Leviticus 12: A Mother's Purification
The law of cleansing after the birth of a son or daughter.
Leviticus 12 is a short chapter between two long ones on ritual purity, moving from the dietary rules of Leviticus 11 to the case of a woman who has just given birth. It sets separate waiting periods for a male child and a female child before she may enter the sanctuary.
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman conceive seed, 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.
And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
And she shall 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.
But 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 `her' purifying threescore and six days.
And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb a year old 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:
and he shall offer it before Jehovah, 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.
And 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.