Leviticus 12:4

12:4 Then she will remain ¹  thirty-three days in blood purity. ²  She must not touch anything holy and she must not enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled. ³ 

Leviticus 13:4

A Bright Spot on the Skin

13:4 “If ⁴  it is a white bright spot on the skin of his body, but it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, ⁵  and the hair has not turned white, then the priest is to quarantine the person with the infection for seven days. ⁶ 

Leviticus 13:31

13:31 But if the priest examines the scall infection and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, ⁷  and there is no black hair in it, then the priest is to quarantine the person with the scall infection for seven days. ⁸ 

Leviticus 14:8

The Seven Days of Purification

14:8 “The one being cleansed ⁹  must then wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water, and so be clean. ¹⁰  Then afterward he may enter the camp, but he must live outside his tent seven days.

Leviticus 15:25

15:25 “‘When a woman’s discharge of blood flows ¹¹  many days not at the time of her menstruation, or if it flows beyond the time of her menstruation, ¹²  all the days of her discharge of impurity will be like the days of her menstruation – she is unclean.

Leviticus 22:27

22:27 “When an ox, lamb, or goat is born, it must be under the care of ¹³  its mother seven days, but from the eighth day onward it will be acceptable as an offering gift ¹⁴  to the Lord.

Leviticus 23:3

The Weekly Sabbath

23:3 “‘Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, ¹⁵  a holy assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all the places where you live.

Leviticus 23:36

23:36 For seven days you must present a gift to the Lord. On the eighth day there is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must present a gift to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly day; ¹⁶  you must not do any regular work.

Leviticus 23:39-40

23:39 “‘On ¹⁷  the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you must celebrate a pilgrim festival of the Lord for seven days. On the first day is a complete rest and on the eighth day is complete rest. 23:40 On the first day you must take for yourselves branches from majestic trees ¹⁸  – palm branches, branches of leafy trees, and willows of the brook – and you must rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

[12:4]  ¹ tn Heb “sit, dwell” (יָשָׁב, yashav) normally means “to sit, to dwell”), but here it means “to remain, to stay” in the same condition for a period of time (cf., e.g., Gen 24:55).

[12:4]  ² tn Heb “in bloods of purification” or “purifying” or “purity”; NASB “in the blood of her purification”; NRSV “her time of blood purification.” See the following note.

[12:4]  ³ tn The initial seven days after the birth of a son were days of blood impurity for the woman as if she were having her menstrual period. Her impurity was contagious during this period, so no one should touch her or even furniture on which she has sat or reclined (Lev 15:19-23), lest they too become impure. Even her husband would become impure for seven days if he had sexual intercourse with her during this time (Lev 15:24; cf. 18:19). The next thirty-three days were either “days of purification, purifying” or “days of purity,” depending on how one understands the abstract noun טֹהֳרָה (toharah, “purification, purity”) in this context. During this time the woman could not touch anything holy or enter the sanctuary, but she was no longer contagious like she had been during the first seven days. She could engage in normal everyday life, including sexual intercourse, without fear of contaminating anyone else (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 73-74; cf. J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:749-50). Thus, in a sense, the thirty-three days were a time of blood “purity” (cf. the present translation) as compared to the previous seven days of blood “impurity,” but they were also a time of blood “purification” (or “purifying”) as compared to the time after the thirty-three days, when the blood atonement had been made and she was pronounced “clean” by the priest (see vv. 6-8 below). In other words, the thirty-three day period was a time of “blood” (flow), but this was “pure blood,” as opposed to the blood of the first seven days.

[13:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “and if.”

[13:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and deep is not its appearance from the skin”; cf. NAB “does not seem to have penetrated below the skin.”

[13:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the priest will shut up the infection seven days.”

[13:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “and behold there is not its appearance deep ‘from’ (comparative מִן, min, meaning “deeper than”) the skin.”

[13:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the priest will shut up the infection of the scall seven days.”

[14:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the one cleansing himself” (i.e., Hitpael participle of טָהֵר [taher, “to be clean”]).

[14:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he shall be clean” (so ASV). The end result of the ritual procedures in vv. 4-7 and the washing and shaving in v. 8a is that the formerly diseased person has now officially become clean in the sense that he can reenter the community (see v. 8b; contrast living outside the community as an unclean diseased person, Lev 13:46). There are, however, further cleansing rituals and pronouncements for him to undergo in the tabernacle as outlined in vv. 10-20 (see Qal “be[come] clean” in vv. 9 and 20, Piel “pronounce clean” in v. 11, and Hitpael “the one being cleansed” in vv. 11, 14, 17, 18, and 19). Obviously, in order to enter the tabernacle he must already “be clean” in the sense of having access to the community.

[15:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “And a woman when the flow of her blood flows.”

[15:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in not the time of her menstruation or when it flows on her menstruation.”

[22:27]  ¹⁶ 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.

[22:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for an offering of a gift.”

[23:3]  ¹⁹ tn This is a superlative expression, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the Sabbath and certain festival times throughout the chapter (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 155). Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest.”

[23:36]  ²² tn The Hebrew term עֲצֶרֶת (’atseret) “solemn assembly [day]” derives from a root associated with restraint or closure. It could refer either to the last day as “closing assembly” day of the festival (e.g., NIV) or a special day of restraint expressed in a “solemn assembly” (e.g., NRSV); cf. NLT “a solemn closing assembly.”

[23:39]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Surely on the fifteenth day.” The Hebrew adverbial particle אַךְ (’akh) is left untranslated by most recent English versions; however, cf. NASB “On exactly the fifteenth day.”

[23:40]  ²⁸ tn Heb “fruit of majestic trees,” but the following terms and verses define what is meant by this expression. For extensive remarks on the celebration of this festival in history and tradition see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 163; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 389-90; and P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 328-29.