Numbers 6
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
6 And the Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to the Israelites, When either a man or a woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, that is, one separated and consecrated to the Lord,
3 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar of wine or of strong drink, and shall drink no grape juice, or eat grapes, fresh or dried.(A)
4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing produced from the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
5 All the days of the vow of his separation and abstinence there shall no razor come upon his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.
6 All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body.
7 He shall not make himself unclean for his father, mother, brother, or sister, when they die, because his separation and abstinence to his God is upon his head.
8 All the days of his separation and abstinence he is holy to the Lord.
9 And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day shall he shave it.
10 On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest to the door of the Tent of Meeting,
11 And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering and make atonement for him because he sinned by reason of the dead body. He shall consecrate his head the same day,
12 And he shall consecrate and separate himself to the Lord for the days of his separation and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a trespass or guilt offering; but the previous days shall be void and lost, because his separation was defiled.
13 And this is the law of the Nazirite when the days of his separation and abstinence are fulfilled. He shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting,
14 And he shall offer his gift to the Lord, one he-lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for a peace offering,
15 And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread spread with oil, and their cereal offering, and their drink offering.
16 And the priest shall present them before the Lord and shall offer the person’s sin offering and his burnt offering.
17 And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall offer also its cereal offering and its drink offering.
18 And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall take the hair and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.
19 And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaven the hair of his separation and abstinence.
20 And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord; they are a holy portion for the priest, with the breast that is waved and the thigh or shoulder that is offered; and after that the Nazirite may drink wine.
21 This is the law for the Nazirite who has made a vow. His offering to the Lord, besides what else he is able to afford, shall be according to the vow which he has vowed; so shall he do according to the law for his separation and abstinence [as a Nazirite].(B)
22 And the Lord said to Moses,
23 Say to Aaron and his sons, This is the way you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them,
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
27 And they shall put My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.
Numbers 6
Complete Jewish Bible
6 Adonai said to Moshe, 2 “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘When either a man or a woman makes a special kind of vow, the vow of a nazir, consecrating himself to Adonai; 3 he is to abstain from wine and other intoxicating liquor, he is not to drink vinegar from either source, he is not to drink grape juice, and he is not to eat grapes or raisins. 4 As long as he remains a nazir he is to eat nothing derived from the grapevine, not even the grape-skins or the seeds.
5 “‘Throughout the period of his vow as a nazir, he is not to shave his head. Until the end of the time for which he has consecrated himself to Adonai he is to be holy: he is to let the hair on his head grow long.
6 “‘Throughout the period for which he has consecrated himself to Adonai, he is not to approach a corpse. 7 He is not to make himself unclean for his father, mother, brother or sister when they die, since his consecration to God is on his head. 8 Throughout the time of his being a nazir he is holy for Adonai.
9 “‘If someone next to him dies very suddenly, so that he defiles his consecrated head, then he is to shave his head on the day of his purification; he is to shave it on the seventh day. 10 On the eighth day he is to bring two doves or two young pigeons to the cohen at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 11 The cohen is to prepare one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering and thus make atonement for him, inasmuch as he sinned because of the dead person. That same day he is to re-consecrate his head; 12 he is to consecrate to Adonai the full period of his being a nazir by bringing a male lamb in its first year as a guilt offering. The previous days will not be counted, because his consecration became defiled.
13 “‘This is the law for the nazir when his period of consecration is over: he is to be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 14 where he will present his offering to Adonai — one male lamb in its first year without defect as a burnt offering, one female lamb in its first year without defect as a sin offering, one ram without defect as peace offerings, 15 a basket of matzah, loaves made of fine flour mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers spread with olive oil, their grain offering and their drink offerings. 16 The cohen is to bring them before Adonai, offer his sin offering, his burnt offering, 17 and his ram as a sacrifice of peace offerings to Adonai, with the basket of matzah. The cohen will also offer the grain offering and drink offering that go with the peace offering. 18 The nazir will shave his consecrated head at the entrance to the tent of meeting, take the hair removed from his consecrated head and put it on the fire under the sacrifice of peace offerings. 19 When the ram has been boiled, the cohen is to take its shoulder, one loaf of matzah from the basket and one unleavened wafer, and place them in the hands of the nazir, after he has shaved his consecrated head. 20 The cohen is to wave them as a wave offering before Adonai; this is set aside for the cohen, along with the breast for waving and the raised-up thigh. Following that, the nazir may drink wine.
