Numbers 6
1 The Lord told Moses,
Yahweh also said this to Moses/me:
2 “Tell the Israelites: If a man or a woman makes a special promise to become a Nazirite, to dedicate 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 they must not drink any wine or other alcoholic drink. They must not even drink vinegar made from wine or other alcoholic drink, or any grape juice or eat grapes or raisins.
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 The whole time they are dedicated to the Lord they must not eat anything from a grapevine, not even grape seeds or skins.
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 They must not use a razor on their heads during the whole time of this promise of dedication. They must remain holy until their time of dedication to the Lord is finished. They must let their hair 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 this time of dedication to the Lord they must not go near a dead body.
And you must not go near a corpse during the time that you are a Nazir-man.
7 Even if it's their father, mother, brother or sister who has died, they are not to make themselves unclean, because their uncut hair announces their dedication to God.
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 Through the whole time of their dedication they are to 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 However, if someone dies suddenly close to them, making them unclean, they must wait seven days, and on the seventh day when they are made clean again they are to shave their heads.
‘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 On the eighth day they shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
The next day you must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Sacred Tent.
11 The priest will offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to make them right, because they became guilty by being near the dead body. On that day they must re-dedicate themselves and let their hair grow again.
‘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 They must re-dedicate themselves to the Lord for the full time they originally promised and bring a one-year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. The previous days don't count towards the time of dedication because they became unclean.
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 These are the rules to be observed when the Nazirite's time of dedication is finished. They are to be taken to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
‘When the time that you promised to dedicate yourself to me is ended, go to the entrance of the Sacred Tent
14 There they are to present an offering to the Lord of a one-year-old male lamb without defects as a burnt offering, a one-year-old female lamb without defects as a sin offering, and ram without defects as a peace offering.
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 In addition they are to bring a basket of bread without yeast made from the best flour mixed with olive oil and wafers without yeast coated with olive oil as well as their grain offerings and drink offerings.
‘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 The priest will present all these before the Lord as well as sacrificing the sin offering and the burnt offering.
‘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 He will also sacrifice a ram as a peace offering to the Lord, together with the basket of bread made without yeast. In addition the priest will present the grain offering and drink offering.
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 Nazirites are to shave their heads at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. They shall take the hair from their heads that were dedicated, and place it on the fire under the peace offering.
‘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 Once the Nazirites have shaved, the priest will take the boiled shoulder from the ram, one bread without yeast from the basket, and one wafer without yeast, and place them in their hands.
‘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 The priest will wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. These items are holy and belong to the priest, as well as the breast of the wave offering and the thigh that was offered. Once this is finished, Nazirites may 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 These are the rules to be observed when a Nazirite promises to give offerings to the Lord regarding their dedication. They can also bring additional offerings if they can afford it. Every Nazirite must fulfill whatever promises they have made when they dedicated themselves.”
‘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 The Lord told Moses,
Yahweh also said to Moses/me,
23 “Tell Aaron and his sons: This is how you are to bless the Israelites. This is what they are to say:
“Tell Aaron and his sons that when they [ask me to] bless the people, they must say,
24 ‘May the Lord bless you and take care of you.
‘I desire that Yahweh will bless you and protect you,
25 May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
and that he will smile at you and act kindly toward you,
26 May the Lord watch over you and give you peace.’
and that he will be good to you [IDM] and cause things to go well for you.’”
27 Whenever the priests bless the Israelites in my name, I will bless them.”
Then Yahweh said, “If Aaron and his sons ask me to bless the Israeli people, truly I will bless them.”
