Numbers 6

1 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When a man or a woman makes a solemn vow, a vow to keep himself pure for the Lord, [a] 3 he is to keep himself from wine and strong drink. He is not to drink vinegar made from wine or vinegar made from strong drink, and he is not to drink anything worked from the grape, and he is not to eat fresh grapes or raisins, 4 all the days of his vow. Of everything that comes from the vine, from the skins to the seeds, he is not to eat. 5 All the days of the vow of his purity no razor is to come on his head. Until the days are completed that he vowed to the Lord, he is to be holy, letting the hair of his head grow long, 6 all the days of his vow to the Lord. He is not to go near any dead body — 7 not for his father or his mother, not for his brother or his sister. He is not to defile himself for them when they die, because the vow of God is on him, on his head. 8 All the days of his vow he is holy to the Lord.

9 And if someone dies suddenly beside him, the head of his vow is defiled on the spot, and he is to shave his head on the day he is made clean; on the seventh day he is to be shaved. 10 And on the eighth day he is to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the doors of the tent of witness. 11 And the priest is to make one for the sin and one for a whole burnt offering, and make atonement for him for the sin he committed over the dead person, and make his head holy again that day, 12 the day he is made holy to the Lord for the days of his vow. And he is to bring a year-old lamb for the wrongdoing; and the days before do not count, because the head of his vow was defiled. [b]

13 And this is the law for the man who has made the vow. On the day the days of his vow are completed, he is to bring himself to the doors of the tent of witness, 14 and bring his gift to the Lord: one year-old male lamb without blemish for a whole burnt offering, and one year-old ewe lamb without blemish for the sin, and one ram without blemish for a sacrifice of well-being, 15 and a basket of bread without yeast, made of fine flour — loaves kneaded with oil, and thin cakes without yeast brushed with oil — with their sacrifice and their drink offering. 16 And the priest is to bring them before the Lord, and make his offering for sin and his whole burnt offering. 17 And he is to offer the ram as a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, along with the basket of bread without yeast; and the priest is to make its sacrifice and its drink offering. 18 And the man who made the vow is to shave the head of his vow at the doors of the tent of witness, and put the hair on the fire that is under the sacrifice of well-being. 19 And the priest is to take the boiled shoulder from the ram, and one loaf without yeast from the basket, and one thin cake without yeast, and put them into the hands of the man who made the vow, after he has shaved off the hair of his vow. 20 And the priest is to present them as what is set before the Lord. It is a holy portion for the priest, along with the breast that is set before the Lord and the shoulder taken as a portion. And after that the man who made the vow may drink wine. 21 This is the law of the man who makes a vow — his gift to the Lord for his vow, besides whatever else his hand can reach to, according to the vow he vowed, following the law of his purity.”

22 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 23 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons: This is how you are to bless the children of Israel. Say to them:

27 And so they are to put my name on the children of Israel, and I the Lord will bless them.” [d]