How we cite our quotes: (Chapter:Verse)
Quote #4
Speak to the people of Israel, saying: If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. (NRSV 12:2-3)
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. (KJV 12:2-3)
Nothing says eternal covenant like lopping off part of a penis. The ritual is so powerful, in fact, that it washes away a mother's ceremonial uncleanness. If she gives birth to a girl, she's stuck at home being unclean for fourteen days—for a boy, only seven.
Quote #5
Thus he shall make atonement for the Tabernacle, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel, and because of their transgressions, all their sins; and so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which remains with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. (NRSV 16:16)
And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. (KJV 16:16)
Torah scholar Jacob Milgrom calls this "the priestly Picture of Dorian Gray." In Oscar Wilde's classic novel, Dorian Gray keeps looking young while his portrait becomes ugly. Here, sinning may not make the Israelites physically dirty, but it pollutes the holy Tabernacle. And who better to clean up this mess than the high priest?
Quote #6
But you shall keep my statutes and my ordinances and commit none of these abominations, either the citizen or the alien who resides among you (for the inhabitants of the land, who were before you, committed all of these abominations, and the land became defiled); otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. (NRSV 18:26-28)
Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. (KJV 18:26-28)
Does this command apply only to Israel, or is it a law for all nations? The answer would seem to depend on whether the land in question has a habit of throwing people up. Whether God still enters into covenants with nations has been a long-debated question in American history but it's also kind of gross.