Leviticus · Chapter 12 · 8 verses
Leviticus 12
About this chapter
Leviticus 12 — Wilderness Wanderings
Moses — Prophet and lawgiver, receiving divine instructions for Israel. Set in Mount Sinai, wilderness camp of Israel. God establishes purification rituals for women after childbirth, requiring different periods of ceremonial uncleanness and specific offerings. The law treats the miracle of new life with sacred seriousness, acknowledging both the blessing and the ritual impact of bringing children into the world.
“Leviticus 12:6” — 12:6
This recognizes the sacred nature of birth while maintaining ritual purity in the community.
Read when: Read this when you want to understand how God values both new life and the process of becoming ceremonially clean.
1Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2"Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'If a woman conceives, and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her monthly period she shall be unclean. 3In the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4She shall continue in the blood of purification thirty-three days. She shall not touch any holy thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed. 5But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her period; and she shall continue in the blood of purification sixty-six days. 6"'When the days of her purification are completed, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the door of the Tent of Meeting, a year old lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering: 7and he shall offer it before Yahweh, and make atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the fountain of her blood. "'This is the law for her who bears, whether a male or a female. 8If she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves, 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.'"