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:

^27 (AA)“So they shall ^[f]put My name on the children of Israel, and ^(AB)I will bless them.”

The Shepherd Knows His Sheep

²² Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. ²³ And Jesus walked in the temple, ^(A)in Solomon’s porch. ²⁴ Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in ^[a]doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. ^(B)The works that I do in My Father’s name, they ^(C)bear witness of Me. ²⁶ But ^(D)you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, ^[b]as I said to you. ^27 (E)My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. ^29 (F)My Father, ^(G)who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ^30 (H)I and My Father are one.”

Renewed Efforts to Stone Jesus

³¹ Then ^(I)the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. ³² Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”

³³ The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for ^(J)blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, ^(K)make Yourself God.”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ^(L)‘I said, “You are gods” ’? ³⁵ If He called them gods, ^(M)to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture ^(N)cannot be broken), ³⁶ do you say of Him ^(O)whom the Father sanctified and ^(P)sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ ^(Q)because I said, ‘I am ^(R)the Son of God’? ^37 (S)If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; ³⁸ but if I do, though you do not believe Me, ^(T)believe the works, that you may know and ^[c]believe ^(U)that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” ^39 (V)Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.

The Believers Beyond Jordan

⁴⁰ And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place ^(W)where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed. ⁴¹ Then many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, ^(X)but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.” ⁴² And many believed in Him there.

The Cloud and the Fire^(A)

¹⁵ Now ^(B)on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud ^(C)covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; ^(D)from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. ¹⁶ So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud ^(E)was ^[a]taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. ¹⁸ At the ^[b]command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; ^(F)as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped. ¹⁹ Even when the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle, the children of Israel ^(G)kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey. ²⁰ So it was, when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days: according to the command of the Lord they would remain encamped, and according to the command of the Lord they would journey. ²¹ So it was, when the cloud remained only from evening until morning: when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they would journey; whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey. ²² Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel ^(H)would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey. ²³ At the command of the Lord they remained encamped, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed; they ^(I)kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

²⁹ Now Moses said to ^(A)Hobab the son of ^(B)Reuel^[a] the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ^(C)‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and ^(D)we will treat you well; for ^(E)the Lord has promised good things to Israel.”

³⁰ And he said to him, “I will not go, but I will depart to my own land and to my relatives.”

³¹ So Moses said, “Please do not leave, inasmuch as you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and you can ^[b]be our ^(F)eyes. ³² And it shall be, if you go with us—indeed it shall be—that ^(G)whatever good the Lord will do to us, the same we will do to you.”

³³ So they departed from ^(H)the mountain of the Lord on a journey of three days; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord ^(I)went before them for the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them. ³⁴ And ^(J)the cloud of the Lord was above them by day when they went out from the camp.

³⁵ So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said:

³⁶ And when it rested, he said:

Greeting

1 Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and ^(A)the acknowledgment of the truth ^(B)which accords with godliness, ² in hope of eternal life which God, who ^(C)cannot lie, promised before time began, ³ but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior;

⁴ To ^(D)Titus, a true son in our common faith:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and ^[a]the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

Qualified Elders

⁵ For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should ^(E)set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you— ⁶ if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, ^(F)having faithful children not accused of ^[b]dissipation or insubordination. ⁷ For a ^[c]bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, ^(G)not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, ⁸ but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, ⁹ holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.

The Elders’ Task

¹⁰ For there are many insubordinate, both idle ^(H)talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, ¹¹ whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, ^(I)for the sake of dishonest gain. ^12 (J)One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³ This testimony is true. ^(K)Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴ not giving heed to Jewish fables and ^(L)commandments of men who turn from the truth. ^15 (M)To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. ¹⁶ They profess to ^(N)know God, but ^(O)in works they deny Him, being ^[d]abominable, disobedient, ^(P)and disqualified for every good work.

Qualities of a Sound Church

2 But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: ² that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; ³ the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— ⁴ that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ to be discreet, chaste, ^(Q)homemakers, good, ^(R)obedient to their own husbands, ^(S)that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

⁶ Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, ⁷ in all things showing yourself to be ^(T)a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, ^(U)incorruptibility,^{[e] 8} sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of ^[f]you.