Numbers 6

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

The Lord told Moses,

2 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves to the LORD:

“Tell the Israelites: If a man or a woman makes a special promise to become a Nazirite, to dedicate themselves to the Lord,

3 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.

they must not drink any wine or other alcoholic drink. They must not even drink vinegar made from wine or other alcoholic drink, or any grape juice or eat grapes or raisins.

4 All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.

The whole time they are dedicated to the Lord they must not eat anything from a grapevine, not even grape seeds or skins.

5 All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days shall be fulfilled, in which he separateth himself to the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.

They must not use a razor on their heads during the whole time of this promise of dedication. They must remain holy until their time of dedication to the Lord is finished. They must let their hair grow long.

6 All the days that he separateth himself to the LORD he shall come at no dead body.

During this time of dedication to the Lord they must not go near a dead body.

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 the consecration of his God is upon his head.

Even if it's their father, mother, brother or sister who has died, they are not to make themselves unclean, because their uncut hair announces their dedication to God.

8 All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.

Through the whole time of their dedication they are to be holy to the Lord.

9 And if any man shall die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.

However, if someone dies suddenly close to them, making them unclean, they must wait seven days, and on the seventh day when they are made clean again they are to shave their heads.

10 And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

On the eighth day they shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

11 And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day.

The priest will offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to make them right, because they became guilty by being near the dead body. On that day they must re-dedicate themselves and let their hair grow again.

12 And he shall consecrate to the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.

They must re-dedicate themselves to the Lord for the full time they originally promised and bring a one-year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. The previous days don't count towards the time of dedication because they became unclean.

13 And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

These are the rules to be observed when the Nazirite's time of dedication is finished. They are to be taken to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

14 And he shall offer his offering to the LORD, one male 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,

There they are to present an offering to the Lord of a one-year-old male lamb without defects as a burnt offering, a one-year-old female lamb without defects as a sin offering, and ram without defects as a peace offering.

15 And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings.

In addition they are to bring a basket of bread without yeast made from the best flour mixed with olive oil and wafers without yeast coated with olive oil as well as their grain offerings and drink offerings.

16 And the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering:

The priest will present all these before the Lord as well as sacrificing the sin offering and the burnt offering.

17 And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also its meat offering, and its drink offering.

He will also sacrifice a ram as a peace offering to the Lord, together with the basket of bread made without yeast. In addition the priest will present the grain offering and drink offering.

18 And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

Then the Nazirites are to shave their heads at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. They shall take the hair from their heads that were dedicated, and place it on the fire under the peace offering.

19 And the priest shall take the boiled 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 Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is shaven:

Once the Nazirites have shaved, the priest will take the boiled shoulder from the ram, one bread without yeast from the basket, and one wafer without yeast, and place them in their hands.

20 And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.

The priest will wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. These items are holy and belong to the priest, as well as the breast of the wave offering and the thigh that was offered. Once this is finished, Nazirites may drink wine.

21 This is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed, and of his offering to the LORD for his separation, besides that which his hand shall get: according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after the law of his separation.

These are the rules to be observed when a Nazirite promises to give offerings to the Lord regarding their dedication. They can also bring additional offerings if they can afford it. Every Nazirite must fulfill whatever promises they have made when they dedicated themselves.”

22 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

The Lord told Moses,

23 Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, In this way ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying to them,

“Tell Aaron and his sons: This is how you are to bless the Israelites. This is what they are to say:

24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

‘May the Lord bless you and take care of you.

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

May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.

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

May the Lord watch over you and give you peace.’

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

Whenever the priests bless the Israelites in my name, I will bless them.”