1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.
3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
4 And she shall then 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.
5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.
6 And when the days of her purifying 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 turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest:
7 Who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female.
8 And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.
1 And the LORD H3068 spake H1696 unto Moses, H4872 saying, H559
2 Speak H1696 unto the children H1121 of Israel, H3478 saying, H559 If a woman H802 have conceived seed, H2232 and born H3205 a man child: H2145 then she shall be unclean H2930 seven H7651 days; H3117 according to the days H3117 of the separation H5079 for her infirmity H1738 shall she be unclean. H2930
3 And in the eighth H8066 day H3117 the flesh H1320 of his foreskin H6190 shall be circumcised. H4135
4 And she shall then continue H3427 in the blood H1818 of her purifying H2893 three H7969 and thirty H7970 days; H3117 she shall touch H5060 no hallowed H6944 thing, nor come H935 into the sanctuary, H4720 until the days H3117 H3117 of her purifying H2892 be fulfilled. H4390
5 But if she bear H3205 a maid child, H5347 then she shall be unclean H2930 two weeks, H7620 as in her separation: H5079 and she shall continue H3427 in the blood H1818 of her purifying H2893 threescore H8346 and six H8337 days. H3117
6 And when the days H3117 of her purifying H2892 are fulfilled, H4390 for a son, H1121 or for a daughter, H1323 she shall bring H935 a lamb H3532 of the first H1121 year H8141 for a burnt offering, H5930 and a young H1121 pigeon, H3123 or a turtledove, H8449 for a sin offering, H2403 unto the door H6607 of the tabernacle H168 of the congregation, H4150 unto the priest: H3548
7 Who shall offer H7126 it before H6440 the LORD, H3068 and make an atonement H3722 for her; and she shall be cleansed H2891 from the issue H4726 of her blood. H1818 This is the law H8451 for her that hath born H3205 a male H2145 or a female. H5347
8 And if she be not able to bring H4672 H1767 H3027 a lamb, H7716 then she shall bring H3947 two H8147 turtles, H8449 or two young H1121 pigeons; H3123 the one H259 for the burnt offering, H5930 and the other H259 for a sin offering: H2403 and the priest H3548 shall make an atonement H3722 for her, and she shall be clean. H2891
1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
2 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.
3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
4 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.
5 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.
6 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:
7 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.
8 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.
1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,
2 `Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, A woman when she giveth seed, and hath born a male, then she hath been unclean seven days, according to the days of separation for her sickness she is unclean;
3 and in the eighth day is the flesh of his foreskin circumcised;
4 and thirty and three days she doth abide in the blood of her cleansing; against any holy thing she doth not come, and unto the sanctuary she doth not go in, till the fulness of the days of her cleansing.
5 `And if a female she bear, then she hath been unclean two weeks, as in her separation; and sixty and six days she doth abide for the blood of her cleansing.
6 `And in the fulness of the days of her cleansing for son or for daughter she doth bring in a lamb, a son of a year, for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon or a turtle-dove for a sin-offering, unto the opening of the tent of meeting, unto the priest;
7 and he hath brought it near before Jehovah, and hath made atonement for her, and she hath been cleansed from the fountain of her blood; this `is' the law of her who is bearing, in regard to a male or to a female.
8 `And if her hand find not the sufficiency of a sheep, then she hath taken two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, one for a burnt-offering, and one for a sin-offering, and the priest hath made atonement for her, and she hath been cleansed.'
1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman conceive seed, and bear a male, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of the separation of her infirmity shall she be unclean.
3 And on the eighth day shall the flesh of his foreskin be circumcised.
4 And she shall continue thirty-three days in the blood of her cleansing; no holy thing shall she touch, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her cleansing are fulfilled.
5 And if she bear a female, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation; and she shall continue sixty-six days in the blood of her cleansing.
6 And when the days of her cleansing are fulfilled, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a yearling lamb for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon or a turtle-dove for a sin-offering, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, unto the priest.
7 And he shall present it before Jehovah, and make atonement for her; and she shall be clean from the flux of her blood. This is the law for her that hath borne a male or a female.
8 And if her hand cannot find what is sufficient for a sheep, she shall bring two turtle-doves or two young pigeons; 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.
1 Yahweh 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.
3 In the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
4 She 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.
5 But 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:
7 and 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.
8 If 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.'"
1 And the Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to the children of Israel, If a woman is with child and gives birth to a male child, she will be unclean for seven days, as when she is unwell.
3 And on the eighth day let him be given circumcision.
4 And she will be unclean for thirty-three days till the flow of her blood is stopped; no holy thing may be touched by her, and she may not come into the holy place, till the days for making her clean are ended.
5 But if she gives birth to a female child, then she will be unclean for two weeks, as when she is unwell; and she will not be completely clean for sixty-six days.
6 And when the days are ended for making her clean for a son or a daughter, let her take to the priest at the door of the Tent of meeting, a lamb of the first year for a burned offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin-offering:
7 And the priest is to make an offering of it before the Lord and take away her sin, and she will be made clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for a woman who gives birth to a male or a female.
