Rules for Nazirites

¹The Lord commanded Moses

²to give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Any of you, male or female, who make a special vow to become a nazirite and dedicate yourself to the Lord

³shall abstain from wine and beer. You shall not drink any kind of drink made from grapes or eat any grapes or raisins.

⁴As long as you are a nazirite, you shall not eat anything that comes from a grapevine, not even the seeds or skins of grapes.

⁵As long as you are under the nazirite vow, you must not cut your hair or shave. You are bound by the vow for the full time that you are dedicated to the Lord, and you shall let your hair grow.

^6-7Your hair is the sign of your dedication to God, and so you must not defile yourself by going near a corpse, not even that of your father, mother, brother, or sister.

⁸As long as you are a nazirite, you are consecrated to the Lord.

⁹If your consecrated hair is defiled because you are right beside someone who suddenly dies, you must wait seven days and then shave your head; and so you become ritually clean.

¹⁰On the eighth day you shall bring two doves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of the Lord's presence.

¹¹The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, to perform the ritual of purification for you because of your contact with a corpse. On the same day you shall reconsecrate your hair

¹²and rededicate to the Lord your time as a nazirite. The previous period of time doesn't count, because your consecrated hair was defiled. As a repayment offering you shall bring a one-year-old lamb.

¹³When you complete your nazirite vow, you shall perform this ritual. You shall go to the entrance of the Tent

¹⁴and present to the Lord three animals without any defects: a one-year-old male lamb for a burnt offering, a one-year-old ewe lamb for a sin offering, and a ram for a fellowship offering.

¹⁵You shall also offer a basket of bread made without yeast: thick loaves made of flour mixed with olive oil and thin cakes brushed with olive oil, and in addition the required offerings of grain and wine.

¹⁶The priest shall present all these to the Lord and offer the sin offering and the burnt offering.

¹⁷He shall sacrifice the ram to the Lord as a fellowship offering, and offer it with the basket of bread; he shall also present the offerings of grain and wine.

¹⁸At the entrance of the Tent you nazirites shall shave off your hair and put it on the fire on which the fellowship offering is being burned.

¹⁹Then, when the shoulder of the ram is boiled, the priest shall take it and put it, together with one thick loaf of bread and one thin cake from the basket, into the hands of the nazirite.

²⁰Next, the priest shall present them as a special gift to the Lord; they are a sacred offering for the priest, in addition to the breast and the leg of the ram which by law belong to the priest. After that, the nazirite may drink wine.

²¹These are the regulations for you nazirites; but if you promise an offering beyond what your vow requires you to give, you must fulfill exactly the promise you made.

The Priestly Blessing

²²The Lord commanded Moses

²³to tell Aaron and his sons to use the following words in blessing the people of Israel:

²⁴May the Lord bless you and take care of you;

²⁵May the Lord be kind and gracious to you;

²⁶May the Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.

²⁷And the Lord said, “If they pronounce my name as a blessing upon the people of Israel, I will bless them.”

The Great Commandment

¹“These are all the laws that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. Obey them in the land that you are about to enter and occupy.

²As long as you live, you and your descendants are to honor the Lord your God and obey all his laws that I am giving you, so that you may live in that land a long time.

³Listen to them, people of Israel, and obey them! Then all will go well with you, and you will become a mighty nation and live in that rich and fertile land, just as the Lord, the God of our ancestors, has promised.

⁴“Israel, remember this! The Lord—and the Lord alone—is our God.

⁵Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

⁶Never forget these commands that I am giving you today.

⁷Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working.

⁸Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder.

⁹Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

Warning against Disobedience

¹⁰“Just as the Lord your God promised your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he will give you a land with large and prosperous cities which you did not build.

¹¹The houses will be full of good things which you did not put in them, and there will be wells that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant. When the Lord brings you into this land and you have all you want to eat,

¹²make certain that you do not forget the Lord who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

¹³Honor the Lord your God, worship only him, and make your promises in his name alone.

¹⁴Do not worship other gods, any of the gods of the peoples around you.

¹⁵If you do worship other gods, the Lord's anger will come against you like fire and will destroy you completely, because the Lord your God, who is present with you, tolerates no rivals.

¹⁶“Do not put the Lord your God to the test, as you did at Massah.

¹⁷Be sure that you obey all the laws that he has given you.

¹⁸Do what the Lord says is right and good, and all will go well with you. You will be able to take possession of the fertile land that the Lord promised your ancestors,

¹⁹and you will drive out your enemies, as he promised.

²⁰“In times to come your children will ask you, ‘Why did the Lord our God command us to obey all these laws?’

²¹Then tell them, ‘We were slaves of the king of Egypt, and the Lord rescued us by his great power.

²²With our own eyes we saw him work miracles and do terrifying things to the Egyptians and to their king and to all his officials.

²³He freed us from Egypt to bring us here and give us this land, as he had promised our ancestors he would.

²⁴Then the Lord our God commanded us to obey all these laws and to honor him. If we do, he will always watch over our nation and keep it prosperous.

²⁵If we faithfully obey everything that God has commanded us, he will be pleased with us.’

God Our Protector

¹Whoever goes to the Lord for safety, whoever remains under the protection of the Almighty,

²can say to him, “You are my defender and protector. You are my God; in you I trust.”

³He will keep you safe from all hidden dangers and from all deadly diseases.

⁴He will cover you with his wings; you will be safe in his care; his faithfulness will protect and defend you.

⁵You need not fear any dangers at night or sudden attacks during the day

⁶or the plagues that strike in the dark or the evils that kill in daylight.

⁷A thousand may fall dead beside you, ten thousand all around you, but you will not be harmed.

⁸You will look and see how the wicked are punished.

⁹You have made the Lord your defender, the Most High your protector,

¹⁰and so no disaster will strike you, no violence will come near your home.

¹¹God will put his angels in charge of you to protect you wherever you go.

¹²They will hold you up with their hands to keep you from hurting your feet on the stones.

¹³You will trample down lions and snakes, fierce lions and poisonous snakes.

¹⁴God says, “I will save those who love me and will protect those who acknowledge me as Lord.

¹⁵When they call to me, I will answer them; when they are in trouble, I will be with them. I will rescue them and honor them.

¹⁶I will reward them with long life; I will save them.”