Laws of Motherhood

¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, saying,

‘If a woman conceives and gives birth to a male child, she shall be [ceremonially] unclean for seven days, unclean as during her monthly period. ³ On the eighth day the flesh of the male child’s foreskin shall be circumcised. ⁴ Then she shall remain [intimately separated] thirty-three days to be purified from the blood; she shall not touch any consecrated thing nor enter the [courtyard of the] sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. ⁵ But if she gives birth to a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as during her monthly period, and she shall remain [intimately separated] sixty-six days to be purified from the blood.

⁶ ‘When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting a one year old lamb as a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering; ⁷ and he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who gives birth to a child, whether a male or a female child. ⁸ If she cannot afford a lamb then she shall take two turtledoves or young pigeons, one as a burnt offering, the other as a sin offering; the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’”