-A+
Text Resize

Top of Page

   Page Style

The Holy Bible

Current English Language Version

The Book of Leviticus

Leviticus Chapter 12

  

Purification After Childbirth

1
THE

Lord said to Moses,  2  “Say to the Israelites: ‘When a woman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a male child, she will be unclean seven days, just as she is unclean during her menstrual period.  3  On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.  4  Then the woman must continue in purification from her bleeding for thirty-three days. She must not touch anything sacred or go into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed.

5‘But if she gives birth to a female child, she will be unclean for two weeks, as during her menstrual period. Then she is to continue in purification from her bleeding for sixty-six days.

6‘When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or a daughter, 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 turtledove for a sin offering.  7  He shall offer them before the Lord to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her discharge of blood.

‘This is the law for a woman who gives birth to a child, either male or female.  8  If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. Then in this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean’.”