Numbers 6
Common English Bible
Instructions for the nazirite
6 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If a man or a woman makes a binding promise to be a nazirite in order to be dedicated to the Lord, 3 that person must refrain from wine and brandy. He or she may not drink wine vinegar or brandy vinegar, nor drink any grape juice or eat grapes, whether fresh or dried. 4 While a nazirite, the person may not eat anything produced from the grapevine, not even its seeds or skin.
5 For the term of the nazirite promise, no razor may be used on the head until the period of dedication to the Lord is fulfilled. The person is to be holy, letting his or her hair grow untrimmed. 6 The period of dedication to the Lord also requires that the person not go near a corpse, 7 whether father, mother, brother, or sister. Nazirites should not defile themselves because of the death of these people, because they bear the sign of their dedication to God on their heads.
8 While a nazirite, the person is holy to the Lord. 9 If someone suddenly dies nearby, defiling the head of the nazirite, he or she will shave the head on the day of cleansing; they will shave it on the seventh day. 10 On the eighth day the person will bring two turtledoves or two young doves to the priest at the entrance of the meeting tent. 11 The priest will offer one for a purification offering and the other as an entirely burned offering. He will seek reconciliation for the person on account of the guilt acquired from the corpse, and he will make the head holy again on that same day. 12 The person will be rededicated to the Lord as a nazirite and bring a one-year-old male lamb for a compensation offering. The previous period will be invalid, because the nazirite promise was defiled.
13 This is the Instruction for the nazirite. When the term as a nazirite is completed, the person will be brought to the entrance of the meeting tent 14 and offer a gift to the Lord, consisting of a flawless one-year-old male lamb as an entirely burned offering, a flawless one-year-old female lamb as a purification offering, one flawless ram as a well-being sacrifice, 15 and a basket of loaves of unleavened bread made with fine flour and mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with their grain offering and their drink offering. 16 The priest will come close to the Lord and offer the purification and entirely burned offerings. 17 The ram he will offer as a well-being sacrifice to the Lord with the basket of unleavened bread; then the priest will offer the grain offering and the drink offering. 18 The nazirite will shave his ordained head at the meeting tent’s entrance, take the hair from his ordained head, and put it in the fire under the well-being sacrifice. 19 The priest will take the shoulder from the ram after it is boiled, one piece of unleavened bread from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and place them in the hands of the nazirite after the ordained head is shaved. 20 Then the priest will raise them as an uplifted offering before the Lord; they are holy to the priest, with the breast of the uplifted offering and the thigh of the gift offering. After this the nazirite may drink wine.
21 This is the instruction for the nazirite who takes the solemn promise. That person’s offering to the Lord will be in accordance with the nazirite promise, in addition to whatever else the person may have offered. The person must do just as they have promised, in adherence with the nazirite promise.
Priestly blessing
22 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23 Tell Aaron and his sons: You will bless the Israelites as follows. Say to them:
24 The Lord bless you and protect you.
25 The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
26 The Lord lift up his face to you and grant you peace.
27 They will place my name on 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
International Standard Version
Nazirites
6 Then the Lord told Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelis that a man or woman who commits to the vow of the Nazirite, is to be separated to the Lord, 3 then is to remain separate from wine and strong drink. He is not to drink vinegar or strong drink made from wine. He is not to drink grape juice or eat grapes, whether fresh or dried. 4 During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to eat any product from the grapevine, from the seed to the skin. 5 During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to allow a razor to pass over his head until the days of his holy consecration to the Lord have been fulfilled. He is to let the locks on his head grow long.
6 “During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to come near a dead body.[a] 7 He is not to defile himself on account of his father, mother, brother, and sister when they die, because the crown of his consecration to God is on his head. 8 During the entire time of his dedication, he is set apart to God. 9 When someone suddenly dies beside him, so that his consecrated head is defiled, then he is to shave his head on the day of his purification. Seven days later he is to shave it again. 10 On the eighth day, he is to bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 11 Then the priest is to offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to make atonement for him because of the guilt he incurred on account of his contact with the dead body. Then he is to consecrate his head on that day. 12 He is to dedicate to the Lord the days of his consecration by bringing a year old male lamb as his offering. The previous time will have failed because his consecration became defiled.
13 “This is the law of the Nazirite: When the days of his consecration are completed, he is to come to the entrance at the Tent of Meeting. 14 He is to bring an offering to the Lord, a year old male lamb, and a year old ewe female lamb, both without blemish, for a sin offering and a ram without blemish for a peace offering, 15 a basket of unleavened bread made[b] from choice flour, cakes mixed with oil, a wafer of unleavened bread smeared with oil, along with grain and drink offerings. 16 The priest is to come into the Lord’s presence and present his sin and burnt offerings. 17 He is to offer the ram, a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, along with the basket of unleavened bread. Then the priest is to present his grain and drink offerings. 18 The Nazirite is then to shave his head of consecration at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to take the lock of his head of consecration and set it over the fire where the peace offering for sacrifice is. 19 Then the priest is to take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one cake of unleavened bread from the basket, and one wafer of unleavened bread. He is to place them in the hands of the Nazirite, after he himself has shaved his symbol of consecration. 20 The priest is to wave the offerings, that is, the breast and the thigh offering in the Lord’s presence. Then the Nazirite may drink wine afterward. 21 This is to be the law of the Nazirite when he commits his offering to the Lord on account of his consecration, over and beyond what he owns alone plus whatever he can provide,[c] based on the vow from his own mouth that he vows to fulfill on account of the law of his consecration.”
On Blessing the Israelis
22 Later, the Lord told Moses, 23 “Teach Aaron and his sons to bless the Israelis:
24 May the Lord bless you
and guard you.
25 May the Lord’s face enlighten you
and bestow favor on you.
26 May the Lord turn to face you,
lavishing peace on you!
27 They are to pour out my name to the Israelis while I continue to bless them.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 6:6 Lit. soul
- Numbers 6:15 The Heb. lacks made
- Numbers 6:21 Lit. his hand can reach
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