Numbers 6
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 the Lord, 3 he is to abstain 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, during the period of his consecration.
5 “You must not cut his hair[a] throughout the time of his vow of consecration. He may 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, while the mark of consecration 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, 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 incurred guilt because of the corpse. On that day he is to consecrate 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 guilt offering.(I) But do not count the initial period of consecration because it became defiled.
13 “This is the law of the Nazirite: On the day his time of consecration is completed, he is to 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 present 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 “These are the instructions about 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 instructions for his consecration.”
The Priestly Blessing
22 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. You should say to them,
24 “May the Lord bless you and protect you;(S)
25 may the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;(T)
26 may the Lord look with favor on you[b]
and give you peace.”’(U)
27 In this way they will pronounce my name over[c] the Israelites, and 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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