Numbers 6–7

The Law of the Nazirite

6Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When either a man or woman ¹consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, ^ato separate himself to the Lord, ^3bhe shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. ⁴All the days of his ²separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.

⁵‘All the days of the vow of his separation no ^crazor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. ⁶All the days that he separates himself to the Lord ^dhe shall not go near a dead body. ^7eHe shall not ³make himself unclean even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. ^8fAll the days of his separation he shall be holy to the Lord.

⁹‘And if anyone dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall ^gshave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. ¹⁰Then ^hon the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting; ¹¹and the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned in regard to the corpse; and he shall sanctify his head that same day. ¹²He shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, and bring a male lamb in its first year ⁱas a trespass offering; but the former days shall be ⁴lost, because his separation was defiled.

¹³‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite: ^jWhen the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ¹⁴And he shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb in its first year without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish ^kas a sin offering, one ram without blemish ^las a peace offering, ¹⁵a basket of unleavened bread, ^mcakes of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened wafers ⁿanointed with oil, and their grain offering with their ^odrink offerings.

¹⁶‘Then the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering; ¹⁷and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering. ^18pThen the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.

¹⁹‘And the priest shall take the ^qboiled shoulder of the ram, one ^runleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and ^sput them upon the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair, ²⁰and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord; ^tthey are holy for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering. After that the Nazirite may drink wine.’

²¹“This is the law of the Nazirite who vows to the Lord the offering for his separation, and besides that, whatever else his hand is able to provide; according to the vow which he takes, so he must do according to the law of his separation.”

The Priestly Blessing

²²And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²³“Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:

²⁴“The Lord ^ubless you and ^vkeep you;

²⁵The Lord ^wmake His face shine upon you,

And ^xbe gracious to you;

^26yThe Lord ⁵lift up His countenance upon you,

And ^zgive you peace.” ’

^27a“So they shall ⁶put My name on the children of Israel, and ^bI will bless them.”

Offerings of the Leaders

7Now it came to pass, when Moses had finished ^asetting up the tabernacle, that he ^banointed it and consecrated it and all its furnishings, and the altar and all its utensils; so he anointed them and consecrated them. ²Then ^cthe leaders of Israel, the heads of their fathers’ houses, who were the leaders of the tribes ¹and over those who were numbered, made an offering. ³And they brought their offering before the Lord, six covered carts and twelve oxen, a cart for every two of the leaders, and for each one an ox; and they presented them before the tabernacle.

⁴Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁵“Accept these from them, that they may be used in doing the work of the tabernacle of meeting; and you shall give them to the Levites, to every man according to his service.” ⁶So Moses took the carts and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites. ⁷Two carts and four oxen ^dhe gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service; ^8eand four carts and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the ²authority of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. ⁹But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because theirs was ^fthe service of the holy things, ^gwhich they carried on their shoulders.

¹⁰Now the leaders offered ^hthe dedication offering for the altar when it was anointed; so the leaders offered their offering before the altar. ¹¹For the Lord said to Moses, “They shall offer their offering, one leader each day, for the dedication of the altar.”

¹²And the one who offered his offering on the first day was ⁱNahshon the son of Amminadab, from the tribe of Judah. ¹³His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to ^jthe shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a ^kgrain offering; ¹⁴one gold pan of ten shekels, full of ^lincense; ^15mone young bull, one ram, and one male lamb ⁿin its first year, as a burnt offering; ¹⁶one kid of the goats as a ^osin offering; ¹⁷and for ^pthe sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

¹⁸On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, leader of Issachar, presented an offering. ¹⁹For his offering he offered one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ²⁰one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ²¹one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ²²one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ²³and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Nethanel the son of Zuar.

²⁴On the third day Eliab the son of Helon, leader of the children of Zebulun, presented an offering. ²⁵His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ²⁶one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ²⁷one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ²⁸one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ²⁹and for the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Eliab the son of Helon.

³⁰On the fourth day ^qElizur the son of Shedeur, leader of the children of Reuben, presented an offering. ³¹His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ³²one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ³³one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ³⁴one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ³⁵and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Elizur the son of Shedeur.

³⁶On the fifth day ^rShelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, leader of the children of Simeon, presented an offering. ³⁷His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ³⁸one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ³⁹one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; ⁴⁰one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ⁴¹and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

⁴²On the sixth day ^sEliasaph the son of ³Deuel, leader of the children of Gad, presented an offering. ⁴³His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; ⁴⁴one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁴⁵one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as ^ta burnt offering; ⁴⁶one kid of the goats as a sin offering; ⁴⁷and as the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

⁴⁸On the seventh day ^uElishama the son of Ammihud, leader of the children of Ephraim, presented an offering. ⁴⁹His offering was one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to…