Numbers 6
The Voice
6 The Eternal One spoke to Moses again.
Eternal One: 2 Tell the Israelites that when anyone of them, man or woman, takes the special Nazirite vow, which distinguishes this Israelite as set apart for Me, 3-4 he shall abstain from alcohol, even from any grape products—vinegar, juice, or the fruit itself (dried or fresh), seeds, or skin—for the entire time he is a Nazirite. 5 Also, the Nazirite shall not cut the hair on his head but let it grow long for the duration of the Nazirite vow because he is holy and set apart for Me. 6 And the Nazirite shall not go near a corpse during that time, 7 even if the dead person is a parent or sibling, lest the Nazirite become ritually impure and ignore the fact of his consecration to God. 8 For the entirety of his Nazirite separation, he is holy to Me.
9 If it happens that someone suddenly dies near a Nazirite, accidentally rendering his special hair ritually impure, the Nazirite should shave it off on the day he purifies himself and again on the seventh day. 10-11 On the eighth day, the Nazirite will purify his head, bring two turtledoves and two young pigeons as offerings—sin and burnt—to the priest at the entrance of the congregation tent. The priest shall offer to make things right after inadvertent proximity to a corpse. 12 The Nazirite shall also bring a year-old male lamb as an offering for guilt. His head shall be made holy again at that time and the vow reinstated, not counting the previous days because he was defiled.
13 The following is how things should be done after the Nazirite has satisfied the duration of the vows: the offering should be brought to the entrance of the congregation tent 14 to present the gift to Me—unblemished, one-year-old male and female lambs as burnt and sin offerings, respectively; one unblemished ram as a peace offering, 15 a basket of flatbread, delicate cakes of fine flour and oil, crackers spread with oil, plus the regular grain and drink offerings. 16-17 The priest shall present all these (sin and burnt offerings, peace offering, and grain and drink offerings) before Me as the law instructs for each offering. 18 Then and there at the entrance to the congregation tent, the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head and burn the hair in the fire underneath the peace sacrifice. 19 Once the ram’s shoulder has boiled, the priest shall take it and one piece of flatbread and one cracker from the basket, and place those things on the outstretched palms of the shaved Nazirite. 20 Then the priest shall raise them up in offering to the Eternal, and keep them as the priest’s holy portion along with the wave offering breast and contributed thigh, which were likewise offered up. After all this, the Nazirite may drink wine.
21 This is the instruction for the Nazirite who takes a vow. The offerings to Me must be just so, besides anything else that the Nazirite can afford to give. Whatever has been promised, he must do, in keeping with the law for his consecration.
22 (continuing instruction to Moses) 23 Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the Israelites by saying,
24 The Eternal One bless and keep you.
25 May He make His face shine upon you
and be gracious to you.
26 The Eternal lift up His countenance
to look upon you and give you peace.
27 In this way, they will set My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.
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
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
