Look, you will conceive and have a son. ¹  You must never cut his hair, ²  for the child will be dedicated to God ³  from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power ⁴  of the Philistines.”

The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were chosen on a permanent basis to consecrate the most holy items, to offer sacrifices before the Lord, to serve him, and to praise his name. ¹ 

Her profits and earnings will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or accumulated, for her profits will be given to those who live in the Lord’s presence and will be used to purchase large quantities of food and beautiful clothes. ¹ 

And the priest must take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one cake made without yeast from the basket, and one wafer made without yeast, and put them on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated head; ¹ 

He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. ¹  So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. ²  For the child will be dedicated ³  to God from birth till the day he dies.’”

Finally he told her his secret. ¹  He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, ²  for I have been dedicated to God ³  from the time I was conceived. ⁴  If my head ⁵  were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

She made a vow saying, “O Lord of hosts, if you will look with compassion ¹  on the suffering of your female servant, ²  remembering me and not forgetting your servant, and give a male child ³  to your servant, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.” ⁴ 

At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival before the Lord our God for two entire weeks. This great assembly included people from all over the land, from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Brook of Egypt ¹  in the south. ² 

Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment, you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, ¹  people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. If you do not, ²  my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you that no one will be able to extinguish. That will happen because of the evil you have done.”

Early ¹  in the morning Jacob ²  took the stone he had placed near his head ³  and set it up as a sacred stone. ⁴  Then he poured oil on top of it.

“Set apart ¹  to me every firstborn male – the first offspring of every womb ²  among the Israelites, whether human or animal; it is mine.” ³ 

“Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. ¹  You must give me the firstborn of your sons.

¹ “Now this is what ²  you are to do for them to consecrate them so that they may minister as my priests. Take a young ³  bull and two rams without blemish; ⁴ 

Anyone who touches its meat must be holy, and whoever spatters some of its blood on a garment, ¹  you must wash ²  whatever he spatters it on in a holy place.

Any human being who is permanently dedicated ¹  must not be ransomed; such a person must be put to death.

“Speak to the Israelites, and tell them, ‘When either a man or a woman ¹  takes a special vow, ²  to take a vow ³  as a Nazirite, ⁴  to separate ⁵  himself to the Lord,

and Aaron is to offer ¹  the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites, that they may do the work ²  of the Lord.

So Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the Israelites did this with the Levites. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, this is what the Israelites did with them.

From all your gifts you must offer up every raised offering due ¹  the Lord, from all the best of it, and the holiest part of it.’ ² 

You must not plant any kind of tree as a sacred Asherah pole ¹  near the altar of the Lord your God which you build for yourself.