Discovery BoxLeviticus 12:2
Context12:2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a woman produces offspring 1 and bears a male child, 2 she will be unclean seven days, as she is unclean during the days of her menstruation. 3
Leviticus 12:5
Context12:5 If she bears a female child, she will be impure fourteen days as during her menstrual flow, and she will remain sixty-six days in 4 blood purity. 5
Leviticus 12:7
Context12:7 The priest 6 is to present it before the Lord and make atonement 7 on her behalf, and she will be clean 8 from her flow of blood. 9 This is the law of the one who bears a child, for the male or the female child.
Leviticus 25:45
Context25:45 Also you may buy slaves 10 from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that are 11 with you, whom they have fathered in your land, they may become your property.
Leviticus 22:27
Context22:27 “When an ox, lamb, or goat is born, it must be under the care of 12 its mother seven days, but from the eighth day onward it will be acceptable as an offering gift 13 to the Lord.
[12:2] 1 tn Heb “produces seed” (Hiphil of זָרַע, zara’; used only elsewhere in Gen 1:11-12 for plants “producing” their own “seed”), referring to the process of childbearing as a whole, from conception to the time of birth (H. D. Preuss, TDOT 4:144; cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 164-65; and J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:742-43). Smr and LXX have Niphal “be impregnated” (see, e.g., Num 5:28); note KJV “If a woman have conceived seed” (cf. ASV, NAB, NRSV; also NIV, NLT “becomes pregnant”).
[12:2] 2 sn The regulations for the “male child” in vv. 2-4 contrast with those for the “female child” in v. 5 (see the note there).
[12:2] 3 tn Heb “as the days of the menstrual flow [nom.] of her menstruating [q. inf.] she shall be unclean” (R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:925-26; the verb appears only in this verse in the OT). Cf. NASB “as in the days of her menstruation”; NLT “during her menstrual period”; NIV “during her monthly period.”
[12:5] 4 tn Heb “on purity blood.” The preposition here is עַל (’al) rather than בְּ (bÿ, as it is in the middle of v. 4), but no doubt the same meaning is intended.
[12:5] 5 tn For clarification of the translation here, see the notes on vv. 2-4 above.
[12:7] 7 tn Heb “and he” (i.e., the priest mentioned at the end of v. 6). The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[12:7] 8 sn See the note on Lev 1:4 “make atonement.” The purpose of sin offering “atonement,” in particular, was to purge impurities from the tabernacle (see Lev 15:31 and 16:5-19, 29-34), whether they were caused by physical uncleannesses or by sins and iniquities. In this case, the woman has not “sinned” morally by having a child. Even Mary brought such offerings for giving birth to Jesus (Luke 2:22-24), though she certainly did not “sin” in giving birth to him. Note that the result of bringing this “sin offering” was “she will be clean,” not “she will be forgiven” (cf. Lev 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:10, 13). The impurity of the blood flow has caused the need for this “sin offering,” not some moral or relational infringement of the law (contrast Lev 4:2, “When a person sins by straying unintentionally from any of the commandments of the
[12:7] 9 tn Or “she will be[come] pure.”
[12:7] 10 tn Heb “from her source [i.e., spring] of blood,” possibly referring to the female genital area, not just the “flow of blood” itself (as suggested by J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:761). Cf. ASV “from the fountain of her blood.”
[25:45] 10 tn The word “slaves” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied here.
[25:45] 11 tn Heb “family which is” (i.e., singular rather than plural).
[22:27] 13 tn The words “the care of” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied. Although many modern English versions render “with its mother” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), the literal phrase “under its mother” refers to the young animal nursing from its mother. Cf. KJV, ASV “it shall be seven days under the dam,” which would probably be misunderstood.
