Numbers 6

1 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

Yahweh also said this to Moses/me:

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman pronounce an especial vow, the vow of a Nazarite, to be abstinent in honor of 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 Then shall he abstain from wine and strong drink, vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink shall he not drink, and any infusion of grapes shall he not drink, and grapes, fresh or dried, shall he not eat.

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 All the days of his abstinence shall he eat nothing that is made of the grape-vine, from the kernels even to the husk.

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 All the days of the vow of his abstinence no razor shall pass over his head: until the days be completed, in which he abstaineth in honor of the Lord, shall he be holy, letting grow untouched the hair of his head.

‘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 All the days of his abstinence in honor of the Lord shall he not come near any dead body.

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

7 On his father, or on his mother, on his brother, or on his sister, shall he not make himself unclean, when they die; because 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 All the days of his abstinence is he holy unto the Lord.

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

9 And if some one die very suddenly by him, and he thus defile his consecrated head: then shall he shave his head on the day of his being cleansed, on the seventh day shall he shave it.

‘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 And on the eighth day shall he bring two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

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 prepare the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, and make an atonement for him, because he hath sinned through the dead; and he shall hallow his head on that same 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 unto the Lord [again] the days of his abstinence, and he shall bring a sheep of the first year for a trespass-offering; but the prior days shall not be counted, because his consecration hath been defiled.

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 And this is the law of the Nazarite: On the day when the days of his abstinence are completed, shall he present himself at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation;

‘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 bring his offering unto the Lord, one male sheep of the first year without blemish for a burnt-offering, and one ewe of the first year without blemish for a sin-offering, and one ram without blemish for 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 And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil; and their meat-offering, and their 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 And the priest shall bring them near before the Lord, and he shall prepare his sin-offering, and his 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 And the ram shall he prepare for a sacrifice of peace-offering unto the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; and the priest shall prepare his meat-offering and his 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 And the Nazarite shall shave at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation his consecrated head; and he shall take the hair of his consecrated head, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of 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 And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram when it is cooked, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and he shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after he hath shaved his consecrated [head].

‘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 the priest shall make with them a waving before the Lord; it is a holy gift for the priest, together with the breast that was waved and the shoulder that was lifted up: and after that may the Nazarite 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 who hath vowed; his offering unto the Lord for his abstinence, besides that which he may be able to give: according to his vow which he may vow, so must he do in addition to what is required by the law of his abstinence.

‘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 unto Moses, saying,

Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, Thus shall ye bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,

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

24 The Lord bless thee, and preserve thee;

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

25 The Lord make his face shine unto thee, and be gracious to thee;

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

26 The Lord lift up his countenance unto thee, and give thee peace.

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

27 And they shall put my name upon the children 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.”