Leviticus 12

The LORD spoke to Moses and said,

1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2"Tell the people of Israel this: If a woman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy, she will be unclean for seven days. She will be unclean just as she is during the days of her monthly period.

2Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.

Note"Unclean" translates a Hebrew term for ritual status, not dirtiness or wrongdoing. A person who is unclean is temporarily barred from holy places and holy things, and passes that status on by contact, until the set time and rites are over. Childbirth, contact with a corpse, certain skin diseases and normal bodily discharges all produced it. The seven days here match the rules for a woman's monthly period in Leviticus 15, which put her in the strictest grade of uncleanness, anyone touching her, or her bed or seat, became unclean too.

3On the eighth day the flesh of the boy's foreskin is to be cut off.

3And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

NoteCircumcision is the cutting away of the foreskin of the penis. In Genesis 17 it is given to Abraham as the physical mark of the agreement between God and his descendants, to be done to every male on the eighth day after birth. The instruction sits inside the childbirth law because the eighth day falls within the mother's first period of uncleanness.

4Then the woman must wait through thirty-three more days in the blood of her purifying. She must not touch anything set apart for God, and she must not go into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are finished.

4And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.

NoteThe thirty-three days are a second, milder stage that follows the first seven, making forty days in all. In this stage she is no longer "unclean" in the contagious sense of verse 2: she returns to ordinary life and ordinary contact, but she still may not handle holy things or enter the sanctuary. "In the blood of her purifying" is a literal rendering of the Hebrew, which uses "blood" for the discharge that continues after birth. "Anything set apart for God" means consecrated objects and consecrated food, such as the portions of sacrifices given to priests and their households, and offerings the family had vowed. The "sanctuary" is the tent shrine described in Exodus, the enclosure where the sacrifices were made.

5But if she gives birth to a girl, she will be unclean for two weeks, just as she is during her monthly period. Then she must wait through sixty-six days in the blood of her purifying.

5But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.

NoteThe periods are doubled for a daughter: two weeks plus sixty-six days, eighty in all. The text states the difference without giving any reason for it.

6When the days of her purifying are finished, whether for a son or for a daughter, she must bring a lamb that is a year old for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. She brings them to the priest at the door of the tent of meeting.

6And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest:

NoteA burnt offering was burned whole on the altar, none of it eaten. The offering called a "sin offering" here dealt with ritual impurity as much as with wrongdoing, its Hebrew name is connected with cleansing, and some translators call it a purification offering. Nothing in this chapter treats childbirth as a sin; the offering marks the end of a state of uncleanness. A turtledove is a small wild dove, not a turtle. The name imitates its call. The "tent of meeting" (KJV: "tabernacle of the congregation") is the portable tent shrine the Israelites carried through the wilderness. The "door" is the entrance to its courtyard, as far in as a lay worshiper could come.

7The priest will offer it before the LORD and make atonement for her, and she will be made clean from her flow of blood. This is the law for a woman who has given birth to a boy or a girl.

7Who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female.

Note"Make atonement" translates a Hebrew verb whose root sense is to wipe clean or to cover over. In contexts like this one it is the priestly act that removes ritual impurity and restores a person to normal standing in the community and access to the sanctuary.

8If she is not able to bring a lamb, then she must bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for the burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. The priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean."

8And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.

NoteA deliberate provision for the poor: two birds in place of the lamb, one bird taking the place of the more expensive animal. Leviticus repeats this pattern of graded costs elsewhere. This is the offering Mary is described as bringing in Luke 2:24.