The Nazirite Vow
(Judges 13:1–25)

1And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, when a man or woman consecrates an offering, to vow the vow of a Nazirite,† to separate himself unto YHWH, 3he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall not drink vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink. and he shall not drink any grape juice, and he shall not eat fresh grapes or raisins. 4All the days of his separation, of all that is produced by the grapevine—from seed and up to skin—he shall not eat.

5All the days of the vow of his separation, no razor shall come upon his head. Until the fulfilling of the days for which he separated himself unto YHWH, he shall be holy; he shall let grow the locks of the hair of his head.

6All the days that he separates himself unto YHWH, a dead body he shall not go near. 7Even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, he shall not make himself unclean when they die, because the separation of his God is on his head. 8All the days of his separation, he shall be holy unto YHWH.

9And if someone actually dies beside him very suddenly, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. 10And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two sons of a pigeon to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting. 11And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering,† and one for a burnt offering, and he shall make atonement upon him from which he sinned regarding the corpse, and he shall sanctify his head that day. 12And He shall consecrate to YHWH the days of his separation, and he shall bring a male lamb, a son of a year, as a guilt offering; and the former days shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.

13And this is the law of the Nazirite on a day fulfilling the days of his separation. He shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting. 14And he shall present his offering to YHWH: One male lamb, a son of a year, unblemished, as a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb, a daughter of a year, unblemished, as a sin offering, and one ram, unblemished, as peace offerings, 15and a basket of unleavened of fine flour, cakes mixed with the oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with the oil, and their grain offerings, and their drink offerings.

16And the priest shall bring them before the face of YHWH and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. 17And he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to YHWH, with the basket of the unleavened bread; and the priest shall offer its grain offering and its drink offering.

18And the Nazirite shall shave at the door of the Tent of Meeting the head of his separation, and he shall take the hair of the head of his separation and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings. 19And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and he shall put them on the palms of the Nazirite, after his shaving his separation. 20And the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the face of YHWH; they are holy to the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution, and afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.

21This is the law of the Nazirite who vows the offering to YHWH for his separation, apart from whatever else his hand reaches; according to the vow that he takes, so he must do according to the law of his separation.”

Aaron’s Blessing

22And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 23“Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, this is the way You⁺ shall bless the sons of Israel. Say to them,

24‘YHWH bless you,

and keep you.

25YHWH cause His face to shine upon you,

and be gracious to you.

26YHWH lift up His countenance upon you,

and give unto you peace.’

27And they shall put My name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.”