Numbers 6:1-21

New American Standard Bible

Law of the Nazirites

6 Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes ^[a]a special vow, namely, the vow of ^(A)a ^[b]Nazirite, to live as a Nazirite for the Lord, ³ he shall ^(B)abstain from wine and ^[c]strong drink; he shall ^[d]consume no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. ⁴ All the days of his consecration he shall not eat anything that is produced from the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.

⁵ ‘All the days of his vow of consecration ^(C)no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled which he lives as a Nazirite for the Lord; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long.

⁶ ‘^(D)All the days of his life as a Nazirite for the Lord he shall not come up to a dead person. ⁷ He ^(E)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 to God is ^[e]on his head. ⁸ All the days of his consecration he is holy to the Lord.

⁹ ‘But if someone dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head of hair, then ^(F)he shall shave his head on the day when he becomes clean; ^(G)he shall shave it on the seventh day. ¹⁰ Then on the eighth day he shall bring ^(H)two turtledoves or two young doves to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting. ¹¹ And the priest shall offer ^(I)one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him ^[f]regarding his sin because of the dead person. And on that same day he shall consecrate his head, ¹² and shall live his days of consecration as a Nazirite for the Lord, and shall bring a male lamb a year old as a guilt offering; but the preceding days will ^[g]not count, because his consecration was defiled.

¹³ ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite ^(J)when the days of his consecration are fulfilled: he shall bring ^[h]his offering to the entrance of the tent of meeting. ¹⁴ And he shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb a year old without defect as a burnt offering, one ^(K)ewe lamb a year old without defect as a sin offering, one ram without defect as a peace offering, ¹⁵ and a basket of ^(L)unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with ^(M)their grain offering and their drink offering. ¹⁶ Then the priest shall present them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. ¹⁷ He shall also offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, together with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering. ^18 (N)The Nazirite shall then shave his consecrated head of hair at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and take the consecrated hair of his head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings. ^19 (O)And the priest shall take the ram’s shoulder when it has been boiled, and one unleavened loaf from the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the ^[i]hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair. ²⁰ Then the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. It is holy for the priest, together with the breast offered as a wave offering, and the thigh offered as ^[j]a contribution; and ^(P)afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.’

²¹ “This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the Lord according to his consecration, in addition to what else ^[k]he can afford; corresponding to his vow which he makes, so he shall do according to the law of his consecration.”