Leviticus 12:1-7

Purification After Childbirth

1 The LORD said to Moses,

2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period.

3 On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised.

4 Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over.

5 If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding.

6 “ ‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering.^[a]

7 He shall offer them before the LORD to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood. “ ‘These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl.

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.

Cross References

• 1. Leviticus 15:19; Leviticus 18:19; Isaiah 64:6; Ezekiel 18:6; Ezekiel 22:10; Ezekiel 36:17
• 2. S Exodus 22:30
• 3. S Genesis 17:10; Genesis 17:12; S Luke 1:59; Luke 2:21
• 4. Luke 2:22
• 5. Exodus 29:38; Leviticus 23:12; Numbers 6:12,14; Numbers 7:15
• 6. Leviticus 5:7

Footnotes

• [a] Or "purification offering" ; also in verse 8