Rules About Cleanliness

5 The Lord said to Moses, ²“I command the people of Israel to keep their camp free from sickness and disease. Tell the people to send away from the camp any person who has a bad skin disease.* Tell them to send away from the camp any person who has a discharge.* And tell them to send away from their camp any person who has touched a dead body. ³It doesn’t matter if that person is a man or a woman, send them away from your camp. Send them away so that they will not cause any more sickness and disease. I am living among you in your camp.” ⁴So the people of Israel obeyed God’s command. They sent those people outside the camp. They did what the Lord had commanded to Moses.

Paying for Doing Wrong

⁵The Lord said to Moses, ⁶“Tell this to the people of Israel: A person might do something bad to another person. (When someone does bad things to other people, he is really sinning against God.) That person is guilty. ⁷So that person must confess (tell about) the sin he has done. Then that person must fully pay for that wrong thing he did. And he must add one-fifth to the payment and give it all to the person he had done wrong to. ⁸{But maybe the person he did wrong to is dead. And} maybe that dead person doesn’t have any close relatives to take the payment. In that case, the person who did wrong will give the payment to the Lord. That person will give the full payment to the priest. The priest must sacrifice the ram that makes people pure. This ram must be sacrificed to cover over the sins of the person who did wrong. But the priest can keep the rest of the payment. ⁹“If one of the people of Israel gives a special gift {to God} then the priest that accepts that gift can keep it. It is his. ¹⁰A person doesn’t have to give these special gifts. But if he gives them, then the gifts belong to the priest.”

Suspicious Husbands

¹¹Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹²“Tell these things to the people of Israel: A man’s wife might be unfaithful to him. ¹³She might have sexual relations with another man and hide this from her husband. And there might not be anyone to tell him that she did this sin. Her husband might never know about the wrong thing she did. And the woman might not tell her husband about her sin. ¹⁴But the husband might begin to suspect that his wife sinned against him. He might become jealous. He might begin to believe that she is not pure and true to him. ¹⁵If that happens, then he must take his wife to the priest. The husband must also take an offering of 8 cups* of barley flour. He must not pour oil or incense* on the barley flour. This barley flour is a grain offering to the Lord. It is given because the husband is jealous. This offering will show that he believes that his wife has been unfaithful to him. ¹⁶“The priest will take the woman before the Lord and make her stand there. ¹⁷Then the priest will take some special water and put it in a clay jar. The priest will put some dirt from the floor of the Holy Tent into the water. ¹⁸The priest will force the woman to stand before the Lord. Then he will loosen her hair and put the grain offering in her hand. This is the barley flour that her husband gave because he was jealous. At the same time, he will hold the clay jar of special water. This is the special water that brings trouble to the woman. ¹⁹“Then the priest will tell the woman that she must not lie. She must promise to tell the truth. The priest will say to her: ‘If you have not slept with another man, and if you have not sinned against your husband while you were married to him, then this water that causes trouble will not hurt you. ²⁰But if you have sinned against your husband—if you had sexual relations with a man who is not your husband—then you are not pure. ²¹If that is true, then you will have much trouble when you drink this special water. You will not be able to have any children. And if you are pregnant now, your baby will die.* Then your people will leave you and say bad things about you.’ “Then the priest must tell the woman to make a special promise to the Lord. The woman must agree that these bad things will happen to her if she lies. ²²The priest must say, ‘You must drink this water that causes trouble. If you have sinned, you will not be able to have children and any baby you have will die before it is born.’ And the woman should say: ‘I agree to do as you say.’ ²³“The priest should write those warnings on a scroll.* Then he should wash the words off into the water. ²⁴Then the woman must drink the water that brings trouble. This water will enter her and, {if she is guilty,} it will cause her much suffering. ²⁵“Then the priest will take the grain offering from her (the offering for jealousy) and raise it before the Lord. Then he will carry it to the altar.* ²⁶The priest will fill his hands with some of the grain and put it on the altar and let it burn there. After that, he will tell the woman to drink the water. ²⁷If the woman has sinned against her husband, then the water will bring her trouble. The water will go into her body and cause her much suffering. Any baby that is in her will die before it is born, and she will never be able to have children. All the people will turn against her.* ²⁸But if the woman has not sinned against her husband and she is pure, then the priest will say that she is not guilty. Then she will be normal, and able to have children. ²⁹“So that is the law about jealousy. That is what you should do when a woman sins against her husband while she is married to him. ³⁰Or if the man becomes jealous and suspects his wife has sinned against him, then that is what the man should do. The priest must tell the woman to stand before the Lord. Then the priest will do all those things. This is the law. ³¹The husband will not be guilty of doing anything wrong. But the woman will suffer if she has sinned.”

bad skin disease Or, “leprosy.” The Hebrew word includes many kinds of skin diseases. discharge Fluid from a person’s body, including pus from sores, a man’s semen, or a woman’s period flow. 8 cups Literally, “1/10 ephah.” incense Special dried tree sap. Burned to make a sweet-smelling smoke, it was offered as a gift to God. You will … die Literally, “Your loins will fall and your belly will swell.” scroll A long roll of leather or papyrus (paper) used for writing books, letters, and legal documents. altar A table or raised area used for offering sacrifices. All … turn against her Literally, “She will be like a curse among the people.”

