Numbers 6

1 And the LORD spake 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 shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself unto 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 he shall separate himself 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.

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 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 his vow of separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, he shall let 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 that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall not come near to a dead body.

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

7 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 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 the days of his separation he is 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 any man die very suddenly beside him, and he defile the head of his separation; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, 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 he shall bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door 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 offer 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 shall hallow his head 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 separate unto the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a he-lamb of the first year for a guilt offering: but the former days shall be void, because his separation was 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 Nazirite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he shall be brought unto the door 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 and he shall offer his oblation 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,

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 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 And the priest shall present them before the LORD, and shall offer 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 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.

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 Nazirite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings.

‘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 sodden shoulder of the ram, 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 [the head of] his 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 for a wave offering before the LORD; this is holy for the priest, together with the wave breast and heave thigh: and after that the Nazirite may 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 Nazirite who voweth, [and of] his oblation unto the LORD for his separation, beside that which he is able to get: according to his vow which he voweth, so he must do after 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 the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel; ye shall say 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 keep thee:

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

25 The LORD make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

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

26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

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

27 So shall they 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.”