Lit impurity
  4. Leviticus 12:7 Lit fountain
  5. Leviticus 12:8 Lit her hand does not find a sufficiency of a lamb

The Purification of Women after Childbirth

12 The Lord gave Moses the following regulations for the people of Israel. For seven days after a woman gives birth to a son, she is ritually unclean, as she is during her monthly period. (A)On the eighth day, the child shall be circumcised. Then it will be thirty-three more days until she is ritually clean from her loss of blood; she must not touch anything that is holy or enter the sacred Tent until the time of her purification is completed.

For fourteen days after a woman gives birth to a daughter, she is ritually unclean, as she is during her monthly period. Then it will be sixty-six more days until she is ritually clean from her loss of blood.

When the time of her purification is completed, whether for a son or daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of the Lord's presence a one-year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. The priest shall present her offering to the Lord and perform the ritual to take away her impurity, and she will be ritually clean. This, then, is what a woman must do after giving birth.

(B)If the woman cannot afford a lamb, she shall bring two doves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering, and the priest shall perform the ritual to take away her impurity, and she will be ritually clean.