Numbers 6
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
6 And the Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to the Israelites, When either a man or a woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, that is, one separated and consecrated to the Lord,
3 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar of wine or of strong drink, and shall drink no grape juice, or eat grapes, fresh or dried.(A)
4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing produced from the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
5 All the days of the vow of his separation and abstinence there shall no razor come upon his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.
6 All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body.
7 He shall not make himself unclean for his father, mother, brother, or sister, when they die, because his separation and abstinence to his God is upon his head.
8 All the days of his separation and abstinence he is holy to the Lord.
9 And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day shall he shave it.
10 On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest to the door of the Tent of Meeting,
11 And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering and make atonement for him because he sinned by reason of the dead body. He shall consecrate his head the same day,
12 And he shall consecrate and separate himself to the Lord for the days of his separation and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a trespass or guilt offering; but the previous days shall be void and lost, because his separation was defiled.
13 And this is the law of the Nazirite when the days of his separation and abstinence are fulfilled. He shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting,
14 And he shall offer his gift to the Lord, one he-lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one 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 unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread spread with oil, and their cereal offering, and their drink offering.
16 And the priest shall present them before the Lord and shall offer the person’s sin offering and his burnt offering.
17 And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall offer also its cereal offering and its drink offering.
18 And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall take the hair and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.
19 And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaven the hair of his separation and abstinence.
20 And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord; they are a holy portion for the priest, with the breast that is waved and the thigh or shoulder that is offered; and after that the Nazirite may drink wine.
21 This is the law for the Nazirite who has made a vow. His offering to the Lord, besides what else he is able to afford, shall be according to the vow which he has vowed; so shall he do according to the law for his separation and abstinence [as a Nazirite].(B)
22 And the Lord said to Moses,
23 Say to Aaron and his sons, This is the way you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them,
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
27 And they shall put My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.
Numbers 6
English Standard Version
The Nazirite Vow
6 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of (A)a Nazirite,[a] (B)to separate himself to the Lord, 3 he (C)shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. 4 All the days of his separation[b] he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
5 “All the days of his vow of separation, no (D)razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. (E)He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.
6 “All the days that he separates himself to the Lord (F)he shall not go near a dead body. 7 (G)Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.
9 “And if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then (H)he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. 10 (I)On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 11 and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall consecrate his head that same day 12 and separate himself to the Lord for the days of his separation and bring a male lamb a year old (J)for a guilt offering. But the previous period shall be void, because his separation was defiled.
13 “And this is the law for the Nazirite, (K)when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 14 and he shall bring his gift to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish (L)as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish (M)as a peace offering, 15 and a basket of unleavened bread, (N)loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and their (O)grain offering and their (P)drink offerings. 16 And the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer (Q)his sin offering and his burnt offering, 17 and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering. 18 And the Nazirite (R)shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering. 19 And the priest shall take the (S)shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened loaf out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and (T)shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved the hair of his consecration, 20 and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. (U)They are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine.
21 “This is the law of the Nazirite. But if he vows an offering to the Lord above his Nazirite vow, as he can afford, in exact accordance with the vow that he takes, then he shall do in addition to the law of the Nazirite.”
Aaron's Blessing
22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus (V)you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
24 The Lord (W)bless you and (X)keep you;
25 the Lord (Y)make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord (Z)lift up his countenance[c] upon you and give you peace.
27 (AA)“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 6:2 Nazirite means one separated, or one consecrated
- Numbers 6:4 Or Naziriteship
- Numbers 6:26 Or face
Numbers 6
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 6
Laws Concerning Nazirites. 1 The Lord said to Moses: 2 Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When men or women solemnly take the nazirite[a] vow to dedicate themselves to the Lord, 3 they shall abstain from wine and strong drink;(A) they may neither drink wine vinegar, other vinegar, or any kind of grape juice, nor eat either fresh or dried grapes. 4 As long as they are nazirites they shall not eat anything of the produce of the grapevine; not even the seeds or the skins. 5 While they are under the nazirite vow, no razor shall touch their hair.(B) Until the period of their dedication to the Lord is over, they shall be holy, letting the hair of their heads grow freely. 6 As long as they are dedicated to the Lord, they shall not come near a dead person.(C) 7 Not even for their father or mother, sister or brother, should they defile themselves, when these die, since their heads bear their dedication to God. 8 As long as they are nazirites they are holy to the Lord.
9 If someone dies very suddenly in their presence, defiling their dedicated heads, they shall shave their heads on the day of their purification, that is, on the seventh day. 10 On the eighth day they shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 11 The priest shall offer up the one as a purification offering and the other as a burnt offering, thus making atonement for them for the sin they committed with respect to the corpse. On the same day they shall reconsecrate their heads 12 and rededicate themselves to the Lord for the period of their dedication, bringing a yearling lamb as a reparation offering. The previous period is not valid, because they defiled their dedicated heads.
13 This is the ritual for the nazirites:(D) When the period of their dedication is complete they shall go to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 14 bringing their offerings to the Lord, one unblemished yearling lamb for a burnt offering, one unblemished yearling ewe lamb for a purification offering, one unblemished ram as a communion offering, 15 and a basket of unleavened cakes of bran flour mixed with oil and of unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with their grain offerings and libations. 16 The priest shall present them before the Lord, and shall offer up the purification offering and the burnt offering for them. 17 He shall then offer up the ram as a communion sacrifice to the Lord, along with the basket of unleavened cakes, and the priest will offer the grain offering and libation. 18 Then at the entrance of the tent of meeting the nazirite shall shave his or her dedicated head, take the hair of the dedicated head, and put it in the fire under the communion sacrifice. 19 After the nazirite has shaved off the dedicated hair, the priest shall take a boiled shoulder of the ram, as well as one unleavened cake from the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them in the hands of the nazirite. 20 The priest shall then elevate them as an elevated offering before the Lord. They are an offering belonging to the priest, along with the brisket of the elevated offering and the leg of the contribution. Only after this may the nazirite drink wine.
21 This, then, is the law for the nazirites, that is, what they vow as their offering to the Lord in accord with their dedication, apart from anything else which their means may allow. In keeping with the vow they take so shall they do, according to the law of their dedication.
The Priestly Blessing. 22 The Lord said to Moses: 23 Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them: This is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them:
24 The Lord bless you and keep you!
25 The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!
26 The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace![b]
27 So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.
Footnotes
- 6:2–21 Nazirite: from the Hebrew word nazir, meaning “set apart as sacred, dedicated, vowed.” The nazirite vow could be either for a limited period or for life. Those bound by this vow had to abstain from all the products of the grapevine, from cutting or shaving their hair, and from contact with a corpse. They were regarded as men and women of God like the prophets; cf. Am 2:11–12. Examples of lifelong nazirites were Samson (Jgs 13:4–5, 7; 16:17), Samuel (1 Sm 1:11), and John the Baptist (Lk 1:15). At the time of Jesus the practice of taking the nazirite vow for a limited period seems to have been quite common, even among the early Christians; cf. Acts 18:18; 21:23–24, 26.
- 6:26 Peace: the Hebrew word Shalom includes the idea of happiness, good health, prosperity, friendship, and general well-being. To use this term as a greeting was to pray for all these things upon the one greeted.
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