Law of the Nazirites

6 Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes ^[a]a special vow, namely, the vow of ^(A)a ^[b]Nazirite, to live as a Nazirite for the Lord, ³ he shall ^(B)abstain from wine and ^[c]strong drink; he shall ^[d]consume no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. ⁴ All the days of his consecration he shall not eat anything that is produced from the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.

⁵ ‘All the days of his vow of consecration ^(C)no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled which he lives as a Nazirite for the Lord; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long.

⁶ ‘^(D)All the days of his life as a Nazirite for the Lord he shall not come up to a dead person. ⁷ He ^(E)shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his consecration to God is ^[e]on his head. ⁸ All the days of his consecration he is holy to the Lord.

⁹ ‘But if someone dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head of hair, then ^(F)he shall shave his head on the day when he becomes clean; ^(G)he shall shave it on the seventh day. ¹⁰ Then on the eighth day he shall bring ^(H)two turtledoves or two young doves to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting. ¹¹ And the priest shall offer ^(I)one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him ^[f]regarding his sin because of the dead person. And on that same day he shall consecrate his head, ¹² and shall live his days of consecration as a Nazirite for the Lord, and shall bring a male lamb a year old as a guilt offering; but the preceding days will ^[g]not count, because his consecration was defiled.

¹³ ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite ^(J)when the days of his consecration are fulfilled: he shall bring ^[h]his offering to the entrance of the tent of meeting. ¹⁴ And he shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb a year old without defect as a burnt offering, one ^(K)ewe lamb a year old without defect as a sin offering, one ram without defect as a peace offering, ¹⁵ and a basket of ^(L)unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with ^(M)their grain offering and their drink offering. ¹⁶ Then the priest shall present them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. ¹⁷ He shall also offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, together with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering. ^18 (N)The Nazirite shall then shave his consecrated head of hair at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and take the consecrated hair of his head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings. ^19 (O)And the priest shall take the ram’s shoulder when it has been boiled, and one unleavened loaf from the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the ^[i]hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair. ²⁰ Then the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. It is holy for the priest, together with the breast offered as a wave offering, and the thigh offered as ^[j]a contribution; and ^(P)afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.’

²¹ “This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the Lord according to his consecration, in addition to what else ^[k]he can afford; corresponding to his vow which he makes, so he shall do according to the law of his consecration.”

Aaron’s Benediction

²² Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²³ “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘In this way ^(Q)you shall bless the sons of Israel. You are to say to them:

²⁷ So they shall ^[m](X)invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and then I will bless them.”

The Silver Trumpets

10 The Lord spoke further to Moses, saying, ² “Make yourself two trumpets of silver, you shall make them of hammered work; and you shall use them for ^(A)summoning the congregation and breaking camp. ³ Now ^(B)when both are blown, all the congregation shall meet you at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁴ But if only one is blown, then the ^(C)leaders, the heads of the ^[a]divisions of Israel, shall meet you. ⁵ And when you blow an alarm, the camps that are pitched ^(D)on the east side shall set out. ⁶ Then when you sound an alarm the second time, the camps that are pitched on ^(E)the south side shall set out; an alarm is to be sounded for them to break camp. ⁷ When convening the assembly, however, you shall blow the trumpets without ^(F)sounding an alarm. ^8 (G)The sons of Aaron, moreover, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and this shall be a permanent statute for you throughout your generations. ⁹ And when you go to war in your land against the enemy who ^(H)attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, so that you will be ^(I)thought of by the Lord your God, and be saved from your enemies. ¹⁰ Also on the day of your joy and at your appointed ^[b]feasts, and on the first days of your months, ^(J)you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the Lord your God.”

The Tribes Leave Sinai

¹¹ Now in ^(K)the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, the cloud was lifted from above the ^[c]tabernacle of the testimony; ¹² and the sons of Israel set out on ^(L)their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. Then the cloud settled in the ^(M)wilderness of Paran. ^13 (N)So they moved on for the first time in accordance with the ^[d]command of the Lord through Moses. ¹⁴ The ^[e]flag of the camp of the sons of Judah, by their armies, ^(O)set out first, with Nahshon the son of Amminadab, over its army, ¹⁵ and Nethanel the son of Zuar, over the tribal army of the sons of Issachar; ¹⁶ and Eliab the son of Helon over the tribal army of the sons of Zebulun.

^17 (P)Then the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who were carrying the tabernacle, set out. ¹⁸ Next ^(Q)the flag of the camp of Reuben, by their armies, set out with Elizur the son of Shedeur, over its army, ¹⁹ and Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai over the tribal army of the sons of Simeon, ²⁰ and Eliasaph the son of Deuel was over the tribal army of the sons of Gad.

^21 (R)Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy objects; and ^(S)the tabernacle was set up before their arrival. ^22 (T)Next the flag of the camp of the sons of Ephraim, by their armies, set out, with Elishama the son of Ammihud over its army, ²³ and Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur over the tribal army of the sons of Manasseh; ²⁴ and Abidan the son of Gideoni over the tribal army of the sons of Benjamin.

^25 (U)Then the flag of the camp of the sons of Dan, by their armies, which formed the ^(V)rear guard for all the camps, set out, with Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai over its army, ²⁶ and Pagiel the son of Ochran over the tribal army of the sons of Asher; ²⁷ and Ahira the son of Enan over the tribal army of the sons of Naphtali. ^28 [f]This was the order of marching for the sons of Israel by their armies as they set out.

²⁹ Then Moses said to ^(W)Hobab the son of ^(X)Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place of which the Lord said, ‘^(Y)I will give it to you.’ ^(Z)Come with us and we will do you good, for the Lord ^(AA)has ^[g]promised good concerning Israel.” ³⁰ But he said to him, “^(AB)I will not come, but rather will go to my own land and relatives.” ³¹ Then he said, “Please do not leave us, since you know ^[h]where we should camp in the wilderness, and you ^(AC)will be as eyes for us. ³² So it will be, if you go with us, that ^[i](AD)whatever good the Lord ^[j]does for us, ^(AE)we will ^[k]do for you.”

^33 (AF)So they moved on from the mountain of the Lord three days’ journey, with ^(AG)the ark of the covenant of the Lord going on in front of them for the ^[l]three days, to seek out ^(AH)a resting place for them. ^34 (AI)And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

³⁵ Then it came about when the ark set out that Moses said,

³⁶ And when it came to rest, he said,