1. The Lord said to Moses,
2. “Tell the Israelites this: If there are people, men or women, who want to make a vow dedicating themselves to the Lord as Nazirites for a time, this is what they must do:
3. They must stay away from wine or other strong drink. They must not drink vinegar that is made from wine or from other strong drink. They must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins.
4. During that special time of dedication, they must not eat anything that comes from grapes. They must not even eat the seeds or the skins from grapes.
5. “The whole time of their Nazirite vow they must not cut their hair. They must be holy until this time of special dedication to the Lord is ended. They must let their hair grow long.
6. “If you have taken the Nazirite vow, you must not go near someone who is dying during that special time of dedication. You have given yourself fully to the Lord,
7. so you must not let yourself become unclean like this—even for your own father or mother, brother or sister when they die. This is because you have the hair that you dedicated to God on your head!
8. It is holy because you have given yourself fully to the Lord for the full time of that dedication.
9. So if you are with someone when they suddenly die, you will be unclean and you will have to shave the hair from your head. You must do that on the seventh day of your purification ceremony when you are made clean.