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The Nazirite Vow

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When either a man or woman will make a hard vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate themselves to the Lord, he will separate himself from wine and strong drink and will drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink. Neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh or dry grapes. All the days of his separation he will eat nothing that is made of the grapevine, from the seed to the skin.

All the days of the vow of his separation no razor will come on his head until the days are fulfilled in which he separates himself to the Lord. He will be holy and will let the locks of the hair of his head grow. All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he will not approach a dead body. He will not defile himself for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister if they die because the separation of his God is on his head. All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.

If any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled his consecrated head, then he will shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day will he shave it. 10 On the eighth day he will bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting. 11 And the priest will offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering and make an atonement for him, since he sinned because of the dead, and will sanctify his head that same day. 12 He will consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation and bring a male lamb in its first year as a guilt offering. But the previous days will be lost because his separation was defiled.

13 This is the law of the Nazirite. When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he will be brought to the door of the tent of meeting. 14 And he will offer his offering to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, one ram without blemish as a peace offering, 15 a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their grain offering with their drink offerings.

16 The priest will bring them before the Lord and will offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. 17 And he will offer the ram as a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest will offer also his grain offering and his drink offering.

18 The Nazirite will shave his consecrated head at the door of the tent of meeting, and will take the hair from his consecrated head and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

19 The priest will take the cooked shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer and will put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved his consecrated hair. 20 And the priest will wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. This is holy for the priest, with the breast waved and the shoulder offered. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine.

21 This is the law of the Nazirite who has vowed to the Lord, his offering for his separation, besides whatever else his hand is able to provide. According to the vow which he spoke, so he must do, according to the law of his separation.

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Rules Concerning Nazirites

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Israelites[a] and say to them, ‘When a man or a woman takes a special vow, a vow of a Nazirite,[b] to keep separate for Yahweh, he will abstain from wine and fermented drink; he will not drink wine vinegar or vinegar of fermented drink; he will not drink the fruit juice of grapes or eat fresh or dry grapes. All the days of his separation[c] you will not eat from anything that is made from the grapevine, from sour grapes to the skin of grapes.

“‘All the days of the vow of his separation a razor will not pass over his head. Until fulfilling the days that he separated himself to Yahweh he will be holy and grow long the locks of the hair of his head.

“‘All the days of keeping himself separated for Yahweh he will not go to a person who is dead; for even his father, mother, brother, or sister he will not make himself unclean by their death,[d] because the separation to his God is on his head. He will be holy for Yahweh all the days of his separation.[e]

“‘If someone dies suddenly and makes the head of his separation[f] unclean, he will shave off the hair of his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he will shave it off. 10 On the eighth day he will bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons[g] to the priest by the doorway of the tent of assembly, 11 and the priest will offer one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering, and he will make atonement for him because he sinned concerning the corpse. He will consecrate his head on that day. 12 He will rededicate to Yahweh the days of his separation[h] and bring a ram-lamb in its first year[i] as a guilt offering. The former days of his vow will fall away because his separation was defiled.

13 “‘This is the regulation of the Nazirite for the day of the fulfilling of the days of his separation: one will bring him to the doorway of the tent of the assembly. 14 He will present his offering to Yahweh, one ram-lamb in its first year[j] without defect as a burnt offering, and one ewe-lamb in its first year[k] without defect as a sin offering, and one ram without defect as a fellowship offering; 15 and a basket of unleavened bread, finely milled flour of ring-shaped bread cakes mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their libations. 16 The priest will present before Yahweh[l] and offer his sin offering, his burnt offering; 17 he will offer a ram as a sacrifice of a fellowship offering to Yahweh, in addition to the basket of the unleavened bread; the priest will offer his grain offering and his libation. 18 The Nazirite will shave off the hair of his consecrated head[m] at the doorway of the tent of assembly, and he will take the hair of his consecrated head,[n] and he will put it on the fire that is beneath the sacrifice of the fellowship offering. 19 The priest will take the shoulder from the ram that is boiled, and one ring-shaped bread cake of unleavened bread from the basket, and one wafer of unleavened bread, and he will put them on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated head.[o] 20 The priest will wave them as a wave offering before the presence of[p] Yahweh; they[q] are a holy object to the priest, in addition to the breast section of the wave offering, and in addition to the upper thigh of the contribution; and afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.

21 “‘This is the regulation of the Nazirite who has made a vow of his offering to Yahweh according to his separation, in addition to what he can afford.[r] In accordance to the word of his vow that he vowed, he will do, concerning the instruction of his separation.’”

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 6:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  2. Numbers 6:2 Literally “one separated”
  3. Numbers 6:4 That is, “the Nazirite”
  4. Numbers 6:7 Literally “with their dying”
  5. Numbers 6:8 That is, “the Nazirite”
  6. Numbers 6:9 That is, “the Nazirite”
  7. Numbers 6:10 Literally “the sons of doves”
  8. Numbers 6:12 That is, “the Nazirite”
  9. Numbers 6:12 Literally “a son of his year”
  10. Numbers 6:14 Literally “a son of his year”
  11. Numbers 6:14 Literally “a daughter of his year”
  12. Numbers 6:16 Or “before the face of Yahweh”
  13. Numbers 6:18 Literally “the head of his separation”
  14. Numbers 6:18 Literally “the head of his separation”
  15. Numbers 6:19 Literally “his separation”
  16. Numbers 6:20 Literally “before the face of”
  17. Numbers 6:20 Hebrew “it”
  18. Numbers 6:21 Literally “except from that which overtakes his hand”