Numbers 6
Rules for Nazirites
1The LORD commanded Moses 2to give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Any men or women who make a special vow to become Nazirites and dedicate themselves to the LORD 3shall abstain from wine and beer. They shall not drink any kind of drink made from grapes or eat any grapes or raisins. 4As long as they are Nazirites, they shall not eat anything that comes from a grapevine, not even the seeds or skins of grapes.
5As long as they are under the Nazirite vow, they must not cut their hair or shave. They are bound by the vow for the full time that they are dedicated to the LORD, and they shall let their hair grow. 6-7Their hair is the sign of their dedication to God, and so they must not defile themselves by going near a corpse, not even that of their father, mother, brother, or sister. 8As long as they are Nazirites, they are consecrated to the LORD.
9If the consecrated hair of a Nazirite is defiled because he or she is right beside someone who suddenly dies, they must wait seven days and then shave off their hair; and so they become ritually clean. 10On the eighth day they shall bring two doves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of the LORD's presence. 11The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, to perform the ritual of purification for them because of their contact with a corpse. On the same day they shall reconsecrate their hair 12and rededicate to the LORD their time as Nazirites. The previous period of time doesn't count, because their consecrated hair was defiled. As a repayment offering they shall bring a one-year-old lamb.
13When Nazirites complete their vows, they shall perform this ritual. They shall go to the entrance of the Tent 14and present to the LORD three animals without any defects: a one-year-old male lamb for a burnt offering, a one-year-old ewe lamb for a sin offering, and a ram for a fellowship offering. 15They shall also offer a basket of bread made without yeast: thick loaves made of flour mixed with olive oil and biscuits brushed with olive oil, and in addition the required offerings of corn and wine.
16The priest shall present all these to the LORD and offer the sin offering and the burnt offering. 17He shall sacrifice the ram to the LORD as a fellowship offering, and offer it with the basket of bread; he shall also present the offerings of corn and wine. 18At the entrance of the Tent the Nazirite shall shave off his or her hair and put it on the fire on which the fellowship offering is being burnt.
19Then, when the shoulder of the ram is boiled, the priest shall take it and put it, together with one thick loaf of bread and one biscuit from the basket, into the hands of the Nazirite. 20Next, the priest shall present them as a special gift to the LORD; they are a sacred offering for the priest, in addition to the breast and the leg of the ram which by law belong to the priest. After that, the Nazirite may drink wine.
21These are the regulations for Nazirites; but if a Nazirite promises an offering beyond what his or her vow requires them to give, they must fulfil exactly the promise they made.
The Priestly Blessing
22The LORD commanded Moses 23to tell Aaron and his sons to use the following words in blessing the people of Israel:
24May the LORD bless you and take care of you;
25May the LORD be kind and gracious to you;
26May the LORD look on you with favour and give you peace.
27And the LORD said, “If they pronounce my name as a blessing upon the people of Israel, I will bless them.”
Good News Translation® with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Anglicisation © The British and Foreign Bible Society 1976, 1994, 2004
Additional material © The British and Foreign Bible Society 2017
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