Leviticus 12:3

And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
eighth	הַשְּׁמִינִ֑י ha.she.mi.Ni	H8066	eight · definite article + ordinal number, masculine singular absolute
day	וּבַיּ֖וֹם u.vai.Yom	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
flesh	בְּשַׂ֥ר be.Sar	H1320	flesh (from its freshness) · noun, common masculine singular construct
foreskin	עָרְלָתֽוֹ a.re.la.To	H6190	the prepuce · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
circumcised	יִמּ֖וֹל yi.Mol	H4135	to cut short · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Luke 2:21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before h…
Luke 1:59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
John 7:22-23 Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man.
Genesis 17:11-12 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
Philippians 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the worl…
Romans 4:11-12 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be th…
Galatians 3:17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, canno…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Leviticus 12:1-5

The law here pronounces women lying-in ceremonially unclean. The Jews say, "The law extended even to an abortion, if the child was so formed as that the sex was distinguishable." 1. There was some time of strict separation immediately after the birth, which continued seven days for a son and fourteen for a daughter, Lev 12:2, Lev 12:5. During these days she was separated from her husband and friends, and those that necessarily attended her were ceremonially unclean, which was one reason why the males were not circumcised till the eighth day, because they participated in the mother's pollution during the days of her separation. 2. There was also a longer time appointed for their purifying; th…

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Adam Clarke on Leviticus 12:3

And in the eighth day - Before this time the child could scarcely be considered as having strength sufficient to bear the operation; after this time it was not necessary to delay it, as the child was not considered to be in covenant with God, and consequently not under the especial protection of the Divine providence and grace, till this rite had been performed. On circumcision see Clarke's note on Gen 17:10. Circumcision was to every man a constant, evident sign of the covenant into which he had entered with God, and of the moral obligations under which he was thereby laid. It was also a means of purity, and was especially necessary among a people naturally incontinent, and in a climate not…

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John Gill on Leviticus 12:3

And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Or the foreskin of his flesh, that is, of the man child born according to the law, Genesis 17:12 and this seems to furnish out a reason why a male child was not circumcised before the eighth day, and why it was then, because before that its mother was in her separation and uncleanness, and then was freed from it; and so the Targum of Jonathan. The circumcision of a male child on the eighth day was religiously observed, and even was not omitted on account of the sabbath, when the eighth day happened to be on that; see Gill on John 7:22, John 7:23. It is an observation of Aben Ezra on this place, that the wise men say "in th…

The Church Fathers

It was certainly not for nothing that the commandment was given for the child "to be circumcised on the eighth day"; it can only have been because the rock, the stone with which we are circumcised, was Christ. It was "with knives of rock" or stone that the people were circumcised;"now the rock was Christ." So why on the eighth day? Because in seven-day weeks the first is the same as the eighth; once you've completed the seven days, you are back at the first. The seventh is finished, the Lord is buried; we are back at the first, the Lord is raised up. The Lord's resurrection, you see, promised us an eternal day and consecrated for us the Lord's day. It's called the Lord's because it properly belongs to the Lord, because on it the Lord rose again. The rock has been restored to us; let those be circumcised who wish to say, "For we are the circumcision."
— Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 169.3

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Ablution — Or washing, was practised, (1.) When a person was initiated into a higher state: e.g., when Aaron and his sons were set apart to the priest’s office, they were washed with water previous to their…
Birth — As soon as a child was born it was washed, and rubbed with salt (Ezek. 16:4), and then swathed with bandages (Job 38:9; Luke 2:7, 12). A Hebrew mother remained forty days in seclusion after the birth…
Children — The blessing of offspring, but especially of the male sex, is highly valued among all eastern nations, while a the absence is regarded as one of the severest punishments. (Genesis 16:2; 7:14; 1…
Circumcision — Cutting around. This rite, practised before, as some think, by divers races, was appointed by God to be the special badge of his chosen people, an abiding sign of their consecration to him. It was…
Law of Moses — Is the whole body of the Mosaic legislation (1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 23:25; Ezra 3:2). It is called by way of eminence simply “the Law” (Heb. Torah, Deut. 1:5; 4:8, 44; 17:18, 19; 27:3, 8). As a written…
Uncleanness — The distinctive idea attached to ceremonial uncleanness among the Hebrews was that it cut a person off for the time from social privileges, and left his citizenship among God’s people for the while…
Circumcision · Institution of — Institution of
Defilement · .Childbirth — .Childbirth
Sanitation · CHILDBIRTH — CHILDBIRTH

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Leviticus 12:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Leviticus 12:1-5

Adam Clarke on Leviticus 12:3

John Gill on Leviticus 12:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Leviticus 12:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Leviticus 12:1-5

Adam Clarke on Leviticus 12:3

John Gill on Leviticus 12:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Leviticus 12:3-4

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Leviticus 12:3

Rashi on Leviticus 12:2