8 And if she has not money enough for a lamb, then let her take two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burned offering and the other for a sin-offering, and the priest will take away her sin and she will be clean,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Leviticus 12
Commentary on Leviticus 12 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Laws of Purification - Leviticus 12-15
The laws concerning defilement through eating unclean animals, or through contact with those that had died a natural death, are followed by rules relating to defilements proceeding from the human body, in consequence of which persons contaminated by them were excluded for a longer or shorter period from the fellowship of the sanctuary, and sometimes even from intercourse with their fellow-countrymen, and which had to be removed by washing, by significant lustrations, and by expiatory sacrifices. They comprised the uncleanness of a woman in consequence of child-bearing (Leviticus 12:1-8), leprosy (ch. 13 and 14), and both natural and diseased secretions from the sexual organs of either male or female ( emissio seminis and gonorrhaea, also menses and flux: ch. 15); and to these there is added in Numbers 19:11-22, defilement proceeding from a human corpse. Involuntary emission defiled the man; voluntary emission, in sexual intercourse, both the man and the woman and any clothes upon which it might come, for an entire day, and this defilement was to be removed in the evening by bathing the body, and by washing the clothes, etc. (Leviticus 15:16-18). Secretions from the sexual organs, whether of a normal kind, such as the menses and those connected with child-birth, or the result of disease, rendered not only the persons affected with them unclean, but even their couches and seats, and any persons who might sit down upon them; and this uncleanness was even communicated to persons who touched those who were diseased, or to anything with which they had come in contact (Leviticus 15:3-12, Leviticus 15:19-27). In the case of the menses, the uncleanness lasted seven days (Leviticus 15:19, Leviticus 15:24); in that of child-birth, either seven or fourteen days, and then still further thirty-three or sixty-six, according to circumstances (Leviticus 12:2, Leviticus 12:4-5); and in that of a diseased flux, as long as the disease itself lasted, and seven days afterwards (Leviticus 15:13, Leviticus 15:28); but the uncleanness communicated to others only lasted till the evening. In all these cases the purification consisted in the bathing of the body and washing of the clothes and other objects. But if the uncleanness lasted more than seven days, on the day after the purification with water a sin-offering and a burnt-offering were to be offered, that the priest might pronounce the person clean, or receive him once more into the fellowship of the holy God (Leviticus 12:6, Leviticus 12:8; Leviticus 15:14-15, Leviticus 15:29-30). Leprosy made those who were affected with it so unclean, that they were excluded from all intercourse with the clean (Leviticus 13:45-46): and on their recovery they were to be cleansed by a solemn lustration, and received again with sacrifices into the congregation of the Lord (Lev 14:1-32). There are no express instructions as to the communicability of leprosy; but this is implied in the separation of the leper from the clean (Leviticus 13:45-46), as well as from the fact that a house affected by the leprosy rendered all who entered it, or slept in it, unclean (Leviticus 14:46-47). The defilement caused by a death was apparently greater still. Not only the corpse of a person who had died a natural death, as well as of one who had been killed by violence, but a dead body or grave defiled, for a period of seven days, both those who touched them, and (in the case of the corpse) the house in which the man had died, all the persons who were in it or might enter it, and all the open vessels that were there (Numbers 19:11, Numbers 19:14-16). Uncleanness of this kind could only be removed by sprinkling water prepared from running water and the ashes of a sin-offering (Numbers 19:12, Numbers 19:17.), and would even spread from the persons defiled to persons and things with which they came in contact, so as to render them unclean till the evening (Numbers 19:22); whereas the defilement caused by contact with a dead animal lasted only a day, and then, like every other kind of uncleanness that only lasted till the evening, could be removed by bathing the persons or washing the things (Leviticus 11:25.).
But whilst, according to this, generation and birth as well as death were affected with uncleanness; generation and death, the coming into being and the going out of being, were not defiling in themselves, or regarded as the two poles which bound, determine, and enclose the finite existence, so as to warrant us in tracing the principle which lay at the foundation of the laws of purification, as Bהhr supposes, “to the antithesis between the infinite and the finite being, which falls into the sphere of the sinful when regarded ethically as the opposite to the absolutely holy.” Finite existence was created by God, quite as much as the corporeality of man; and both came forth from His hand pure and good. Moreover it is not begetting, giving birth, and dying, that are said to defile; but the secretions connected with generation and child-bearing, and the corpses of those who had died. In the decomposition which follows death, the effect of sin, of which death is the wages, is made manifest in the body. Decomposition, as the embodiment of the unholy nature of sin, is uncleanness κατ ̓ ἐξοχξήν ; and this the Israelite, who was called to sanctification in fellowship with God, was to avoid and abhor. Hence the human corpse produced the greatest amount of defilement; so great, in fact, that to remove it a sprinkling water was necessary, which had been strengthened by the ashes of a sin-offering into a kind of sacred alkali. Next to the corpse, there came on the one hand leprosy , that bodily image of death which produced all the symptoms of decomposition even in the living body, and on the other hand the offensive secretions from the organs of generation, which resemble the putrid secretions that are the signs in the corpse of the internal dissolution of the bodily organs and the commencement of decomposition. From the fact that the impurities, for which special rites of purification were enjoined, are restricted to these three forms of manifestation in the human body, it is very evident that the laws of purification laid down in the O.T. were not regulations for the promotion of cleanliness or of good morals and decency, that is to say, were not police regulations for the protection of the life of the body from contagious diseases and other things injurious to health; but that their simple object was “to impress upon the mind a deep horror of everything that is and is called death in the creature, and thereby to foster an utter abhorrence of everything that is or is called sin, and also, to the constant humiliation of fallen man, to remind him in all the leading processes of the natural life-generation, birth, eating, disease, death - how everything, even his own bodily nature, lies under the curse of sin (Genesis 3:14-19), that so the law might become a 'schoolmaster to bring unto Christ,' and awaken and sustain the longing for a Redeemer from the curse which had fallen upon his body also (see Galatians 3:24; Romans 7:24; Romans 8:19.; Philippians 3:21).” Leyrer .