21 “‘This is the law for the nazir who makes a vow and for his offering to Adonai for his being a nazir — in addition to anything more for which he has sufficient means. In keeping with whatever vow he makes, he must do it according to the law for the nazir.’”
22 Adonai said to Moshe, 23 “Speak to Aharon and his sons, and tell them that this is how you are to bless the people of Isra’el: you are to say to them,
24 ‘Y’varekh’kha Adonai v’yishmerekha.
[May Adonai bless you and keep you.]
25 Ya’er Adonai panav eleikha vichunekka.
[May Adonai make his face shine on you and show you his favor.]
26 Yissa Adonai panav eleikha v’yasem l’kha shalom.
[May Adonai lift up his face toward you and give you peace.]’
27 “In this way they are to put my name on the people of Isra’el, so that I will bless them.”
Numbers 6
EasyEnglish Bible
People who make special promises to the Lord
6 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell the Israelites this: “A man or a woman may want to make a special promise to the Lord. That will make him or her separate from other people, as a Nazirite.[a] 3 They must not drink wine. They must not drink any alcohol or vinegar. They must not drink the juice of grapes, or eat grapes or raisins. 4 They must not eat the seeds of grapes for all the time that they are Nazirites. They must not even eat the skins of grapes.
5 A person must not cut his hair during the time that he is a Nazirite. He must be different all the time that he is separate for the Lord. He must let the hair on his head grow long. 6 He must not go near a dead body while he is separate for the Lord. 7 His hair shows that he is separate for God. So he must not go near a dead body. He must not go near it even if the dead person is his father, mother, brother or sister. 8 During the time that the person is a Nazirite, they are holy because they belong to the Lord.
9 The Nazirite may be near to a person when that person dies suddenly. Then his head becomes unclean. He must remove all the hair from his head seven days after the person dies. Then he will be clean. 10 On day 8, he must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the door of the Tent of Meeting. He must give them to the priest. 11 The priest must sacrifice one bird as a sin offering and the other bird as a burnt offering. The priest must do that because the Nazirite sinned. He went too near to a dead body. That will make the Nazirite's head clean again on that same day. 12 He must begin his time as a Nazirite again, with a new promise to the Lord. He cannot include the days before he became unclean. He must bring a male lamb that is one year old. That is a guilt offering.
13 He is a Nazirite for a certain time. When that time finishes, the people must bring him to the door of the Tent of Meeting. 14 He must offer to the Lord three animals that have nothing wrong with them. He must offer a young male sheep that is one year old. That is a burnt offering. He must offer a young female sheep that is one year old. That is a sin offering. He must offer a male sheep. That is a friendship offering. 15 And he must bring a basket of bread that people have made without yeast. He must bring cakes that people have made with the best flour and oil. Also, he must bring thin biscuits with oil on them. But they must not have yeast in them either. He must bring the proper grain offerings and drink offerings with them.
16 The priest must offer those things to the Lord. And he must sacrifice the sin offering and the burnt offering. 17 Then the priest must sacrifice the male sheep as a friendship offering to the Lord. He must offer the basket of bread. He must give the grain offering and the drink offering with it.
18 Then the Nazirite must stand at the place where people go into the Tent of Meeting. He must remove all the hair from his head. He must put his hair into the same fire where the priest has cooked the friendship offering.
19 When the male sheep is cooked, the priest must take its shoulder. Also, he must take one cake and one thin biscuit from the basket. The cake and the biscuit must not have yeast in them. The priest must put these things into the hands of the Nazirite who has removed the hair from his head. 20 The Nazirite must give those things back to the priest. The priest must lift them up to the Lord as a special gift. They are a special gift for the priest. Also, the priest can eat the front part of the sheep and its back leg. After that, the Nazirite can drink wine.”
21 Those are the rules about Nazirites. Also, the Nazirite may give anything else that he can give. And he must bring any other gift that he promised to the Lord.’
The priests' blessing
22 The Lord said to Moses, 23 ‘Tell Aaron and his sons to use these words when they ask me to bless the Israelites.
24 They must say:
“I pray that the Lord will bless you.
I pray that he will keep you safe.
25 I pray that the Lord will smile at you.
And I pray that he will be very kind to you.
26 I pray that the Lord will be pleased with you.
And I pray that he will give you peace in your minds.”
27 Aaron and his sons must use my name to bless the Israelites. If they do that, I will certainly bless them.’
Footnotes
- 6:2 Nazirites were a separate group of Israelites, but they were not priests.
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