Post-Natal Purification
12 The Lord told Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelis that a woman who conceives and bears a son is unclean for seven days. Just like the days of her menstruation,[a] she is unclean. 3 On the eighth day, the flesh of the baby’s foreskin is to be circumcised. 4 For 33 days after this, she is to remain in purification due to her blood loss.[b] She is not to touch any sacred thing or enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification have been completed.
5 “If she gives birth to a female, then she is to remain unclean for two weeks, just like her menstruation. She is to remain in purification for 66 days due to her blood loss.[c] 6 When the days of her purification have been completed, whether for her son or daughter, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a one year old lamb for a whole burnt offering or a young dove for a sin offering. 7 He is to offer it in the Lord’s presence and make atonement for her so that she becomes clean from her blood loss. This is the law concerning the bearing of a male or female child. 8 If she cannot afford a goat, then two turtledoves or two young doves—one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering—will serve for him to make atonement for her, so that she becomes clean.”
Footnotes
- Leviticus 12:2 Lit. days of her impurity, she is ill
- Leviticus 12:4 The Heb. lacks loss
- Leviticus 12:5 The Heb. lacks loss