Numbers 6

1 And Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying:

Yahweh also said this to Moses/me:

2 Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say unto them, —When any man or woman, would make the special vow of One Separate, by separating himself unto Yahweh,

“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 from wine and strong drink, shall he separate himself, neither vinegar of wine nor vinegar of strong drink, shall he drink, —and no liquor of grapes, shall he drink, no grapes fresh or dried, shall he 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 separation, of nothing that is made from the grapevine from the seeds even to the skin, shall he eat.

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 his vow of separation, no razor, shall pass over his head, —until the days are fulfilled for which he shall separate himself to Yahweh hallowed, shall he be, letting the locks of 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 All the days for which he hath separated himself unto Yahweh to no dead person, shall he go in.

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

7 Neither for his father nor for his mother nor for his brother nor for his sister, shall he make himself unclean-not even for them, should they die, —because, his separation unto 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 his days of separation hallowed, is he unto Yahweh.

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

9 But if one that is dying should die by him in a moment suddenly, then shall he count unclean his head of separation, —and shall shave his head, on the day he cleanseth himself, 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 in. two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, —unto the priest, unto the entrance of 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 and the priest shall make, of one a sin—bearer and of one an ascending-sacrifice, and so put a propitiatory-covering over him, for that he sinned in respect of the dead person, —thus shall he hallow 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 Then shall he separate unto Yahweh his days of separation, and shall bring in a he-lamb a year old as a guilt-bearer, —and, the first days, shall be lost because his separation, was made 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 And, this, is the law of the Separate One, on the day when he fulfilleth his days of separation, he shall be brought in unto the entrance of 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 then shall he bring near as his offering unto Yahweh.—one he-lamb a year old, without defect for an ascending-sacrifice, and one ewe-lamb a year old without defect for a sin-bearer, —and one ram, without defect 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 cakes—fine meal in round cakes overflowed with oil, and thin cakes of unleavened bread, anointed with oil, —with their meal-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 Then shall the priest bring [them] near before Yahweh, —and offer his sin-bearer and his ascending-sacrifice;

‘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 offer as a peace-offering unto Yahweh, besides the basket of unleavened cakes, —and the priest shall offer the meal-offering thereof and the drink-offering thereof,

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 shall the Separate One shave, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, his head of separation, —and take the hair of his head of separation, and put upon the fire, which is 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 Then shall the priest take the shoulder for boiling from the ram, and one unleavened round cake from the basket, and one unleavened thin cake, —and place them on the hands, of the Separate One after he hath shaven off his [hair of] separation;

‘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 wave them as a wave-offering before Yahweh, hallowed, it is for the priest, besides the wave breast, and besides the heave leg, —and, afterwards, may the Separate One 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 One Separate what he shall vow, his offering unto Yahweh with respect to his separation, besides what his hand may obtain: as required by the vow that he shall vow, so, must he do, with respect to the law of his separation.

‘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 Yahweh spake unto Moses, saying:

Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

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

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

24 Yahweh bless thee, and keep thee:

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

25 Yahweh cause his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee:

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

26 Yahweh lift up his face unto thee, and appoint unto thee peace.

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

27 Thus shall they put my name upon the sons of Israel, —and, I, myself, will bless them.

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