Leviticus 12
JPS TaNaKH 1917
Chapter overview
Leviticus 12 sets periods of purification following childbirth and directs the mother to bring a burnt offering and sin offering afterward. The chapter also provides two birds as an affordable alternative when a lamb is beyond the family’s means.
ChildbirthPurificationRestorationAffordable offering
1And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:
2Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: If a woman be delivered, and bear a man-child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of the impurity of her sickness shall she be unclean.
3And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
4And she shall continue in the blood of purification three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification be fulfilled.
5But if she bear a maid-child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her impurity; and she shall continue in the blood of purification threescore and six days.
6And when the days of her purification 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 turtle-dove, for a sin-offering, unto the door of the tent of meeting, unto the priest.
7And he shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the fountain of her blood. This is the law for her that beareth, whether a male or a female.
8And if her means suffice not for a lamb, then she shall take two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons: the one for a burnt-offering, and the other for a sin-offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.
JPS TaNaKH 1917 — Public Domain. Where these translations come from.