(1)יהוה spoke to Moses, saying:


(2) Speak to the Children of Israel, saying:
A woman—when she produces-seed and bears a male,

she remains-tamei for seven days;


like the days of her infirmity of being-apart she shall remain-


(3) On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.



(4) For thirty days and three days

she is to stay in her period of blood purification;

any holy-thing she is not to touch, the Holy-Area she is not to enter,
until the fulfilling of the days of her purification.


(5) Now if a female she bears,

she remains-tamei for two-weeks, like her [time of] discharge;

and for sixty days and six days

she is to stay for [a period of] blood purification.


(6) And at the fulfilling of the days of her purification,

for a son or for a daughter,

she is to bring a lamb,

in its [first] year, as an offering-up,
and a young pigeon or a turtledove, as a hattat-offering,
to the entrance of the Tent of Appointment, to the priest.


(7) He is to bring it near, before the presence of YHVH, and is to effect-purgation for her,
and she will be purified from her source of blood.
This is the Instruction [regarding] one giving-birth, [whether] to a male or to a female.


(8) But if her hand does not find enough [means] for a sheep,

she is to take two turtledoves

or two young pigeons,

one for an offering-up

and one for a hattat-offering;

when the priest effects-purgation for her,
then she is pure.

(1) YHVH spoke to Moses saying


(2) This shall be the ritual for a metzora at the time of being purified. When it has been reported to the priest,


(3) the priest shall go outside the camp. If the priest sees that the metzora has been healed of the scaly affection...

Therefore, because they devoted so much time to the Bible, the first Sages were called: Those who count [soferim], because they would count all the letters in the Torah, as they would say that the letter vav in the word “belly [gaḥon]” (Leviticus 11:42) is the midpoint of the letters in a Torah scroll. The words: “Diligently inquired [darosh darash]” (Leviticus 10:16), are the midpoint of the words in a Torah scroll. And the verse that begins with: “Then he shall be shaven” (Leviticus 13:33), is the midpoint of the verses. Similarly, in the expression: “The boar out of the wood [miya’ar] ravages it” (Psalms 80:14), the ayin in the word wood [ya’ar] is the midpoint of Psalms, with regard to its number of letters. The verse: “But He, being full of compassion, forgives iniquity” (Psalms 78:38), is the midpoint of verses in the book of Psalms.