Numbers 6:1-12

Law of the Nazirites

¹Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, namely, the vow of a Nazirite, to live as a Nazirite for the Lord, ³he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall consume no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. ⁴All 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 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‘All the days of his life as a Nazirite for the Lord he shall not come up to a dead person. ⁷He 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 on his head. ⁸All 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 he shall shave his head on the day when he becomes clean; he shall shave it on the seventh day. ¹⁰Then on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young doves to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting. ¹¹And the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him regarding his sin because of the dead person. And on that same day he shall consecrate his head, ¹²and 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 not count, because his consecration was defiled.

Aaron’s Benediction