Beginning

Chapter 5

Purifying the Camp. ¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Command the people of Israel to expel from the camp every leper and everyone who has a discharge and everyone who is unclean because they touched the dead. ³ You will expel both men and women from the camp. You will put them out so that they do not make the camp unclean, for I dwell in their midst.” ⁴ The people of Israel did this, putting them outside of the camp. The Israelites did what the Lord had instructed Moses.

Making Recompense.^{[a] 5} The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “Say to the people of Israel, ‘When a man or a woman sins in any way, that person has been unfaithful to the Lord and will be considered to be guilty. ⁷ He will confess the sin that he has committed. He will recompense his trespass, taking the full amount and one-fifth more and give it to the person against whom he has committed this offense. ⁸ But if the person offended has no kinsmen who could receive the recompense for the trespass, then let the trespass be paid to the Lord, to the priest, besides the ram that is being used to obtain his atonement. ⁹ Every offering of holy things that the people of Israel bring to the priest will belong to him. ¹⁰ Everyone’s gift of holy things will belong to him; whatever is given to the priest belongs to him.’ ”

¹¹ The Test of Unfaithfulness.^[b] The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, ¹³ and a man has sex with her, and this is hidden from her husband, and she is defiled but keeps it a secret since there are no witnesses and she was not caught in the act, ¹⁴ and if a spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous of his wife because she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous of her even though she has not defiled herself, ¹⁵ then he will take his wife to the priest. He will also bring an offering for her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal in which he has not poured oil nor put frankincense. This is a jealousy offering.^[c]

¹⁶ “ ‘The priest will bring her and have her stand before the Lord. ¹⁷ The priest will put some holy water in a clay vessel and he will put some of the dust from the floor of the sanctuary into the water. ¹⁸ The priest will have the woman stand before the Lord. He will uncover her hair and he will place the jealousy memorial offering in her hands. The priest will hold the bitter water that brings on a curse in his hands. ¹⁹ The priest will have the woman swear an oath saying, “If no other man has slept with you and if you have not gone astray, becoming defiled while married to your husband, then you will be free from the curse that this bitter water causes. ²⁰ But if you have gone astray while married to your husband, becoming defiled, and you have had sex with someone other than your husband,” ²¹ (at this point the priest will have the woman swear an oath to curse herself, and the priest will say to the woman) “then may the Lord make you a curse and a blight among your people. May the Lord make your loins rot and your womb swell;^{[d] 22} this water that brings on a curse will descend to your womb causing it to swell and your loins to rot.” The woman will then say, “Amen, amen.” ²³ The priest will write these curses in a book and blot them out with the bitter water. ²⁴ He will have the woman drink the bitter water that brings on the curse. The water that brings on the curse will enter her and will become bitter. ²⁵ The priest will then take the jealousy offering out of the woman’s hand and wave the offering before the Lord and offer it upon the altar. ²⁶ The priest will take a handful of the offering as the memorial offering and will burn it upon the altar. After that he will have the woman drink the water. ²⁷ When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, the curse in the water will enter her and be bitter and will cause her womb to swell and her loins to rot. ²⁸ But if the woman has not defiled herself and she is clean, then she will be unharmed and will conceive children.

²⁹ “ ‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife goes astray while married to her husband and becomes defiled ³⁰ or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous of his wife. He will bring his wife before the Lord and the priest will fulfill all the prescriptions of this law upon her. ³¹ The man will be free from guilt, but the woman will bear her guilt.’ ”

Chapter 6

Nazirite Laws.^{[e] 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^{[f] 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.^[g] 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,

²⁷ They will invoke my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”