Numbers 6

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Yahweh also said this to Moses/me:

2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: A man or a woman, when they have made a vow so that they may be sanctified, and when they are willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord,

“Tell this to the Israeli people: ‘If any of you [wants to] make a solemn promise to dedicate himself to belong to me in a special way, [after you obey these instructions], you will be called a Nazir-man, [which means “dedicated man”].

3 shall abstain from wine and from anything which is able to inebriate. They shall not drink vinegar made from wine or from any other drink, nor anything pressed from the grape. They shall not eat grapes, neither fresh nor dried.

You must not drink any wine or other alcoholic/fermented drink. You must not drink any vinegar made from wine or from any other alcoholic/fermented drink. You must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins.

4 During all the days that they are consecrated to the Lord by vow, they shall not eat whatever may be from the vineyard, from raisins, even to grape seeds.

You must not eat anything that comes from grapevines, not even the skins or seeds of grapes, during the time that you are a Nazir-man.

5 During all the time of his separation, no razor shall pass over his head, even until the completion of the day when he is consecrated to the Lord. He shall be holy, letting the hair of his head grow long.

‘Even your hair will be dedicated to me during the time that you area Nazir-man, so you must never allow anyone to cut your hair. Until the time that your solemn promise to dedicate yourself to me is ended, you must allow your hair to grow long.

6 During all the time of his consecration, he shall not enter because of a death,

And you must not go near a corpse during the time that you are a Nazir-man.

7 nor shall he contaminate himself, even over the funeral of his father, or his mother, or his brother, or his sister. For the consecration of his God is upon his head.

Even if the person who died is your father or your mother or your brother or your sister, you must not cause yourself to become unacceptable to me [by coming close to the corpse]. Your long hair [MTY] shows that you belong to me in a special way, so you must not cut your hair.

8 During all the days of his separation, he shall be holy to the Lord.

You are required to keep doing this all the time that you are dedicated to me in this special way.

9 But if anyone will have died unexpectedly before him, the head of his consecration shall be polluted, and he shall shave it in that very place, on the same day of his purification, and again on the seventh day.

‘If anyone dies very suddenly when he is near you, then your hair that you have dedicated to me is no longer sacred. So you must wait seven days and then shave it all off. Then you must perform a special ritual to cause yourself to become acceptable to me again.

10 Then, on the eighth day, he shall offer two turtledoves or two young pigeons, to the priest at the entrance to the covenant of the testimony.

The next day you must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Sacred Tent.

11 And the priest shall effect one for sin, and the other as a holocaust, and he shall pray for him, because he has sinned on account of the dead. And he shall sanctify his head on that day.

‘The priest must [kill the birds and] offer them as sacrifices. One of them will be an offering to enable me to forgive you for the sins you have committed, and the other will be an offering that is burned completely to please me. [After the priest burns them on the altar], I will forgive you for having come close to a corpse, and [when] your hair [grows again it] will be dedicated to me again.

12 And he shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, offering a one-year-old lamb for sin, yet in such a manner that the former days will be made null and void, because his sanctification was polluted.

The amount of time that you were set apart for me the previous time does not count, because you had become unacceptable to me [by coming close to a corpse] during the time that you were a Nazir-man. So you must again make a solemn promise to dedicate yourself to me for the entire amount of time that you indicated the previous time. And you must also sacrifice a one-year-old lamb for not doing what you were required to do.

13 This is the law of consecration. When the days that he had decreed by vow have been completed, he shall bring him to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant,

‘When the time that you promised to dedicate yourself to me is ended, go to the entrance of the Sacred Tent

14 and he shall offer his oblation to the Lord: an immaculate one-year-old male lamb as a holocaust, and an immaculate one-year-old female lamb for sin, and an immaculate ram, a peace-offering victim,

and offer as sacrifices to me three animals that have no defects: Offer a one-year-old ram that will be burned completely, a one-year-old female lamb as a sacrifice to enable me to forgive your sins, and one full-grown ram as a sacrifice to maintain fellowship with me.

15 also, a basket of unleavened bread, which has been sprinkled with oil, and cakes without leaven, anointed with oil, as well as the libations of each one.

‘When you bring those animals, you must also bring some wine to offer as a sacrifice. And you must also bring a basket of bread that you have made with very good flour and [olive] oil. But you must not put any yeast in the bread. Also brush/spread some [olive] oil on some thin wafers and bring them to the priest.

16 And the priest shall offer them before the Lord, and he shall perform both the sin offering and the holocaust.

‘The priest will put the young lamb and the young ram on the altar and completely burn them, in order that I will be pleased and will forgive you for your sins.

17 Yet truly, the ram he shall immolate as a peace-offering victim to the Lord, offering at the same time the basket of unleavened bread, and the libations which are required by custom.

Then he will kill the full-grown ram as an offering to restore fellowship with me, and he will also burn on the altar some of the bread and the grain and wine.

18 Then the Nazarite shall be shaved of the long hair of his consecration, before the door of the tabernacle of the covenant. And he shall take his hair, and he shall place it upon the fire, which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

‘After that, you must [stand at] the entrance of the Sacred Tent and shave off your hair. Then you must put that hair in the fire that is under the [animal that has been sacrificed] on the altar to maintain fellowship with me.

19 And he shall take the cooked shoulder of the ram, and one twist of bread without leaven from the basket, and one unleavened cake, and he shall deliver them into the hands of the Nazarite, after his head has been shaven.

‘The meat from the ram’s shoulder must be boiled. After it is cooked, the priest will take it along with one of the loaves of bread and one wafer which has been brushed with [olive] oil, and he will put them in your hands.

20 And receiving them again from him, he shall elevate them in the sight of the Lord. And having been sanctified, these shall be for the priest, as also the breast, which was ordered to be separated, and the leg. After this, the Nazarite is able to drink wine.

Then the priest will [take them back and] lift them up high to dedicate them to me. They now belong to the priest, and he is permitted to eat some of the meat from the ram’s shoulder and from its ribs and from one of its thighs, because that meat is his share of the sacrifice. After that, you will no longer be a Nazir-man, and you will again be permitted to drink wine.

21 This is the law of the Nazarite, when he has vowed his oblation to the Lord in the time of his consecration, aside from those things which his hand shall find. According to what he had vowed in his mind, so shall he do, to the perfection of his sanctification.”

‘Those are the regulations about the offerings that Nazir-men solemnly promise to bring to me to end their time of being dedicated to me. They must bring these offerings, but if they want to, they may bring additional offerings. And they must do everything that they solemnly promised to do when they dedicated themselves to me.’”

22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

23 “Say to Aaron and his sons: Thus shall you bless the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them:

“Tell Aaron and his sons that when they [ask me to] bless the people, they must say,

24 ‘May the Lord bless you and keep you.

‘I desire that Yahweh will bless you and protect you,

25 May the Lord reveal his face to you and take pity on you.

and that he will smile at you and act kindly toward you,

26 May the Lord turn his countenance toward you and grant peace to you.’

and that he will be good to you [IDM] and cause things to go well for you.’”

27 And they shall invoke my name over the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Then Yahweh said, “If Aaron and his sons ask me to bless the Israeli people, truly I will bless them.”