< Numbers 6 >
1 Yahweh also said this to Moses/me:
And the LORD spoke unto 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 unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When either man or woman shall clearly utter a vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to consecrate himself unto 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 abstain from wine and strong drink: he shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.
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 Naziriteship shall he eat nothing that is made of the grape-vine, from the pressed grapes even to the grapestone.
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 vow of Naziriteship there shall no razor come upon his head; until the days be fulfilled, in which he consecrateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.
6 And you must not go near a corpse during the time that you are a Nazir-man.
All the days that he consecrateth himself unto the LORD he shall not come near to a 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.
He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because his consecration unto God is upon 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 Naziriteship he is holy unto 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 man die very suddenly beside him, and he defile his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.
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 door of the tent of meeting.
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 prepare one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, and make atonement for him, for that he sinned by reason of the dead; and he shall hallow his head that same 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.
And he shall consecrate unto the LORD the days of his Naziriteship, and shall bring a he-lamb of the first year for a guilt-offering; but the former days shall be void, because his consecration was defiled.
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 the Nazirite, when the days of his consecration are fulfilled: he shall bring it unto the door of the tent of meeting;
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 present his offering unto the LORD, one he-lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt-offering, and one ewe-lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin-offering, and one ram without blemish for peace-offerings,
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, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings.
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 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 for a sacrifice of peace-offerings unto the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall offer also the meal-offering thereof, and the drink-offering thereof.
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 the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair of his consecrated head, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace-offerings.
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 shoulder of the ram when it is sodden, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazirite, after he hath shaven his consecrated head.
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 wave them for a wave-offering before the LORD; this is holy for the priest, together with the breast of waving and the thigh of heaving; and after that the Nazirite may 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 Nazirite who voweth, and of his offering unto the LORD for his Naziriteship, beside that for which his means suffice; according to his vow which he voweth, so he must do after the law of his Naziriteship.
22 Yahweh also said to Moses/me,
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:
23 “Tell Aaron and his sons that when they [ask me to] bless the people, they must say,
'Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying: On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel; ye shall say unto 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 be gracious unto 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.”
So shall they put My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.'