Numbers

Nazirite vow

The Lord spoke to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel

and say to them: When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the Lord,

he shall abstain from wine and strong drink. He shall not drink vinegar made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink the grape’s juice or eat fresh or dried grapes.

All the time he lives as a Nazirite, he shall eat nothing produced by the grapevine, from the pips to the skin.

No razor shall touch his head all the days of his vow of separation. Until his dedication to the Lord is over, he will be consecrated and let his hair grow freely.

For all the time of his separation in honor of the Lord he shall not go near a dead person,

not even for his father, mother, brother or sister, lest he becomes defiled, for he bears on his head the sign of his consecration to God.

All the time he lives as a Nazirite he is consecrated to the Lord.

If someone suddenly dies near him, his dedicated head is defiled. He then shall be purified on the seventh day and shave his head on that day.

Then on the eighth day, he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering; so he shall make atonement for his sin because of the dead person.

And that same day, the Nazirite shall again consecrate his head and bring a yearling lamb as a guilt offering. The time of his consecration begins again from that day. The former days are not valid for his separation, which has been defiled.

This is the ritual regarding the Nazirite on the day when his period of consecration is completed. He is to be led to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,

and must make his offering to the Lord: a one-year-old male lamb without any defect for burnt offering, a one-year-old lamb without any defect for sacrifice for sin; a ram without any defect for peace offering;

and a basket of unleavened loaves made of fine flour mixed with oil, and of unleavened wafers spread with oil, with the required offerings of grain and wine.

When he has brought all this before the Lord, the priest must offer the sacrifice for sin and the burnt offering for the Nazirite.

Then he shall offer the peace offering with the ram and the unleavened bread in the basket, and finally, the priest shall offer the accompanying offerings of grain and wine.

Then the Nazirite shall shave off his consecrated hair at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and put it in the fire of the peace offering.

The priest is to take the shoulder of the ram, as soon as it is cooked, with an unleavened cake from the basket and an unleavened wafer. He is to put them into the hands of the Nazirite who has just shaved off his hair.

With them, he must make the gesture of offering before the Lord; as it is a holy thing, it belongs by law to the priest, in addition to the breast that has been presented and the leg of the ram that has been set aside. After this, the Nazirite may once more drink wine.

Such is the ritual for the Nazirite, if, besides the hair, he has also vowed a personal offering to the Lord, he must fulfill the vow he has made, in addition to what the ritual prescribes for his hair.”

Priestly Blessing

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

“Speak to Aaron and his sons and say to them: This is how you shall bless the people of Israel; you shall say:

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

May the Lord let his face

shine on you

and be gracious to you!

May the Lord

look kindly on you

and give you his peace!

In that way shall they put my name on the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”