Numbers 6
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.”
Yahweh Blesses the Sons of Israel
22 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus (Q)you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:
27 So they shall [k](X)invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 6:2 Or difficult
- Numbers 6:2 Lit one separated
- Numbers 6:4 Or living as a Nazirite, so through v 21
- Numbers 6:11 Lit because of that which he sinned
- Numbers 6:12 Lit one separated
- Numbers 6:13 Lit it
- Numbers 6:19 Lit palms
- Numbers 6:20 Or heaving up
- Numbers 6:21 Lit his hand can reach
- Numbers 6:26 Or countenance
- Numbers 6:27 Lit put
Numbers 6
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 6
Nazirite Laws.[a] 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘If a man or a woman dedicates himself or herself with a vow, a Nazirite vow to dedicate himself or herself unto the Lord, 3 that person will abstain from wine and strong drink. He will not drink any vinegar made from wine or from strong drink, nor will he drink any grape juice, nor will he eat grapes or raisins. 4 He is not to eat anything that comes from the vine, not even the seeds or the skins as long as he is a Nazirite. 5 No razor will touch his head all throughout the time of his vow. He is to be holy until the days of his vow have been completed. He will let the hair on his head grow long. 6 He is not to approach any dead body during the entire period of his vow to the Lord. 7 He is not to make himself unclean even for his father or mother if they were to die, nor his brother or sister, for the consecration of God is upon his head. 8 He is to be holy to the Lord all the days of his vow.
9 “ ‘But if someone were to die suddenly in his presence and defile his consecrated head, he is to shave his head on the day of his cleansing and he will shave it again on the seventh day. 10 Then on the eighth day he will bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 11 The priest will offer one of them as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering making atonement for the uncleanness caused by the dead person. On that same day he is to consecrate his head[b] 12 and he will dedicate his days of consecration unto the Lord. He will bring a year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. The days that preceded this incident will not count, however, for his dedicated head had been defiled.
13 “ ‘This is the law concerning Nazirites when the time of their dedication is completed. He is to be brought to the entrance to the tent of meeting. 14 He will bring a year-old male lamb without defect unto the Lord as a burnt offering, and a one-year-old ewe lamb without defect for a sin offering, and a one-year-old ram without defect as a peace offering 15 and a basket of unleavened bread made from fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers of bread with oil spread on them, and a cereal offering, and a drink offering. 16 The priest will bring them before the Lord and he will offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. 17 He will offer the ram as the sacrifice of a peace offering unto the Lord together with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest will also offer the cereal offering and the drink offering. 18 The Nazirite will shave his head at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He will take the hair that grew during the period when he was vowed and put it on the fire under the sacrifice of the peace offering. 19 The priest will take a shoulder of the ram that has been boiled, and an unleavened cake out of the basket, and an unleavened wafer, and he will put them into the hands of the Nazirite who has shaved off the hair of his vow. 20 The priest will wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. It is holy and will belong to the priest, along with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh that was presented. After this the Nazirite can drink wine. 21 This is the law of the Nazirite who has vowed his offering unto the Lord for his consecration (apart from what else he can afford). He must fulfill what he has vowed to do by the Nazirite law.’ ”
22 The Priests’ Blessing.[c] The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is how you will bless the people of Israel, saying to them,
24 “ ‘ “The Lord bless you and keep you.
25 The Lord shine his face upon you and be gracious to you.
26 The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace.” ’[d]
27 They will invoke my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 6:1 A Nazirite is a person consecrated to God by a vow. Samson was one (Jdg 13:5), as was the prophet Samuel (1 Sam 1:11); in the New Testament, perhaps John the Baptist (Lk 1:15) and Jesus himself (Mt 2:23) were Nazirites.
This state as a consecrated person is often mentioned in the Bible, but it underwent an evolution: initially it was regarded as a permanent gift but in the period in which the Book of Numbers was edited, it had become a temporary choice (see Acts 18:18; 21:23f, 26). - Numbers 6:11 The guilt here is purely legal.
- Numbers 6:22 Invoke my name upon the people of Israel means to make God benevolently present among the people. It is understandable that this text should have been adopted in the recent liturgical reform as an (optional) amplification of the blessing that the priest gives when he dismisses the people at the end of the Mass.
- Numbers 6:26 Give you peace: the Hebrew word is shalom and expresses a state of unanimity that can only be found through the Lord.
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