Go to Related Reading
About this book

Leviticus

About this book
Chapter 12

1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a woman produces offspring and bears a male child, she will be unclean seven days,⁠ as she is unclean during the days of her menstruation.⁠ 3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin must be circumcised.⁠ 4 Then she will remain thirty-three days in blood purity. She must not touch anything holy, and she must not enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled. 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 blood purity. 6 “‘When the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she must bring a one-year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering to the entrance of the Meeting Tent, to the priest. 7 The priest is to present it before the Lord and make atonement on her behalf, and she will be clean from her flow of blood. This is the law of the one who bears a child, for the male or the female child. 8 If she cannot afford a sheep, then she must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and one for a sin offering, and the priest is to make atonement on her behalf, and she will be clean.’”

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 12:2 and Onkelos Leviticus 12:2

Hebrew Bible · Targum

Share:

Summary

Leviticus 12 describes ritual impurity after childbirth in direct terms. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos softens this by describing distance or separation, reflecting a pattern in the Targums that uses gentler language for sensitive topics.

Passages

Leviticus 12:2

Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a woman produces offspring and bears a male child, she will be unclean seven days, as she is unclean during the days of her menstruation. 3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin must be circumcised.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Onkelos Leviticus 12:2

Targum
1 And the Lord spoke with Moses, saying: 2 Speak with the children of Israel, saying: A woman, when she has conceived and borne a male child, shall be unclean seven days; according to the days for the removal of her uncleanness, she shall be unclean. 3 And on the eighth day he shall be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin;
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Leviticus

References

"... Onkelos renders Scripture’s niddat as richuk, literally “far,” “distant,” or “rejected.” This rendering seems at first blush to reflect Rashbam’s view that the root of niddat is n-d-d, “to wander away [and be far from her husband during the menstrual period].” However ... it has been shown that Onkelos uses the somewhat amorphous word richuk as an evasive term for several quite different biblical nouns to avoid defining them ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Leviticus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2008), 85.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Tags

Your feedback

Leviticus 12:2 and Onkelos Leviticus 12:2

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library