Purification After Childbirth
Leviticus 12, verse 1. Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Leviticus 12, verse 2. “Speak to the children of Israel, saying to them, ‘If a woman conceived and bore a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; she shall be unclean as in the days of her menstrual isolation. Leviticus 12, verse 3. Then on the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Leviticus 12, verse 4. She will then continue in the blood of her uncleanness thirty-three days. She is not to touch any hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are fulfilled. Leviticus 12, verse 5. But if she bears a female child, she will be unclean two weeks, as in her menstrual isolation, and she will continue in the blood of her uncleanness sixty-six days. Leviticus 12, verse 6. When the days of her purification are fulfilled, whether for a son or a daughter, she is to bring to the priest a lamb of the first year as a whole burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering, to the door of the tabernacle of testimony. Leviticus 12, verse 7. Then he shall bring it before the Lord and make atonement for her, and it will cleanse her from her flow of blood. This is the law for her who bore a male or a female. Leviticus 12, verse 8. But if she is unable to afford a lamb, she may bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons—one as a whole burnt offering and the other as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’”