Numbers 6

New American Standard Bible

Law of the Nazirites

6 Again the Lord 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, namely, the vow of ^(A)a ^[b]Nazirite, to live as a Nazirite for the Lord, ³he shall ^(B)abstain from wine and ^[c]strong drink; he shall ^[d]consume no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. ⁴All the days of his consecration he shall not eat anything that is produced from the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.

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

⁶‘^(D)All the days of his life as a Nazirite for the Lord he shall not come up to a dead person. ⁷He ^(E)shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his consecration to God is ^[e]on his head. ⁸All the days of his consecration he is holy to the Lord.

⁹‘But if someone dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head of hair, then ^(F)he shall shave his head on the day when he becomes clean; ^(G)he shall shave it on the seventh day. ¹⁰Then on the eighth day he shall bring ^(H)two turtledoves or two young doves to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting. ¹¹And the priest shall offer ^(I)one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him ^[f]regarding his sin because of the dead person. And on that same day he shall consecrate his head, ¹²and shall live his days of consecration as a Nazirite for the Lord, and shall bring a male lamb a year old as a guilt offering; but the preceding days will ^[g]not count, because his consecration was defiled.

¹³‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite ^(J)when the days of his consecration are fulfilled: he shall bring ^[h]his offering to the entrance of the tent of meeting. ¹⁴And he shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb a year old without defect as a burnt offering, one ^(K)ewe lamb a year old without defect as a sin offering, one ram without defect as a peace offering, ¹⁵and a basket of ^(L)unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with ^(M)their grain offering and their drink offering. ¹⁶Then the priest shall present them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. ¹⁷He shall also offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, together with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering. ¹⁸^(N)The Nazirite shall then shave his consecrated head of hair at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and take the consecrated hair of his head 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 loaf from the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the ^[i]hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair. ²⁰Then the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. It is holy for the priest, together with the breast offered as a wave offering, and the thigh offered as ^[j]a contribution; and ^(P)afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.’

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

Aaron’s Benediction

²²Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²³“Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘In this way ^(Q)you shall bless the sons of Israel. You are to say to them:

²⁴The Lord ^(R)bless you, and ^[l]^(S)keep you;

²⁵The Lord ^(T)cause His face to shine on you,
And ^(U)be gracious to you;

²⁶The Lord ^(V)lift up His face to you,
And ^(W)give you peace.’

²⁷So they shall ^[m]^(X)invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and then I will bless them.”

Footnotes

Numbers 6:2 Or an extraordinary
Numbers 6:2 I.e., one consecrated to God
Numbers 6:3 I.e., other alcoholic drink
Numbers 6:3 Lit drink
Numbers 6:7 I.e., referring either to the visibility of the long hair, or to the consequences of violating the vow
Numbers 6:11 Lit because of that which he sinned
Numbers 6:12 Lit fall
Numbers 6:13 Lit it
Numbers 6:19 Lit palms
Numbers 6:20 Or an uplifted offering
Numbers 6:21 Lit his hand reaches
Numbers 6:24 Or watch over; or take care of
Numbers 6:27 Lit put

Psalm 79

New American Standard Bible

Grieving over the Destruction of Jerusalem, and Prayer for Help.

A Psalm of Asaph.

79 God, the ^(A)nations have ^[a]invaded ^(B)Your inheritance;
They have defiled Your ^(C)holy temple;
They have ^(D)laid Jerusalem in ruins.
²They have given the ^(E)dead bodies of Your servants to the birds of the sky as food,
The flesh of Your godly ones to the animals of the earth.
³They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem;
And there was ^(F)no one to bury them.
⁴We have become a ^(G)disgrace before our neighbors,
An object of derision and ridicule to those around us.
⁵^(H)How long, Lord? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your ^(I)jealousy ^(J)burn like fire?
⁶^(K)Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which ^(L)do not know You,
And upon the kingdoms which ^(M)do not call upon Your name.
⁷For they have ^(N)devoured Jacob
And ^(O)laid waste his ^[b]settlement.

⁸^(P)Do not ^[c]hold us responsible for ^[d]the guilty deeds of our forefathers;
Let Your compassion come quickly to ^(Q)meet us,
For we have ^(R)become very low.
⁹^(S)Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of ^(T)Your name;
And save us and ^[e]^(U)forgive our sins ^(V)for the sake of Your name.
¹⁰^(W)Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Let ^(X)vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been shed
Be known among the nations in our sight.
¹¹Let ^(Y)the groaning of the prisoner come before You;
According to the greatness of Your ^[f]power, let ^[g]those who are ^(Z)doomed to die remain.
¹²And return to our neighbors ^(AA)seven times as much ^(AB)into their lap
Their ^(AC)taunts with which they have taunted You, Lord.
¹³So we Your people and the ^(AD)sheep of Your ^[h]pasture
Will ^(AE)give thanks to You forever;
To all generations we will ^(AF)tell of Your praise.

Footnotes

Psalm 79:1 Lit come into
Psalm 79:7 Lit pasture
Psalm 79:8 Lit remember against us
Psalm 79:8 Or our former sins
Psalm 79:9 Lit cover over, atone for
Psalm 79:11 Lit arm
Psalm 79:11 Lit the sons of death
Psalm 79:13 Or pasturing

Matthew 24:1-28

New American Standard Bible

Signs of Christ’s Return

24 ^(A)Jesus ^(B)left the temple area and was going on His way ^[a]when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. ²But He responded and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, ^(C)not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³And as He was sitting on ^(D)the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of ^(E)Your coming, and of the ^[b]end of the age?”

⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “^(F)See to it that no one ^[c]misleads you. ⁵For ^(G)many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the ^[d]Christ,’ and they will ^[e]mislead many people. ⁶And you will be hearing of ^(H)wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. ⁷For ^(I)nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be ^(J)famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸^(K)But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“^(L)Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and ^(M)you will be hated by all nations because of My name. ¹⁰And at that time many will ^[f]^(N)fall away, and they will ^[g]betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹And many ^(O)false prophets will rise up and ^[h]mislead many people. ¹²And because lawlessness is increased, ^[i]most people’s love will become cold. ¹³^(P)But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. ¹⁴This ^(Q)gospel of the kingdom ^(R)shall be preached in the whole ^[j]^(S)world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Perilous Times

¹⁵“Therefore when you see the ^(T)abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in ^(U)the holy place—^[k]^(V)let the ^[l]reader understand— ¹⁶then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ¹⁷^[m]Whoever is on ^(W)the ^[n]housetop must not go down to get things out of his house. ¹⁸And ^[o]whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. ¹⁹But ^(X)woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰Moreover, pray that ^[p]when you flee, it will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. ²¹For then there will be a ^(Y)great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again. ²²And if those days had not been cut short, no ^[q]life would have been saved; but for ^(Z)the sake of the ^[r]elect those days will be cut short. ²³^(AA)Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the ^[s]Christ,’ or ‘He is over here,’ do not believe him. ²⁴For false christs and ^(AB)false prophets will arise and will provide great ^[t]^(AC)signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even ^(AD)the ^[u]elect. ²⁵Behold, I have told you in advance. ²⁶So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. ²⁷^(AE)For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the ^(AF)coming of the ^(AG)Son of Man ^[v]be. ²⁸^(AH)Wherever the corpse is, there the ^[w]vultures will gather.