Numbers 6

Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Nazirite Vow

6 The Lord instructed Moses: ² “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When a man or woman makes a special vow, a Nazirite vow,^(A) to consecrate himself to^[a] the Lord, ³ he is to abstain^[b] from wine and beer.^(B) He must not drink vinegar made from wine or from beer. He must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins. ⁴ He is not to eat anything produced by the grapevine, from seeds to skin,^[c] during his vow.

⁵ “You must not cut his hair^[d] throughout the time of his vow of consecration. He must be holy until the time is completed during which he consecrates himself to the Lord; he is to let the hair of his head grow long. ⁶ He must not go near a dead body during the time he consecrates himself to the Lord.^{(C) 7} He is not to defile himself for his father or mother, or his brother or sister, when they die, because the hair consecrated to his God is on his head. ⁸ He is holy to the Lord^(D) during the time of consecration.

⁹ “If someone suddenly dies near him, defiling his consecrated head of hair, he must shave his head on the day of his purification; he is to shave it on the seventh day.^{(E) 10} On the eighth day he is to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting.^{(F) 11} The priest is to offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering^(G) to make atonement on behalf of the Nazirite, since he sinned because of the corpse. On that day he must consecrate^[e] his head again.^{(H) 12} He is to rededicate his time of consecration to the Lord and to bring a year-old male lamb as a restitution offering.^(I) But do not count the previous period, because his consecrated hair became defiled.

¹³ “This is the law of the Nazirite: On the day his time of consecration is completed, he must be brought to the entrance to the tent of meeting.^{(J) 14} He is to present an offering to the Lord^(K) of one unblemished year-old male lamb as a burnt offering, one unblemished year-old female lamb as a sin offering, one unblemished ram as a fellowship offering,^{(L) 15} along with their grain offerings and drink offerings,^(M) and a basket of unleavened cakes made from fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers coated with oil.^(N)

¹⁶ “The priest is to present these before the Lord and sacrifice the Nazirite’s sin offering and burnt offering. ¹⁷ He will also offer the ram as a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord, together with the basket of unleavened bread. Then the priest will offer the accompanying grain offering and drink offering.

¹⁸ “The Nazirite is to shave his consecrated head at the entrance to the tent of meeting, take the hair from his head, and put it on the fire under the fellowship sacrifice. ¹⁹ The priest is to take the boiled shoulder from the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put them into the hands^(O) of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated head. ²⁰ The priest is to wave them as a presentation offering before the Lord.^(P) It is a holy portion for the priest, in addition to the breast of the presentation offering and the thigh of the contribution.^(Q) After that, the Nazirite may drink wine.

²¹ “This is the ritual of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the Lord for his consecration,^(R) in addition to whatever else he can afford; he must fulfill whatever vow he makes in keeping with the ritual for his consecration.”

The Priestly Blessing

²² The Lord spoke to Moses: ²³ “Tell Aaron and his sons how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

²⁷ In this way they will pronounce My name over^[h] the Israelites, and I will bless them.”