Numbers 6

1 Yahweh also said this to Moses/me:

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

2 “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”].

speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, Whatsoever man or woman shall specially vow a vow to separate oneself with purity to the Lord,

3 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.

he shall purely abstain from wine and strong drink; and he shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink; and whatever is made of the grape he shall not drink; neither shall he eat fresh grapes or raisins,

4 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.

all the days of his vow: he shall eat no one of all the things that come from the vine, wine from the grape-stones to the husk,

5 ‘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.

all the days of his separation: —a razor shall not come upon his head, until the days be fulfilled which he vowed to the Lord: he shall be holy, cherishing the long hair of the head,

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

all the days of his vow to the Lord: he shall not come nigh to any dead body,

7 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.

to his father or his mother, or to his brother or his sister; he shall not defile himself for them, when they have died, because the vow of God is upon him on his head.

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

All the days of his vow he shall be holy to the Lord.

9 ‘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.

And if any one should die suddenly by him, immediately the head of his vow shall be defiled; and he shall shave his head in whatever day he shall be purified: on the seventh day he shall be shaved.

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

And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the doors of the tabernacle of witness.

11 ‘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.

And the priest shall offer one for a sin-offering; and the other for a whole-burnt-offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him in the things wherein he sinned respecting the dead body, and he shall sanctify his head in that day,

12 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.

in which he was consecrated to the Lord, [all] the days of his vow; and he shall bring a lamb of a year old for a trespass-offering; and the former days shall not be reckoned, because the head of his vow was polluted.

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

And this is the law of him that has vowed: in whatever day he shall have fulfilled the days of his vow, he shall himself bring his gift to the doors of the tabernacle of witness.

14 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.

And he shall bring his gift to the Lord; one he-lamb of a year old without blemish for a whole-burnt-offering, and one ewe-lamb of a year old without blemish for a sin-offering, and one ram without blemish for a peace-offering;

15 ‘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.

and a basket of unleavened bread of fine flour, [even] loaves kneaded with oil, and unleavened cakes anointed with oil, and their meat-offering, and their drink-offering.

16 ‘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.

And the priest shall bring them before the Lord, and shall offer his sin-offering, and his whole-burnt-offering.

17 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.

And he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace-offering to the Lord with the basket of unleavened bread; and the priest shall offer its meat-offering and its drink-offering.

18 ‘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.

And he that has vowed shall shave the head of his consecration by the doors of the tabernacle of witness, and shall put the hairs on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace-offering.

19 ‘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.

And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened loaf from the basket, and one unleavened cake, and shall put them on the hands of the votary after he has shaved off his

20 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.

And the priest shall present them as an offering before the Lord; it shall be the holy portion for the priest beside the breast of the heave-offering and beside the shoulder of the wave-offering: and afterwards the votary shall drink wine.

21 ‘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.’”

This is the law of the votary who shall have vowed to the Lord his gift to the Lord, concerning his vow, besides what he may be able to afford according to the value of his vow, which he may have vowed according to the law of separation.

22 Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

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

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

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

The Lord bless thee and keep thee;

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

the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and have mercy upon thee;

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

the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

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

And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I the Lord will bless them.