The Nazirites

6 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When either men or women make a special vow, the vow of a nazirite, to separate themselves to the Lord,^{(A) 3} they shall separate themselves from wine and strong drink; they shall drink no wine vinegar or other vinegar and shall not drink any grape juice or eat grapes, fresh or dried. ⁴ All their days as nazirites they shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.

⁵ “All the days of their nazirite vow no razor shall come upon the head; until the time is completed for which they separate themselves to the Lord, they shall be holy; they shall let the locks of the head grow long.^(B)

⁶ “All the days that they separate themselves to the Lord they shall not go near a corpse.^{(C) 7} Even if their father or mother, brother or sister, should die, they may not defile themselves, because their consecration to God is upon the head. ⁸ All their days as nazirites they are holy to the Lord.

⁹ “If someone suddenly dies nearby, defiling the head of the nazirite, then they shall shave the head on the day of their cleansing; on the seventh day they shall shave it. ¹⁰ On the eighth day they shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting,^{(D) 11} and the priest shall offer one as a purification offering and the other as a burnt offering and make atonement for them, because they incurred guilt by reason of the corpse. They shall sanctify the head that same day ¹² and separate themselves to the Lord for their days as nazirites and bring a male lamb a year old as a guilt offering. The former time shall be void because the nazarite was defiled.^(E)

¹³ “This is the law for the nazirites when the time of their consecration has been completed: they shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting,^{(F) 14} and they shall offer their gift to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a purification offering, one ram without blemish as an offering of well-being,^{(G) 15} and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of choice flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, with their grain offering and their drink offerings.^{(H) 16} The priest shall present them before the Lord and offer their purification offering and burnt offering ¹⁷ and offer the ram as a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest also shall make the accompanying grain offering and drink offering. ¹⁸ Then the nazirites shall shave the consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from the consecrated head and put it on the fire under the sacrifice of well-being.^{(I) 19} The priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer and shall put them in the palms of the nazirites, after they have shaved the consecrated head. ²⁰ Then the priest shall elevate them as an elevation offering before the Lord; they are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is elevated and the thigh that is offered. After that the nazirites may drink wine.

²¹ “This is the law for the nazirites who take a vow. Their offering to the Lord must be in accordance with the nazirite vow, apart from what else they can afford. In accordance with whatever vow they take, so they shall do, following the law for their consecration.”

The Priestly Benediction

²² The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²³ “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them:^(J)

²⁷ “So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”^(N)

Jesus Is Rejected by the Jews

²² At that time the Festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.^{(A) 24} So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah,^[a] tell us plainly.” ²⁵ Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me,^{(B) 26} but you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep.^{(C) 27} My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.^{(D) 28} I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.^{(E) 29} My Father, in regard to what he has given me, is greater than all,^[b] and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand.^{(F) 30} The Father and I are one.”

³¹ The Jews took up stones again to stone him. ³² Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” ³³ The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human, are making yourself God.”^{(G) 34} Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law,^[c] ‘I said, you are gods’?^{(H) 35} If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’—and the scripture cannot be annulled— ³⁶ can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?^{(I) 37} If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me.^{(J) 38} But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand^[d] that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”^{(K) 39} Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands.^(L)

⁴⁰ He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. ⁴¹ Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.”^{(M) 42} And many believed in him there.^(N)

The Cloud and the Fire

¹⁵ On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant, and from evening until morning it was over the tabernacle, having the appearance of fire.^{(A) 16} It was always so: the cloud covered it by day^[a] and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, then the Israelites would set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the Israelites would camp.^{(B) 18} At the command of the Lord the Israelites would set out, and at the command of the Lord they would camp. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they would remain in camp.^{(C) 19} Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites would keep the charge of the Lord and would not set out.^{(D) 20} Sometimes the cloud would remain a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord they would remain in camp; then according to the command of the Lord they would set out. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud would remain from evening until morning, and when the cloud lifted in the morning, they would set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they would set out. ²² Whether it was two days or a month or a longer time that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, resting upon it, the Israelites would remain in camp and would not set out, but when it lifted they would set out.^{(E) 23} At the command of the Lord they would camp, and at the command of the Lord they would set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.

²⁹ Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’s father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you’; come with us, and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good to Israel.”^{(A) 30} But he said to him, “I will not go, but I will go back to my own land and to my kindred.” ³¹ He said, “Do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. ³² Moreover, if you go with us, whatever good the Lord does for us, the same we will do for you.”^(B)

³³ So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey with the ark of the covenant of the Lord going before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them,^{(C) 34} the cloud of the Lord being over them by day when they set out from the camp.^(D)

³⁵ Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say,

³⁶ And whenever it came to rest, he would say,

Salutation

1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that is in accordance with godliness, ² in the hope of eternal life that God, who never lies, promised before the ages began^(A)— ³ in due time he revealed his word through the proclamation with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior,^(B)

⁴ To Titus, my true child^[a] in the faith we share:

Grace^[b] and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.^(C)

Titus in Crete

⁵ I left you behind in Crete for this reason, so that you should put in order what remained to be done and should appoint elders in every town, as I directed you:^{(D) 6} someone who is blameless, married only once,^[c] whose children are believers, not accused of debauchery and not rebellious.^{(E) 7} For a bishop,^[d] as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for gain,^{(F) 8} but he must be hospitable,^[e] a lover of goodness, self-controlled, upright, devout, and restrained, ⁹ holding tightly to the trustworthy word of the teaching, so that he may be able both to exhort with sound instruction and to refute those who contradict it.

¹⁰ There are also many rebellious people, idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision;^{(G) 11} they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain what it is not right to teach.^{(H) 12} It was one of them, their very own prophet, who said,

¹³ That testimony is true. For this reason rebuke them sharply, so that they may become sound in the faith,^{(I) 14} not paying attention to Jewish myths or to commandments of those who reject the truth.^{(J) 15} To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted.^{(K) 16} They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions; they are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.^(L)

Teach Sound Doctrine

2 But as for you, teach what is consistent with sound instruction. ² Tell the older men to be temperate, serious, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love, and in endurance.

³ Likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or enslaved to much wine; they are to teach what is good,^{(M) 4} so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ to be self-controlled, chaste, good managers of the household, kind, submissive to their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited.^(N)

⁶ Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled ⁷ in all things, offering yourself as a model of good works and in your teaching offering integrity, gravity, ⁸ and sound speech that cannot be censured; then any opponent will be put to shame, having nothing evil to say of us.^(O)