Uncleanness and Purification after Child-Birth. - Leviticus 12:2-4. “ If a woman bring forth ( תּזריע ) seed and bear a boy, she shall be unclean seven days as in the days of the uncleanness of her (monthly) sickness .” נדּה , from נדד to flow, lit., that which is to flow, is applied more especially to the uncleanness of a woman's secretions (Leviticus 15:19). דּותהּ , inf. of דּוה , to be sickly or ill, is applied here and in Leviticus 15:33; Leviticus 20:18, to the suffering connected with an issue of blood.
After the expiration of this period, on the eighth day, the boy was to be circumcised (see at Gen 17). She was then to sit, i.e., remain at home, thirty-three days in the blood of purification, without touching anything holy or coming to the sanctuary (she was not to take any part, therefore, in the sacrificial meals, the Passover, etc.), until the days of her purification were full, i.e., had expired.
But if she had given birth to a girl, she was to be unclean two weeks (14 days), as in her menstruation, and then after that to remain at home 66 days. The distinction between the seven (or fourteen) days of the “separation for her infirmity,” and the thirty-three (or sixty-six) days of the “blood of her purifying,” had a natural ground in the bodily secretions connected with child-birth, which are stronger and have more blood in them in the first week ( lochia rubra ) than the more watery discharge of the lochia alba , which may last as much as five weeks, so that the normal state may not be restored till about six weeks after the birth of the child. The prolongation of the period, in connection with the birth of a girl, was also founded upon the notion, which was very common in antiquity, that the bleeding and watery discharge continued longer after the birth of a girl than after that of a boy ( Hippocr. Opp. ed. Khn. i. p. 393; Aristot. h. an. 6, 22; 7, 3, cf. Burdach, Physiologie iii. p. 34). But the extension of the period to 40 and 80 days can only be accounted for from the significance of the numbers, which we meet with repeatedly, more especially the number forty (see at Exodus 24:18).
After the expiration of the days of her purification “ with regard to a son or a daughter, ” i.e., according as she had given birth to a son or a daughter (not for the son or daughter, for the woman needed purification for herself, and not for the child to which she had given birth, and it was the woman, not the child, that was unclean), she was to bring to the priest a yearling lamb for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon or turtle-dove for a sin-offering, that he might make atonement for her before Jehovah and she might become clean from the course of her issue. שׁנתו בּן , lit., son of his year , which is a year old (cf. Leviticus 23:12; Numbers 6:12, Numbers 6:14; Numbers 7:15, Numbers 7:21, etc.), is used interchangeably with שׁנה בּן (Exodus 12:5), and with שׁנה בּני in the plural (Leviticus 23:18-19; Exodus 29:38; Numbers 7:17, Numbers 7:23, Numbers 7:29). דּמים דּמור , fountain of bleeding (see at Genesis 4:10), equivalent to hemorrhage (cf. Leviticus 20:18). The purification by bathing and washing is not specially mentioned, as being a matter of course; nor is anything stated with reference to the communication of her uncleanness to persons who touched either her or her couch, since the instructions with regard to the period of menstruation no doubt applied to the first seven and fourteen days respectively. For her restoration to the Lord and His sanctuary, she was to come and be cleansed with a sin-offering and a burnt-offering, on account of the uncleanness in which the sin of nature had manifested itself; because she had been obliged to absent herself in consequence for a whole week from the sanctuary and fellowship of the Lord. But as this purification had reference, not to any special moral guilt, but only to sin which had been indirectly manifested in her bodily condition, a pigeon was sufficient for the sin-offering, that is to say, the smallest of the bleeding sacrifices; whereas a yearling lamb was required for a burnt-offering, to express the importance and strength of her surrender of herself to the Lord after so long a separation from Him. But in cases of great poverty a pigeon might be substituted for the lamb (Leviticus 12:8, cf. Leviticus 5:7, Leviticus 5:11).