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Luke mentions a pair of turtledoves or pigeons using Septuagint language that echoes Leviticus's language of sin offerings. This differs from the expected link to Leviticus 12 and childbirth, emphasizing familiarity rather than a direct allusion.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Leviticus 5:11
Septuagint
10 And he shall make the second a whole burnt offering, as it is fit; and the priest shall make atonement for his sin which he has sinned, and it shall be forgiven him. 11 And if he can’t afford a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he will bring as his gift for his sin, the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin-offering; he shall not pour oil upon it, nor shall he put frankincense upon it, because it is a sin-offering. 12 And he shall bring it to the priest; and the priest having taken a handful of it, shall lay the memorial of it on the altar of whole burnt offerings to the Lord; it is a sin-offering.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Luke 2:24
New Testament
23 (just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male will be set apart to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is specified in the law of the Lord, a pair of doves or two young pigeons. 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon who was righteous and devout, looking for the restoration of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
Date: 75–85 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Despite the fact that the book of Leviticus is not frequently quoted among those from the Pentateuch by Mark, Matthew and the Lukan writings, at least one clear allusion and five explicit quotations from Leviticus are to be found in the Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles ... The explicit reference to “two turtledoves” or to “two young pigeons” is frequently found in Leviticus (LXX Leviticus 5:7, 11; 12:8; 14:22; 15:14, 29). The Septuagint presents a fairly literal translation of the Hebrew text of Leviticus 5:11 ... It is striking, however, that only LXX Leviticus 5:11 refers to “a pair” (ζεῦγος). The LXX translator translated here the same Hebrew numeral (שְׁנַ֫יִם), which is used in both phrases in the Hebrew ... despite the fact that most scholars usually and frequently point to Lev 12:8 as the locus for Luke’s quotation - perhaps because its context clearly contains the prescription for postnatal purification. The former trajectory (LXX Lev 5:11) was probably the more established version in the reception tradition. The fact that Luke quotes from Lev 5:11 and not from 12:8 where the context clearly deals with postnatal purification, might be an indication that Luke perhaps quoted a well-known formulation of the prescription from memory and not through first-hand consultation of his Leviticus text ..."
Gert J. Steyn, “The Text Form of the Leviticus Quotations in the Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles,” in The Text of Leviticus: Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium of the Dominique Barthélemy Institute, ed. Innocent Himbaza (Leuven: Peeters, 2020), 205, 209–210.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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