Leviticus 12:1-7

Purification after childbirth

1 The LORD said to Moses:

2 Say to the Israelites: If a woman conceives a child and gives birth to a son, she will be unclean for seven days—just as she is during her menstrual period.

3 On the eighth day, the flesh of the boy's foreskin must be circumcised.

4 For thirty-three days the mother will be in a state of blood purification. She must not touch anything holy or enter the sacred area until her time of purification is completed.

5 But if the woman gives birth to a daughter, she will be unclean for two weeks—just as she is during her menstrual period—and will be in a state of blood purification for sixty-six days.

6 When the time of purification is complete, whether for a son or a daughter, the mother must bring a one-year-old lamb as an entirely burned offering and a pigeon or turtledove as a purification offering to the priest at the meeting tent's entrance.

7 The priest will present it before the LORD and make reconciliation for her. She will then be cleansed from her blood flow. This is the Instruction for any woman who has a child, male or female.

Leviticus 12:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Footnotes

• [a] Heb uncertain