Numbers 6:1-21

Legacy Standard Bible

The Nazirite Vow

6 Again Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a ^[a]special vow, the vow of ^(A)a ^[b]Nazirite, to dedicate himself as a Nazirite to Yahweh, ³ he shall ^(B)abstain as a Nazirite from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. ⁴ All the days of his ^[c]Nazirite vow he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.

⁵ ‘All the days of his vow as a Nazirite ^(C)no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he dedicated himself as a Nazirite to Yahweh; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long.

⁶ ‘^(D)All the days of his dedication as a Nazirite to Yahweh he shall not go near to a dead person. ⁷ He ^(E)shall not defile himself for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because the Nazirite vow to his God is on his head. ⁸ All the days of his Nazirite vow he is holy to Yahweh.

⁹ ‘But if a man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles the head of hair during his Nazirite vow, then ^(F)he shall shave his head on the day when he becomes clean; ^(G)he shall shave it on the seventh day. ¹⁰ Then on the eighth day he shall bring ^(H)two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the doorway of the tent of meeting. ¹¹ And the priest shall offer ^(I)one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering and make atonement for him ^[d]concerning his sin because of the dead person. And that same day he shall set apart his head as holy, ¹² and shall dedicate to Yahweh the days of his ^[e]Nazirite vow and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering; but the former days will be void because his Nazirite vow was defiled.

¹³ ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite ^(J)when the days of his Nazirite vow are fulfilled: he shall bring ^[f]the offering to the doorway of the tent of meeting. ¹⁴ And he shall bring his offering near to Yahweh: one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering and one ^(K)ewe-lamb a year old without blemish for a sin offering and one ram without blemish for a peace offering, ¹⁵ and a basket of ^(L)unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with ^(M)their grain offering and their drink offering. ¹⁶ Then the priest shall bring them near before Yahweh and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. ¹⁷ He shall also offer with the ram a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh, together with the basket of unleavened cakes; the priest shall likewise offer its grain offering and its drink offering. ^18 (N)The Nazirite shall then shave the head of hair for his Nazirite vow at the doorway of the tent of meeting and take the hair of his head of his Nazirite vow and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings. ^19 (O)And the priest shall take the ram’s shoulder when it has been boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the ^[g]hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved the hair of his Nazirite vow. ²⁰ Then the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh. It is holy for the priest, together with the breast offered by waving and the thigh offered by ^[h]raising up; and ^(P)afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.’

²¹ “This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to Yahweh according to his Nazirite vow, in addition to what else ^[i]he can afford; according to his vow which he takes, so he shall do according to the law of his Nazirite vow.”