Nasso

The Levite census continues with Gershon and Merari — counted from thirty to fifty years old, the age of service — with the Gershonites carrying the curtains and coverings, the Merarites the boards, bars, pillars, and sockets, and the tally of all serving Levites given: 8,580. The camp is kept pure — those with tzaraat or a discharge, or defiled by the dead, are sent outside — and one who wrongs another confesses and repays the principal plus a fifth.

Two rituals follow. The sotah: a wife suspected by a jealous husband, with no witness, is brought before the priest with a plain barley offering; she drinks water into which curses written on a scroll have been dissolved, and the water proves her guilt or leaves her unharmed and fruitful. The nazirite: a man or woman who vows to separate themselves to the LORD takes no wine or grape product, lets no razor pass over their head, and does not approach the dead — even father or mother — with a prescribed ritual if the vow is broken, and offerings and the shaving of the consecrated head when its days are fulfilled.

Then the priestly blessing, given to Aaron and his sons word for word: "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His face to you and give you peace" — "so shall they put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them." The portion closes with the dedication of the altar: twelve days, twelve chieftains, one for each tribe, each bringing the identical offering — silver dish and basin, gold pan of incense, and animals for each kind of offering — recorded in full twelve times, with the totals summed. And when Moses enters the tent to speak with God, he hears the Voice speaking to him from above the cover of the ark, from between the two cherubim.