Numbers 6
New King James Version
The Law of the Nazirite
6 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When either a man or woman [a]consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, (A)to separate himself to the Lord, 3 (B)he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. 4 All the days of his [b]separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.
5 ‘All the days of the vow of his separation no (C)razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. 6 All the days that he separates himself to the Lord (D)he shall not go near a dead body. 7 (E)He shall not [c]make himself unclean even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 (F)All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the Lord.
9 ‘And if anyone dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall (G)shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. 10 Then (H)on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting; 11 and the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned in regard to the corpse; and he shall sanctify his head that same day. 12 He shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, and bring a male lamb in its first year (I)as a trespass offering; but the former days shall be [d]lost, because his separation was defiled.
13 ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite: (J)When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 14 And he shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb in its first year without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish (K)as a sin offering, one ram without blemish (L)as a peace offering, 15 a basket of unleavened bread, (M)cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened wafers (N)anointed with oil, and their grain offering with their (O)drink offerings.
16 ‘Then the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering; 17 and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering. 18 (P)Then the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.
19 ‘And the priest shall take the (Q)boiled shoulder of the ram, one (R)unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and (S)put them upon the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair, 20 and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord; (T)they are holy for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering. After that the Nazirite may drink wine.’
21 “This is the law of the Nazirite who vows to the Lord the offering for his separation, and besides that, whatever else his hand is able to provide; according to the vow which he takes, so he must do according to the law of his separation.”
The Priestly Blessing
22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:
24 “The Lord (U)bless you and (V)keep you;
25 The Lord (W)make His face shine upon you,
And (X)be gracious to you;
26 (Y)The Lord [e]lift up His countenance upon you,
And (Z)give you peace.” ’
27 (AA)“So they shall [f]put My name on the children of Israel, and (AB)I will bless them.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 6:2 Or makes a difficult vow
- Numbers 6:4 Separation as a Nazirite
- Numbers 6:7 By touching a dead body
- Numbers 6:12 void
- Numbers 6:26 Look upon you with favor
- Numbers 6:27 invoke
Numbers 6
International Standard Version
Nazirites
6 Then the Lord told Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelis that a man or woman who commits to the vow of the Nazirite, is to be separated to the Lord, 3 then is to remain separate from wine and strong drink. He is not to drink vinegar or strong drink made from wine. He is not to drink grape juice or eat grapes, whether fresh or dried. 4 During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to eat any product from the grapevine, from the seed to the skin. 5 During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to allow a razor to pass over his head until the days of his holy consecration to the Lord have been fulfilled. He is to let the locks on his head grow long.
6 “During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to come near a dead body.[a] 7 He is not to defile himself on account of his father, mother, brother, and sister when they die, because the crown of his consecration to God is on his head. 8 During the entire time of his dedication, he is set apart to God. 9 When someone suddenly dies beside him, so that his consecrated head is defiled, then he is to shave his head on the day of his purification. Seven days later he is to shave it again. 10 On the eighth day, he is to bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 11 Then the priest is to offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to make atonement for him because of the guilt he incurred on account of his contact with the dead body. Then he is to consecrate his head on that day. 12 He is to dedicate to the Lord the days of his consecration by bringing a year old male lamb as his offering. The previous time will have failed because his consecration became defiled.
13 “This is the law of the Nazirite: When the days of his consecration are completed, he is to come to the entrance at the Tent of Meeting. 14 He is to bring an offering to the Lord, a year old male lamb, and a year old ewe female lamb, both without blemish, for a sin offering and a ram without blemish for a peace offering, 15 a basket of unleavened bread made[b] from choice flour, cakes mixed with oil, a wafer of unleavened bread smeared with oil, along with grain and drink offerings. 16 The priest is to come into the Lord’s presence and present his sin and burnt offerings. 17 He is to offer the ram, a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, along with the basket of unleavened bread. Then the priest is to present his grain and drink offerings. 18 The Nazirite is then to shave his head of consecration at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to take the lock of his head of consecration and set it over the fire where the peace offering for sacrifice is. 19 Then the priest is to take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one cake of unleavened bread from the basket, and one wafer of unleavened bread. He is to place them in the hands of the Nazirite, after he himself has shaved his symbol of consecration. 20 The priest is to wave the offerings, that is, the breast and the thigh offering in the Lord’s presence. Then the Nazirite may drink wine afterward. 21 This is to be the law of the Nazirite when he commits his offering to the Lord on account of his consecration, over and beyond what he owns alone plus whatever he can provide,[c] based on the vow from his own mouth that he vows to fulfill on account of the law of his consecration.”
On Blessing the Israelis
22 Later, the Lord told Moses, 23 “Teach Aaron and his sons to bless the Israelis:
24 May the Lord bless you
and guard you.
25 May the Lord’s face enlighten you
and bestow favor on you.
26 May the Lord turn to face you,
lavishing peace on you!
27 They are to pour out my name to the Israelis while I continue to bless them.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 6:6 Lit. soul
- Numbers 6:15 The Heb. lacks made
- Numbers 6:21 Lit. his hand can reach
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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