Nazirites

6 The Lord said to Moses, ²“Tell these things to the people of Israel: A man or a woman might want to separate from other people for a time. This special time of separation allows a person to give himself totally to the Lord for a time. That person will be called a Nazirite.* ³During that time, that person must not drink any wine or other strong drink. The person must not drink vinegar that is made from wine or from other strong drink. That person must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. ⁴That person must not eat anything that comes from grapes during that special time of separation. That person must not even eat the seeds or the skins from grapes. ⁵“That person must not cut his hair during that special time of separation. He must be holy until the time that his separation is ended. He must let his hair grow long. That person’s hair is a special part of his promise to God. {He will give that hair as a gift to God.} So, that person must let his hair grow long until the time of separation is ended. ⁶“A Nazirite* must not go near a dead body during that special time of separation. Why? Because that person has given himself fully to the Lord. ⁷Even if his own father or mother or brother or sister dies, he must not touch them. This would make him unclean. He must show that he is separated and has given himself fully to God. ⁸During the whole time of his separation, he is giving himself fully to the Lord. ⁹“It might happen that the Nazirite* is with another person who dies suddenly. {If the Nazirite touches this dead man, the Nazirite will become unclean.*} If that happens, then the Nazirite must shave the hair from his head. (That hair was part of his special promise.) He must cut his hair on the seventh day, because on that day he is made clean.* ¹⁰Then on the eighth day, that Nazirite must bring two doves and two young pigeons to the priest. He must give them to the priest at the entrance of the Meeting Tent.* ¹¹Then the priest will offer one as a sin offering. He will offer the other as a burnt offering. The burnt offering will be a payment for the Nazirite’s sin. (He sinned because he was near a dead body.) At that time, the person will again promise to give the hair on his head as a gift to God. ¹²This means that person must again give himself to the Lord for another time of separation. That person must bring a one-year-old male lamb. He must give this lamb as a guilt offering. All of the days that he was separated are forgotten. The man must start over with a new time of separation. This must be done because he touched a dead body during his first time of separation. ¹³“After his time of separation is ended, a Nazirite must go to the entrance of the Meeting Tent* ¹⁴and give his offering to the Lord. His offering must be: A one-year-old male lamb with nothing wrong with it for a burnt offering; A one-year-old female lamb with nothing wrong with it for a sin offering; One ram with nothing wrong with it for a fellowship offering; ¹⁵A basket of bread made without yeast (cakes made with fine flour mixed with oil). Oil must be spread on these cakes. The grain offerings and drink offerings that are a part of these gifts. ¹⁶“The priest will give these things to the Lord. And then the priest will make the sin offering and the burnt offering. ¹⁷The priest will give the basket of bread without yeast to the Lord. Then he will kill the ram as a fellowship offering to the Lord. He will give it to the Lord with the grain offering and the drink offering. ¹⁸“The Nazirite* must go to the entrance of the Meeting Tent.* There he must shave off his hair that he grew for the Lord. That hair will be put in the fire that is burning under the sacrifice of the fellowship offering. ¹⁹“After the Nazirite* has cut off his hair, then the priest will give him a boiled shoulder from the ram and a large and a small cake from the basket. Both of these cakes are made without yeast. ²⁰Then the priest will wave these things before the Lord. This is a wave offering. These things are holy and belong to the priest. Also, the breast and the thigh from the ram are waved before the Lord. These things also belong to the priest. After that, the Nazirite man can drink wine. ²¹“Those are the rules for a person who decides to make the Nazirite* promise. That person must give all of those gifts to the Lord. But a person might be able to give much more to the Lord. If a person promises to do more, then he must keep his promise. But he must give at least all the things listed in these rules for the Nazirite promise.”

The Priests’ Blessings

²²The Lord said to Moses, ²³“Tell Aaron and his sons that this is the way they should bless the people of Israel. They should say: ²⁴May the Lord bless you and keep you. ²⁵May the Lord be good to you* and show you his kindness. ²⁶May the Lord answer your prayers* and give you peace.” ²⁷Then the Lord said, “In that way, Aaron and his sons will use my name to give a blessing to the people of Israel. And I will bless them.”

Nazirite A person who has made a special promise to God. The name is from a Hebrew word meaning, “to separate from.” unclean Not pure or not acceptable to God for worship. clean Pure or acceptable to God for worship. Meeting Tent The Holy Tent (tabernacle) where the people of Israel went to meet with God. May … to you Literally, “May the Lord make his face shine on you.” May … prayers Literally, “May the Lord lift his face to you.”