^12:6“ ‘When¹¹ the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she must bring a one year old lamb¹² for a burnt offering¹³ and a young pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering¹⁴ to the entrance of the Meeting Tent, to the priest. ^12:7The priest¹⁵ is to present it before the Lord and make atonement¹⁶ on her behalf, and she will be clean¹⁷ from her flow of blood.¹⁸ This is the law of the one who bears a child, for the male or the female child. ^12:8If she cannot afford a sheep,¹⁹ then she must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons,²⁰ 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.’ ”²¹

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Footnotes

11 Heb “And when” (so , ). Many recent English versions leave the conjunction untranslated.
12 Heb “a lamb the son of his year”; “a lamb of the first year” ( “in its first year”); “a yearling lamb.”
13 See the note on regarding the “burnt offering.”
14 See the note on regarding the term “sin offering.”
15 Heb “and he” (i.e., the priest mentioned at the end of v. 6). The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 See the note on “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 Lord”).
17 Or “she will be[come] pure.”
18 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 [], 1:). Cf. “from the fountain of her blood.”
19 Heb “If her hand cannot find the sufficiency of a sheep.” Many English versions render this as “lamb.”
20 Heb “from the sons of the pigeon,” referring either to “young pigeons” or “various species of pigeon” (contrast J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:, with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ; cf. Lev 1:14 and esp. 5:7–10).
21 Or “she will be[come] pure.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering, and he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her. Then she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, either male or female. And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.”

NIVNew International Version (2011)

“ ‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. He shall offer them before the Lord to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood.

“ ‘These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. But if she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’ ”

CSBChristian Standard Bible

“When her days of purification are complete, whether for a son or daughter, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old male lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. He will present them before the Lord and make atonement on her behalf; she will be clean from her discharge of blood. This is the law for a woman giving birth, whether to a male or female. But if she doesn’t have sufficient means for a sheep, she may take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. Then the priest will make atonement on her behalf, and she will be clean.”

NLTNew Living Translation

“When the time of purification is completed for either a son or a daughter, the woman must bring a one-year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or turtledove for a purification offering. She must bring her offerings to the priest at the entrance of the Tabernacle. The priest will then present them to the Lord to purify her. Then she will be ceremonially clean again after her bleeding at childbirth. These are the instructions for a woman after the birth of a son or a daughter.

“If a woman cannot afford to bring a lamb, she must bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons. One will be for the burnt offering and the other for the purification offering. The priest will sacrifice them to purify her, and she will be ceremonially clean.”

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And at the fulfilling of the days of her cleansing, whether for a son or for a daughter, she must bring to the priest at the tent of assembly’s entrance a yearling male lamb as a burnt offering and young dove or a turtledove as a sin offering. And the priest shall present it before Yahweh, and he shall make atonement for her, so that she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the regulation of childbearing for the male or for the female. And if she cannot afford a sheep, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young doves—one as a burnt offering and one as a sin offering—and the priest shall make atonement for her, so that she shall be clean.’ ”

KJV 1900King James Version

And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest: Who shall offer it before the Lord, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female. And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.

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