(1) The Eternal spoke to Moses, saying: (2) Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If any men or women explicitly utter a nazirite’s vow, to set themselves apart for the Eternal, (3) they shall abstain from wine and any other intoxicant; they shall not drink vinegar of wine or of any other intoxicant, neither shall they drink anything in which grapes have been steeped, nor eat grapes fresh or dried. (4) Throughout their term as nazirite, they may not eat anything that is obtained from the grapevine, even seeds or skin. (5) Throughout the term of their vow as nazirite, no razor shall touch their head; it shall remain consecrated until the completion of their term as nazirite of the Eternal, the hair of their head being left to grow untrimmed.

(6) Throughout the term that they have set apart for the Eternal, they shall not go in where there is a dead person. (7) Even if their father or mother, or their brother or sister should die, they must not become defiled for any of them, since hair set apart for their God is upon their head: (8) throughout their term as nazirite they are consecrated to the Eternal. (9) If someone dies suddenly nearby, defiling the consecrated hair, the [nazirite] shall shave the head at the time of becoming pure, shaving it on the seventh day. (10) On the eighth day that person shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. (11) The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make expiation on the person’s behalf for the guilt incurred through the corpse. That same day the head shall be reconsecrated; (12) and that person shall rededicate to the Eternal the term as nazirite, bringing a lamb in its first year as a penalty offering. The previous period shall be void, since the consecrated hair was defiled.

(13) This is the ritual for the nazirite: On the day that the term as nazirite is completed, the person shall be brought to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. (14) As an offering to the Eternal, that person shall present: one male lamb in its first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering; one ewe lamb in its first year, without blemish, for a sin offering; one ram without blemish for an offering of well-being; (15) a basket of unleavened cakes of choice flour with oil mixed in, and unleavened wafers spread with oil; and the proper meal offerings and libations. (16) The priest shall present them before the Eternal and offer the sin offering and the burnt offering. (17) He shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of well-being to the Eternal, together with the basket of unleavened cakes; the priest shall also offer the meal offerings and the libations. (18) The nazirite shall then shave the consecrated hair, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and take those locks of consecrated hair and put them on the fire that is under the sacrifice of well-being. (19) The priest shall take the shoulder of the ram when it has been boiled, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and place them on the hands of the nazirite after the consecrated hair has been shaved. (20) The priest shall elevate them as an elevation offering before the Eternal; and this shall be a sacred donation for the priest, in addition to the breast of the elevation offering and the thigh of gift offering. After that the nazirite may drink wine.

(2) There was a certain man from Zorah, of the stock of Dan, whose name was Manoach. His wife was infertile and had borne no children. (3) An angel of the Eternal appeared to the woman and said to her, “You are infertile and have borne no children; but you shall conceive and bear a son. (4) Now be careful not to drink wine or other intoxicant, or to eat anything impure. (5) For you are going to conceive and bear a son; let no razor touch his head, for the boy is to be a nazirite to God from the womb on. He shall be the first to deliver Israel from the Philistines.” (6) The woman went and told her husband, “An agent of God came to me; he looked like an angel of God, very frightening. I did not ask him where he was from, nor did he tell me his name. (7) He said to me, ‘You are going to conceive and bear a son. Drink no wine or other intoxicant, and eat nothing impure, for the boy is to be a nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death!’” (8) Manoah pleaded with GOD. “Oh, my Sovereign!” he said, “please let the agent of God that You sent come to us again, and let him instruct us how to act with the child that is to be born.”