1   The Lord commanded Moses

2   to give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Any man or woman who makes a special vow to become a Nazirite and dedicates himself to the Lord

3   shall abstain from wine and beer. He shall not drink any kind of drink made from grapes or eat any grapes or raisins. ^note

4   As long as he is a Nazirite, he shall not eat anything that comes from a grapevine, not even the seeds or skins of grapes.

5   As long as he is under the Nazirite vow, he must not cut his hair or shave. He is bound by the vow for the full time that he is dedicated to the Lord, and he shall let his hair and beard grow.

6    7   His hair is the sign of his dedication to God, and so he must not defile himself by going near a corpse, not even that of his father, mother, brother, or sister.

8   As long as he is a Nazirite, he is consecrated to the Lord.

9   If the consecrated hair of a Nazirite is defiled because he is right beside someone who suddenly dies, he must wait seven days and then shave off his hair and beard; and so he becomes ritually clean.

10   On the eighth day he shall bring two doves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of the Lord's presence.

11   The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, to perform the ritual of purification for him because of his contact with a corpse. On the same day the man shall reconsecrate his hair

12   and rededicate to the Lord his time as a Nazirite. The previous period of time doesn't count, because his consecrated hair was defiled. As a repayment offering he shall bring a one-year-old lamb.

13   When a Nazirite completes his

vow, he shall perform the ritual. He shall go to the entrance of the Tent

14   and 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.

15   He shall also offer a basket of bread made without yeast: thick loaves made of flour mixed with olive oil and thin cakes brushed with olive oil, and in addition the required offerings of grain and wine.

16   The priest shall present all these to the Lord and offer the sin offering and the burnt offering.

17   He 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 grain and wine.

18   At the entrance of the Tent the Nazirite shall shave off his hair and put it on the fire on which the fellowship offering is being burned.

19   Then, 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 thin cake from the basket, into the hands of the Nazirite.

20   Next, 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.

21   These are the regulations for Nazirites; but if a Nazirite promises an offering beyond what his vow requires him to give, he must fulfill exactly the promise he made. ^note The Priestly Blessing

22   The Lord commanded Moses

23   to tell Aaron and his sons to use the following words in blessing the people of Israel:

24   
May the Lord bless you and take care of you;

25   
May the Lord be kind and gracious to you;

26   
May the Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.

27   And the Lord said, “If they pronounce my name as a blessing upon the people of Israel, I will bless them.”

Previous section

Next section